Editor’s Note: Spam filters have become much more sophisticated than the subject line triggers listed in this post. For a more up-to-date guide to email marketing, check out our free guide to creating email newsletters people actually read here.

Writing the subject lines for your emails can be one of the most stressful steps of email marketing. Is it engaging? Too short? Too long? Too boring? Will people click ‘delete’ because of it? Or will they open it? Will it even get to them, or will it trigger SPAM filters? It’s the last of these concerns that we’re here to help with today. 

SPAM filters can be triggered for a variety of reasons, causing your email to skip recipients’ inboxes and land straight in their SPAM box. One of easiest ways to avoid SPAM filters is by carefully choosing the words you use in your email’s subject line. Trigger words are known to cause problems and increase the chances of your email getting caught in a SPAM trap. By avoiding these words in your email subject lines, you can dramatically increase your chances of getting beyond SPAM filters.

Next time you sit down to write an email subject line, consult the exhaustive list below and make sure you aren’t using any words that will get you in trouble. In fact, you might want to bookmark this list so you can refer back to it every time you craft an email subject line. Back off, SPAM filters!

Email Spam Words to Avoid

Commerce 

As seen on	Buy	Buy direct
Buying judgments	Clearance	Order
Order status	Orders shipped by	shopper

Personal

Dig up dirt on friends

Meet singles

Score with babes

Employment  

Additional Income	Be your own boss	Compete for your business
Double your	Earn $	Earn extra cash
Earn per week	Expect to earn	Extra income
Home based	Home employment	Homebased business
Income from home	Make $	Make money
Money making	Online biz opportunity	Online degree
Opportunity	Potential earnings	University diplomas
While you sleep	Work at home	Work from home

Financial – General

$$$	Affordable	Bargain
Beneficiary	Best price	Big bucks
Cash	Cash bonus	Cashcashcash
Cents on the dollar	Cheap	Check
Claims	Collect	Compare rates
Cost	Credit	Credit bureaus
Discount	Earn	Easy terms
F r e e	Fast cash	For just $XXX
Hidden assets	hidden charges	Income
Incredible deal	Insurance	Investment
Loans	Lowest price	Million dollars
Money	Money back	Mortgage
Mortgage rates	No cost	No fees
One hundred percent free	Only $	Pennies a day
Price	Profits	Pure profit
Quote	Refinance	Save $
Save big money	Save up to	Serious cash
Subject to credit	They keep your money — no refund!	Unsecured credit
Unsecured debt	US dollars	Why pay more?

Financial – Business

Accept Credit Cards	Cards accepted	Check or money order
Credit card offers	Explode your business	Full refund
Investment decision	No credit check	No hidden Costs
No investment	Requires initial investment	Sent in compliance
Stock alert	Stock disclaimer statement	Stock pick

Financial – Personal

Avoid bankruptcy	Calling creditors	Collect child support
Consolidate debt and credit	Consolidate your debt	Eliminate bad credit
Eliminate debt	Financially independent	Get out of debt
Get paid	Lower interest rate	Lower monthly payment
Lower your mortgage rate	Lowest insurance rates	Pre-approved
Refinance home	Social security number	Your income

General

Acceptance	Accordingly	Avoid
Chance	Dormant	Freedom
Here	Hidden	Home
Leave	Lifetime	Lose
Maintained	Medium	Miracle
Never	Passwords	Problem
Remove	Reverses	Sample
Satisfaction	Solution	Stop
Success	Teen	Wife

Greetings

Dear [email/friend/somebody]

Friend

Hello

Marketing

Ad	Auto email removal	Bulk email
Click	Click below	Click here
Click to remove	Direct email	Direct marketing
Email harvest	Email marketing	Form
Increase sales	Increase traffic	Increase your sales
Internet market	Internet marketing	Marketing
Marketing solutions	Mass email	Member
Month trial offer	More Internet Traffic	Multi level marketing
Notspam	One time mailing	Online marketing
Open	Opt in	Performance
Removal instructions	Sale	Sales
Search engine listings	Search engines	Subscribe
The following form	This isn’t junk	This isn’t spam
Undisclosed recipient	Unsubscribe	Visit our website
We hate spam	Web traffic	Will not believe your eyes

Medical

Cures baldness	Diagnostics	Fast Viagra delivery
Human growth hormone	Life Insurance	Lose weight
Lose weight spam	Medicine	No medical exams
Online pharmacy	Removes wrinkles	Reverses aging
Stop snoring	Valium	Viagra
Vicodin	Weight loss	Xanax

Numbers

#1	100% free	100% Satisfied
4U	50% off	Billion
Billion dollars	Join millions	Join millions of Americans
Million	One hundred percent guaranteed	Thousands

Offers

Being a member	Billing address	Call
Cannot be combined with any other offer	Confidentially on all orders	Deal
Financial freedom	Gift certificate	Giving away
Guarantee	Have you been turned down?	If only it were that easy
Important information regarding	In accordance with laws	Long distance phone offer
Mail in order form	Message contains	Name brand
Nigerian	No age restrictions	No catch
No claim forms	No disappointment	No experience
No gimmick	No inventory	No middleman
No obligation	No purchase necessary	No questions asked
No selling	No strings attached	No-obligation
Not intended	Obligation	Off shore
Offer	Per day	Per week
Priority mail	Prize	Prizes
Produced and sent out	Reserves the right	Shopping spree
Stuff on sale	Terms and conditions	The best rates
They’re just giving it away	Trial	unlimited
Unsolicited	Vacation	Vacation offers
Warranty	We honor all	Weekend getaway
What are you waiting for?	Who really wins?	Win
Winner	Winning	won
You are a winner!	You have been selected	You’re a Winner!

Calls-to-Action

Cancel at any time	Compare	Copy accurately
Get	Give it away	Print form signature
Print out and fax	See for yourself	Sign up free today

Free

Free	Free access	Free cell phone
Free consultation	Free DVD	Free gift
Free grant money	Free hosting	Free installation
Free Instant	Free investment	Free leads
Free membership	Free money	Free offer
Free preview	Free priority mail	Free quote
Free sample	Free trial	Free website

Descriptions/Adjectives

All natural	All new	Amazing
Certified	Congratulations	Drastically reduced
Fantastic deal	For free	Guaranteed
It’s effective	Outstanding values	Promise you
Real thing	Risk free	Satisfaction guaranteed

Sense of Urgency

Access	Act Now!	Apply now
Apply Online	Call free	Call now
Can’t live without	Do it today	Don’t delete
Don’t hesitate	For instant access	For Only
For you	Get it now	Get started now
Great offer	Info you requested	Information you requested
Instant	limited time	New customers only
Now	Now only	Offer expires
Once in lifetime	One time	Only
Order now	Order today	Please read
Special promotion	Supplies are limited	Take action now
Time limited	Urgent	While supplies last

Nouns

Addresses on CD	Beverage	Bonus
Brand new pager	Cable converter	Casino
Celebrity	Copy DVDs	Laser printer
Legal	Luxury car	New domain extensions
Phone	Rolex	Stainless steel

 

Across all industries, it’s gotten harder for brands to stand out among the competition. According to a 2020 survey by Crayon, businesses have, on average, 29 competitors — a 16% increase from 2019.

Small and large companies alike are fighting for consumers’ attention through targeted marketing campaigns, persuasive sales teams, and competitive pricing structures.

The question is, how can a brand stay competitive as new companies emerge every day and threaten its position?

One solution is competitive intelligence (CI) – a process that can drive revenue and keep brands ahead in their industry.

Let’s get into what CI is, what it isn’t, and how brands can harness it.

In the past, it was primarily enterprise-level companies that had the resources to invest in CI, but that’s changing. In 2017, the Crayon study reported that only 37% of businesses had CI teams or dedicated CI employees. In 2020, that number grew by 20%.

Given how attainable information is online, it’s now easier for small businesses to implement CI tactics without shelling out on resources.

Another thing to note about competitive intelligence is that those insights are not only for C-suite executives. With the information gathered through CI, teams in:

• Sales are equipped to fight objections and address pain points.
• Marketing can adjust their messaging to better reach their user personas.
• Product can better understand competitors’ pricing and packaging models.

How to Conduct Competitive Intelligence Research

1. Identify your competitors.

With CI, you treat your industry as a game and your competitors as players. The end goal is to leverage key insights from their plays to determine your next move.

If you don’t know who your competitors are, it will make it that much harder to gather valuable information.

Start by narrowing down your top direct competitors. These are brands that offer a similar product or service and target the same user persona.

Then, compile a secondary list of indirect competitors. They’ll provide a different product or service but may still attract your target audience. It’s good to track for inspiration rather than for competitive advantage.

Once you have your list, rank them by threat level.

2. Set objectives.

Before you start conducting CI research, set your objectives. Ask yourself and your team: “What do we want to learn? ” This will help you determine which avenues to pursue and which data sources on which to focus.

Let’s say high-end handbag company Amore wants to better understand its competitors’ marketing strategy, specifically their messaging, campaigns, and content marketing. This is a very specific goal that gives a clear direction to your CI team. From there, the team can devise a plan to find that data.

3. Determine data collection strategies.

Now that your CI team knows the end goal, they can set up their data collection tools.

Staying with Amore’s goal of understanding its competitors’ marketing approach, the intel team will likely look at their websites, landing pages, blog posts, and downloadable offers – to name a few.

Social monitoring and social listening will also be valuable in understanding what content Amore’s competitors are putting out there and how consumers are responding.

Having a plan of action for data collection helps CI teams stay within the scope of the project. When you cast a net too wide, it can be difficult to know where to start.

4. Gather and analyze your data.

Now that you have your competitors, goals, and research plans outlined, you can get to work.

The data gathering process can take weeks or months, depending on your goals. As you compile your data, using a CI tool will be instrumental in categorizing your data for analysis later. Jump to that section here.

Once you have enough information, things get fun. You can start looking for patterns and discover strengths and weaknesses in your competitors.

5. Relay insights to key stakeholders.

Identifying themes in your research is the first part of the process, the second is presenting your insights to key stakeholders.

They can then harness this information to further the growth of the business and generate more revenue.

One thing to keep in mind is that just like for any data analysis, you are the storyteller. You are tasked with not only analyzing it but also framing it to explain why it matters. Without that key component, it can be difficult to understand where to go next.

You’ll also want to create reports tailored to the team. For instance, your sales team may find battle cards to be most useful while your marketing team may prefer a visual reporting breakdown. If you’re not sure what would work best, go straight to the source. Collaborate with your teams to determine the best way to communicate your findings.

Competitive Intelligence Examples

CI work can include anything from tracking your competitors’ pricing model to monitoring their social media activity. It all depends on how much time and how many resources your team is willing to invest. Here are the most popular sources and intel used for CI:

• Press releases
• Job postings
• Ad campaigns
• Lead magnets, such as ebooks, white papers, and templates
• Product and service updates (rollouts, updates to features, packages, etc …)
• Pricing changes
• Customer review sites
• Rebranding announcements
• Website changes or redesigns
• Sales calls and client communications
• Earnings reports (for publicly traded companies)

While some of this information will be gathered by the CI team, other departments can also submit their intel. For instance, sales representatives can be especially useful when gathering intel, as they have direct contact with leads and customers.

Competitive Intelligence Best Practices

1. Stay within legal limits.

This may seem obvious but a term like competitive intelligence can give the wrong impression.

When doing any sort of CI work, you must stay within legal limits. Accessing information through illegal measures, such as hacking or phone tapping, crosses over to “espionage” territory.

If there’s ever doubt on a CI approach, err on the side of caution and consult with your legal team. If you don’t have an internal team, reach out to a corporate lawyer who can offer some insight on the best route to take.

2. Be ethical.

Just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean you should do it.

Let’s say your team discovers a disgruntled employee from a competitor has recently quit and has key information on the business’ strategy over the next five years.

While it’s not illegal to reach out to the employee, it may be unethical as the employee may be tempted to reveal sensitive information.

Use good judgment. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

3. Share insights often.

One study by Crayon found that businesses that share CI at least once a week were twice as likely to have revenue increases than those who shared them less often.

With that in mind, sharing insights should be done often and regularly. CI is an ongoing process, not a one-and-done tactic.

As long as your company is growing, you’ll need to keep an eye on the competition.

4. Contextualize reports.

An important part of CI is sharing insights regularly.

Whether it’s through a newsletter, a monthly email report, or a meeting, context is everything.

For instance, let’s say the CI team at Amore reports that their direct competitor Abella has launched a collaboration with a luxury clothing brand. That report should also mention how it affects Amore’s positioning.

After all, the purpose of tracking competitors is to leverage that knowledge to improve your own positioning.

In this example, the collaboration with the clothing brand could solidify Abella as a luxury brand and help it move upmarket. This could weaken Amore’s position and require stronger messaging surrounding the product’s exclusivity and craftsmanship.

Also, insights don’t happen in a vacuum. They’re built over months or years of trends. As such, adding historical data can also help frame these insights and enable strategic decisions.

Competitive Intelligence Tools

1. Crayon

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Crayon is one of the leading competitive intelligence platforms in the market. The software offers a centralized platform to store and analyze data from over 300 million sources and over 100 data types.

You can track your competitors’ digital footprint and easily filter through everything from social media and events to customer reviews and financial reports. The platform’s top features include:

• Daily and weekly digests – You can set alerts to receive updates every time there is a change in something you’re tracking, like a pricing page. Crayon also assigns a market analyst to your account to curate weekly custom reports.
• Sales battle cards – This makes battle cards easily accessible to your sales reps and has the power to analyze which plays are impacting revenue.
• Automated categorization – If your CI team is gathering data from multiple sources, Crayon automatically organizes that data for easy analysis.

To request pricing, you must contact the company.

2. Kompyte

Kompyte makes it easy to visualize the changes in your competitors’ pages. They have a before-and-after module that allows you to easily pinpoint changes on a page.

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The tool provides details on the effectiveness of your competitors’ ads, giving you insight into which opportunities are worth exploring and which ones to avoid. This includes A/B tests and targeted keywords.

Beyond that, CI teams can also set KPIs and monitor them on the platform to ensure they’re on track to meet their goals and take action quickly based on performance.

To request pricing, you must contact the company.

3. SEMrush

SEMrush is the place to go for a deep dive into your competitors’ domain performance.

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The platform allows brands to monitor other domains’ authority, their link-building efforts, paid search strategies, and more across multiple channels.

They offer a free version with some access to competitive research tools. However, the paid versions – ranging from $119 to $449 a month – unlock access to traffic analytics along with several toolkits for SEO, advertising, social media, and content marketing.

4. SimilarWeb

To get a more holistic view of your competitors’ online presence for free, consider SimilarWeb.

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The platform has monitoring, benchmarking, and analytics capabilities to help scaling businesses better understand their market.

From SEO and web traffic to ad placement, the platform’s CI capabilities are extensive in both free and paid versions. For pricing details on the enterprise plans, you must reach talk to a SimilarWeb consultant.

5. Visualping

If you’re low on resources or don’t need an extensive CI program, Visualping is an easy and free way to keep track of your competitors and their website changes.

The site monitors website changes and alerts you via email, text, Slack, or API. You can specify what areas of the page you would like to track along with how often you’d like to be alerted.

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All you need to start is an email and a website to track. However, for business use, the monthly cost ranges from $20 to $135.

The key takeaway is that when running a business, staying in your lane is important but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look left or right from time to time to see what everyone else is up to. When done right, CI can be an incredible asset to every brand.

Whether you’re part of an internal marketing team or an agency developing an advertising pitch, it’s imperative to nail your advertising proposal to gain stakeholder clarity and secure their buy-in.

After all, advertising is expensive, and a poorly managed campaign results in wasted funds and resources that fail to deliver a return on investment – which could hinder a company’s ability to hit its awareness and sales goals.

Executives need to know that an advertising project has been well thought-out from all angles before they front the money to develop creative and buy advertising space. And the best way to inform and persuade these decision-makers is with a crystal clear and actionable advertising proposal.

In this article, we’ll outline the actions to take, templates to use, and questions to answer when developing your advertising proposal, so you can get moving on your advertising project faster and maximize revenue from it.

Follow along with HubSpot’s free Advertising Proposal Template for PowerPoint. The template is completely customizable to your business’s needs and makes developing an advertising proposal presentation simple, covering sections thorough proposals need to have such as:

• Project timeline.
• Project team.
• Project budget and fees.
• … And more.

While the template is best-suited for marketing agencies, it can easily be adjusted for in-house marketing teams for internal project management. Download the template now to get started.

How to Make Your Advertising Proposal

1. Plan your advertising project.

Preparing an advertising plan is an essential first step in an advertising pitch project. As a rule of thumb, it’s best practice to work off of an advertising plan template to ensure you check all the necessary boxes when it comes to the project.

In the next few sections, we’ll highlight what you should include in your advertising plan and proposal, but the reason to start with this step is to ensure organization. By proactively setting up your framework, you’ll be better suited to prioritize your tasks down the road and understand which roadblocks you might face – and in the process, get ahead of them.

2. Specify your tasks and/or services.

So, you’re moving forward with your advertising proposal – but what exactly are you planning on doing?

The next step is to outline the scope of work for the project, including:

• Conducting market research.
• Choosing an advertising platform.
• Developing creative and copy.
• Working with media buying/selling vendors.
• Analyzing and presenting results.

Depending on the makeup of your team or agency, you might be responsible for some or all of these tasks – or perhaps some not even listed here.

The important thing to remember in this step is to make the expectations of what your team will be doing abundantly clear.

There should be no question from those to whom you’re presenting regarding what will or won’t be done by your team.

3. Pick your team members.

An advertising campaign requires contributions from marketing, sales, sales enablement, finance, and/or the product teams.

In your proposal, put faces to names by explaining who will be responsible for what. Naturally, this process might take more time if you’re combining the efforts of those within and outside of your company, or if there are different team members in the same department who need to decide which person will be responsible.

4. Establish a timeline.

When boiled down, executives need to know what is happening and when it is happening. Thus, the next step in the process is to build a timeline for your activities.

Now that you have a list of those who will be involved in your campaign, work with their schedules and areas of expertise to determine who will be doing what, and at what point.

Your timeline should be clear, efficient, and attainable. When presenting your proposal, you don’t want anyone feeling unsure about your team hitting its targets, but you also don’t want to give off the impression that you’re not moving as diligently as possible.

As such, be sure you can speak to why each step of the process will take as long as you’re suggesting and what contingency plans – if any – you have in-place.

5. Solidify your budget. 

The key distinction between marketing and advertising is budget. Advertising requires an additional investment to buy space on a desired platform, and when asking for money, you’ll need to be transparent about how much you’re asking for, and why.

Your budget outline should speak to all funds required to execute the campaign, such as:

• Agency fees (if applicable).
• Creative development fees for video, imagery, and/or graphic design elements.
• Advertising placement costs on your intended platform(s).
• Additional headcount (internally or freelancers).

Alongside your budget, you should also speak to the projected monetary impact of your advertising campaign, including both revenue and profit, and, if available, the projected increase in customers and unit sales. Adding these elements can help make the budget more justifiable.

6. Share your presentation.

Once you have all of these elements laid out in your advertising proposal, it’s time to share your presentation.

If it’s via email, make sure to include relevant articles or resources in your messaging or in an appendix, and encourage the email’s recipients to promptly send any questions so you can address them and move forward with the project quickly.

If the presentation is in-person or over a video call, always be sure to rehearse your presentation – particularly if more than one person is explaining the proposal. As a best practice, you should leave ample time at the end of your presentation to answer any outstanding questions somebody may have before signing off on the proposal.

3 Tips for an Outstanding Advertising Proposal Presentation

1. Be creative.

You’re being tasked to work on this advertising project because you’re creative, so why would you allow your advertising proposal to be any less creative?

Make sure your proposal and presentation are filled with imagery and is well-designed. If appropriate, you might also want to consider throwing in some references, GIFs, or jokes to appeal to your audience’s more lighthearted side.

2. Be clear.

We’ve said this already, but advertising campaigns can require enormous investments of time, resources, and capital. Leave absolutely no stone unturned in your presentation, or you might risk setting false expectations about your team’s capabilities.

A lack of clarity might also convince your audience you haven’t fully answered all questions, which could result in the decision to not move forward with the campaign. When it comes to numbers, timelines, and processes, clarity is key.

3. Be concise.

Finally, always remember that we’re all pressed for time. While clarity is essential, there’s no point in redundancy or wasting your audience’s time. Some information is best suited to be clarified in the Q+A session after the presentation or in follow-up collateral if requested.

In your presentation, prioritize delivering the need-to-know information – but be prepared to follow-up on anything that needs clarification.

Delivering a Winning Advertising Proposal

With these steps and this template, you’ve got the foundation to bring your advertising campaign idea to life. Find the balance between clarity and creativity, know your numbers, explain your process, and you’ll be on your way to getting your advertising proposal approved.

A lot happens on LinkedIn. People post updates, professionals seek new jobs, salespeople pitch prospective customers, and LinkedIn members of all kinds connect, chat, and build relationships.

With almost 740 million members, this level of activity comes as no surprise.

The LinkedIn Pages launch in late 2018 equipped consumers to discover and vet their favorite businesses and for businesses, organizations, and institutions to connect with their audiences.

LinkedIn Company Pages provide a unique way for your organization to stand out from the noise — important noise, but noisy nonetheless. We developed this guide to help you master your LinkedIn Company Page.

LinkedIn Company Pages were developed to give your company a home base and reach your audience on the network.

If you haven’t built a LinkedIn Page for your business yet, you’re missing out on new connections, followers, employees, and customers.

What to Post on a LinkedIn Company Page

Creating a LinkedIn presence for your company expands your brand trust and awareness. Here are a few ideas for what to post on your LinkedIn page to maximize your ROI.

1. Share company updates and news.

LinkedIn, like any other social network, features a content stream on which people share and discuss important articles and updates. Your Page is a perfect place to post your company updates and news for customers, employees, investors, and fans to review and share.

2. Post open jobs and connect with potential employees.

LinkedIn is a professional social network, meaning users benefit from work and career-related updates, connections, and interactions. LinkedIn members are primed to discover and discuss job opportunities, including the ones at your company. If you have any open roles, LinkedIn is the perfect place to share them.

In fact, LinkedIn provides Career Pages — a space separate from your Company Page that’s dedicated to open jobs, recruiting, and employer branding.

3. Build a community.

Every social network boasts its own ability to foster a sense of community, and LinkedIn is no exception.

Your LinkedIn Company Page is a place to build a community of LinkedIn members who are interested in your business, updates, and jobs. Here, they can connect and collaborate on their shared interest in your company. Post interesting questions, behind-the-scenes information, and unique updates to engage your audience and build camaraderie on your Page.

4. Grow and keep your brand’s image consistent on social media.

If you’re active on other social networks, having a presence on LinkedIn can help you grow your audience elsewhere. Most social networks allow you to link to and from your LinkedIn page to boost recognition and increase your number of followers.

Additionally, some of your audience may only be active on LinkedIn, so creating a Page would give you a chance to connect with new potential customers and employees.

5. Improve your discoverability on search engines.

LinkedIn Company Pages rank on search engine results pages (SERPs) like any other website or social network. Creating a Page gives your company another opportunity to be discovered by those searching for your products, services, or brand. 

LinkedIn Company Pages vs. LinkedIn Groups

Another popular feature on LinkedIn is LinkedIn Groups, where like-minded people digitally gather to discuss common topics, industries, or (in some cases) companies. Many users get these two features confused.

LinkedIn Company Pages are the equivalent to your “website” on LinkedIn; you create it on behalf of your company, and it belongs to you (as a business owner and/or marketer). You’re responsible for updating your Page and posting new content and updates. Other LinkedIn members can follow your Page and engage with your content.

On the other hand, LinkedIn Groups are collaborative networks that can be created and engaged with by any LinkedIn member. Some groups are private while Open Groups can be read or joined by anyone.

Now, a company can create a LinkedIn Group for certain internal teams or subgroups, but LinkedIn Groups can’t necessarily replace LinkedIn Company Pages.

How to Create a Company Page on LinkedIn

Whether you already have a LinkedIn account or are new to the platform, creating a LinkedIn Company Page is easy. Follow these steps to get started.

1. Create a new LinkedIn Page.

Head to LinkedIn and visit the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions site. Hover over the LinkedIn Pages option in the top menu and click Create a LinkedIn Page.

If you’re already signed into LinkedIn, tap the Work drop-down menu in the top right corner and click Create a LinkedIn Page+ from the very bottom.

2. Choose your company size and type.

Choose the size of your business from the first two options. (Notice the other two options to create a Showcase Page or create a LinkedIn Page for an educational institution, both of which you aren’t required to provide this information.)

For the purpose of this guide, I’m going to choose Small Business.

3. Fill out your company details.

Next, fill out the details of your business. Only some of the details are required, but I recommend fully completing this step (as we’ll discuss in the best practices section below).

Let’s walk through the form fields.

1. Name: Enter your entire company name to improve discoverability and searchability.
2. LinkedIn public URL: As you fill out your Name, LinkedIn will automatically input your URL to match. Ideally, your URL will be your company name; this keeps your online identities consistent. For example, HubSpot’s LinkedIn Page URL is www.linkedin.com/company/hubspot/. If your company name isn’t available, choose a URL that’s similar and still identifiable, such as one of your social media handles and/or a shortened version of your brand name.
3. Website: Enter your company’s website. Although not required, this information is critical as it connects LinkedIn followers to your company website.
4. Industry: Choose this from the drop-down menu. This information helps LinkedIn categorize your company for Page visitors.
5. Company size: Choose your company size from the ranges provided.
6. Company type: Choose your company type from the options provided.
7. Logo: Upload a high-quality logo that matches the logo on your other social media accounts. This is important so new followers can recognize your brand and Page. It must be 300 x 300px.
8. Tagline: In 120 characters, briefly describe what your company does. Consider using the same tagline from your other social media accounts. You can change this information later.

When finished, check the checkbox at the bottom and click Create Page.

4. Complete your LinkedIn Page.

The final step should show you the Admin View of your LinkedIn Company Page. This is essentially the behind-the-scenes dashboard from which you can make changes to your Page.

If you’re building your Page from scratch, you’ll see that LinkedIn provides a helpful checklist of actions to complete. These tasks will also unlock new features such as Content Suggestions and Invite to Follow that can help grow your Page.

Let’s walk through the important tasks to complete in this step.

• Description: Add an About Us section that describes your company. It should be longer than your tagline. This is the place to include relevant keywords and phrases that can help people discover your Page on LinkedIn and through search engines. This section can be up to 2,000 words. LinkedIn also allows you to create taglines and descriptions in multiple languages.
• Location: Add at least one location for your company. You can add multiple locations and name each one. Consider at least adding your headquarters or central company location.
• Cover photo: Add a cover photo that will engage and entice visitors to check out your Page. Many brands upload another orientation of their logo or their latest marketing or advertising campaign graphics. This photo must be 1,128 x 191px.
• Hashtags: Although relatively uncommon on LinkedIn, hashtags on your Page provide a unique way to connect with followers and engage with posts. Add up to three hashtags that are related to your company, industry, and audience. They will be added as Community Hashtags to your Page.

You can also add a company phone number, the year your company was founded, and any LinkedIn Groups you want to show on your Page.

Voila! Your LinkedIn Company Page is now created and ready to share. Continue poking around your Page to complete all fields and features. The following section of LinkedIn Page best practices will help you use your Page to connect and grow.

How to Manage Your Company Page on LinkedIn

Once you create your LinkedIn Company Page, your work is done … right? Nope. Honestly, creating the Page is the easiest part. Managing and posting on the page is what takes more time, work, and creativity.

As we’ll talk about below, the first thing to do is determine your Page admin. This person will be responsible for creating (or delegating) the content posted on your Page.

Work with your team to plan much of your LinkedIn content upfront. Gather ideas from your other social media accounts, or chat with your leadership, product, and HR teams to get ideas for company, product, and job updates to share.

Encourage your coworkers to create LinkedIn accounts of their own, as their engagement and participation can help drive traffic to your Page. 

Lastly, keep an eye on the LinkedIn Company Page analytics. See who’s visiting and engaging with your Page and what kind of content they prefer. Over time, this will help you determine where to best spend your creative energy.

LinkedIn Company Page Admin

Who is your LinkedIn Company Page admin? Answer this question before moving further in this article. You need at least one, although we’ll discuss in the section below how (and why) to add additional Page admins. 

LinkedIn offers a variety of admin roles, and your Page should have at least one of each to avoid losing access to your Page. Moreover, this admin (or team of admins) are the ultimate managers of all content posted on your Page. They should ensure all content is on brand and consistent with your other social networks and website content.

Let’s talk about some more best practices for LinkedIn Company Pages.

Follow these tips and techniques to maximize the impact of your LinkedIn Company Page.

1. Complete all Page details.

According to LinkedIn, fully completed LinkedIn Company Pages get 30% more views. Take the time to fill out every Page detail, even those that aren’t required. 

The more details you provide about your company, the easier it will be for people (a.k.a. potential customers) to discover and connect with you. It will also serve to educate those who are interested in working for or investing in your company.

2. Add important Page admins.

Maintaining a LinkedIn Company Page can be a lot of work, especially if your team is already manning multiple social networks and accounts. Once you create your Page, don’t forget to add more Page admins to give other people permissions.

Do add new Page admins, click Admin tools > Page admins in the top right corner of your Company Page.

The following box will allow you to manage all your Page administrators. As you can see, there are five types of admins you can add to your Page. LinkedIn explains them in detail here.

You must be connected to your Page admins in order to add them. To do so, simply type in the person’s name, choose them, and click Save changes.

3. Keep your images up-to-date.

Your Page logo and cover photo are very important; they visually introduce and engage anyone who visits your Page. Keep these images up-to-date with your latest branding and marketing materials. 

Not only is this critical for presenting a unified social presence, but it ensures your LinkedIn Company Page also matches your website, blog, and other digital marketing materials. Doing so will boost brand awareness and help new customers, employees, and fans discover your brand on LinkedIn.

4. Share engaging content with your followers.

Like any social network, you can’t expect to simply create your account and be finished. Building your LinkedIn Page is only half the battle; you must also consistently post content to successfully engage, inform, and market to your audience.

Download this free ebook to access templates, guides, and infographics on how to use LinkedIn for business, marketing, and networking.

Consider posting updates to your products and services, job openings, trends or news that involve your brand, and behind-the-scenes content featuring employee life, product development, or other unique content. 

LinkedIn also provides a handy Content Suggestions tool to help you discover topics and content your audience is already engaging with on the network. Tap Content Suggestions along the top menu of your Page, and update the filters as they apply to your audience.

Tap View content suggestions, and you’ll see a content stream based on your chosen topic and audience parameters. You can edit the filters further in the left menu, and you can add or take away content topics along the top. This tool shows you the engagement rates of popular or trending content and makes it easy to share this content with your audience.

As always, don’t forget to engage with your audience, too. Like, comment on, and share things posted by your followers and connections. This will remind them there are humans behind your brand’s LinkedIn Company Page.

5. Post interesting, eye-catching visuals.

Text-only content is unlikely to engage all members of your LinkedIn Page. Be sure that at least 50% of your posts feature an engaging visual, whether an infographic, illustrated statistic, or quote graphic. Even a GIF or meme can be a fun addition to a text-heavy feed.

Also, consider adding short videos. Even if these videos repeat your text-based posts, they’ll engage with your more visual audience and keep folks engaged on your Page.

6. Customize your call-to-action.

On your LinkedIn Company Page, under your logo and next to the Follow + button, you’ll find a call-to-action (CTA). Mine says Visit website.

LinkedIn allows you to customize this CTA to better engage your followers and audience. To do this, tap the pencil icon next to your CTA. Make sure the Custom button option is turned on.

Choose a button name from the drop-down menu and enter a URL. Use this setting to direct followers to your website, landing pages, event registrations, and more.

7. Involve your employees.

Your employees are some of your best brand advocates. This is especially true on LinkedIn, where employees have an average of 10x more first-degree connections than a company has followers.

As you develop your Company Page, encourage your employees to follow and engage with it. Also, ask each employee to list your company as an employer, as this will link their profile to your Page and vice versa.

This is a helpful resource when growing a new Page audience of customers and potential employees.

8. Post content from (or mention) partners and other companies.

If you partner with other companies, such as for co-marketing campaigns, feature them on your Page often. Not only does this engage other companies and leaders, but it also promotes your content to your partner’s audiences.

For every post that you share about your company, share one focused on another company, your employees, or even your customers. 

Create Your LinkedIn Company Page Today

Nearly 80% of consumers trust social media over advertising — including social media for brands and companies.

Your LinkedIn Company Page contributes to this statistic, and, in turn, helps bolster your brand awareness, trust, and social activity. Use this guide to develop your LinkedIn Company Page and start engaging with new customers, employees, investors, and followers.

(If you’re looking for additional resources, LinkedIn also provides their own handy Playbook for optimizing your Company Page.)

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

The irony doesn’t escape me that I’m currently writing a “How to” guide on … “How to” guides.

Fortunately, I’ve had my fair share of experiences writing How to guides for HubSpot over the years — some of my favorites include How to Give a Persuasive Presentation, How to Develop a Content Strategy: A Start-to-Finish Guide, and How to Write a Request for Proposal.

How to Guides are incredibly valuable opportunities to reach new audiences with useful, high-quality content. Plus, for both B2B and B2C businesses, How to Guides are often necessary components of a healthy lead generation strategy.

For instance, consider how many people search “How to [fill in the blank]” on Google each day:

These search queries demonstrate one of the primary reasons people turn to the internet — to learn how to do something.

If your business can reach those users with informative, relevant answers to their questions (related to your own products or services), those readers will begin to see your brand as an authority on the topic. Additionally, they’ll appreciate the value you’ve provided them.

Down the road, those same readers you first attracted with a How to Guide could become customers and loyal brand advocates who spread the word about your products or services to friends and family.

Suffice to say: How to Guides matter.

Here, we’ll explore the right structure to use when making a How to Guide and how to write a comprehensive How to Guide. We’ll also take a look at some impressive examples of How to Guides for inspiration. Let’s dive in.

How to Make a How to Guide

1. Conduct research to ensure your guide is the most comprehensive piece on the topic.

People read How to Guides to learn how to do things. And even if you know very well how to do something, it’s critical you conduct research to ensure you’re writing content that can help both the beginner and the expert who’s searching for your post.

Additionally, to rank on the SERPs, you’ll want to conduct keyword research and competitive research to ensure your How to Guide is the most comprehensive post on the subject.

For instance, let’s say you’re writing a blog post, “How to Make an Omelette.” Upon conducting research, you find Simply Recipe’s post is at the top of Google.

Diving into the post, you’ll see Simply Recipe has covered sections including “French Verses American Omelettes”, “The Best Pan for Making Omelettes”, and even “Ideas for Omelette Fillings”.

If you want to create your own How to Guide on omelettes, then, you’ll want to cover all (if not more) of the sections Simply Recipe has covered in its post.

Additionally, you should use Ahrefs or another keyword research tool to explore similar keywords or queries people ask when searching for topics like “Omelette”. This can help you create a well-rounded piece that will answer all your readers’ questions, and help you rank on Google.

Even if you know a topic incredibly well, research isn’t a step you should skip. In fact, knowing a topic well can make it more difficult to write a How to Guide on the topic, since it feels like second-nature to you. For that reason, you’ll want to rely on your research to ensure you’re including all relevant information.

2. Understand your target audience’s concerns and challenges.

For this step, you’ll want to use online community forums like Quora or internal data to identify all the various concerns or challenges your target audience might have that your How to Guide can answer.

If you’re writing “How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy”, for instance, you could start by looking at responses to “What is content marketing?” on Quora. These user-generated responses can help you identify common themes, misconceptions, or confusion around content marketing.

Next, you might reach out to your research marketing team to identify common pain points or questions they’ve seen in surveys or focus groups regarding “content marketing”. For instance, you might find that most of your audience says content marketing is a priority for them — but they don’t know how to do it on a budget.

Conducting qualitative research like this arms you with the information necessary to ensure your How to Guide answers all relevant concerns on a given topic.

3. Structure your steps in the correct order for your reader, and when possible, use screenshots.

Your readers will bounce from your page if it’s too difficult for them to quickly find the answer to their question, so you want to deliver all relevant information as quickly as possible — and in the right order.

Many readers will use your How to Guide as a list of instructions. For instance, if you’re writing, “How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac“, you’ll want to write down each specific action necessary to take a screenshot. When possible, images, screenshots, or videos can also help take your content to the next level.

For less tactical, more ambiguous topics, you should still list your tips for easy readability.

4. Tell the reader why it matters.

To write a high-quality How to Guide, it’s important you start by asking yourself: Why do my readers need, or want, to know this?

Understanding the high-level purpose behind a topic can encourage you to write with empathy. Additionally, it will help you create content that accurately meets your reader’s expectations and needs.

For instance, when writing “How to Create a Facebook Group for Your Business“, I took some time to identify that readers might search this topic if a) they are seeking out new ways to connect with customers or want to create a stronger sense of brand community, or b) they want to raise awareness about their products or services.

As a result, I wrote:

“A group is a good idea if you’re interested in connecting your customers or leads to one another, you want to facilitate a sense of community surrounding your brand, or you’re hoping to showcase your brand as a thought leader in the industry. However, a group is not a good idea if you want to use it to raise awareness about your products or services, or simply use it to post company announcements.”

In the example above, you can see I targeted a few different segments of readers with diverse purposes to help readers determine whether this How to Guide would even help them meet their own goals.

Ultimately, understanding the purpose behind your How to Guide is critical for ensuring you target all the various components or angles of the topic at-hand.

How to Write a How to Guide

Once you’re ready to start writing your How to Guide, you might wonder if your tone or writing style should differ, compared to other types of posts. 

In short: Yes, it should.

When people search “How to …” they’re often in a rush to find the information they need, which means it’s critical you write in short, concise sentences to provide an answer quickly.

Additionally, How to Guides need to offer tactical, actionable advice on a topic so readers can begin implementing the steps immediately.

There’s a world of difference between readers who search “what is an RFP”, and those who search “How to write an RFP”. While the former group is looking for a definition of RFPs and maybe an example or two, the latter group likely already has a fair understanding of RFPs and needs to create one ASAP.

If you’re writing a How to Guide, there are a few best practices to keep in mind when it comes to writing:

• Use verbs when writing out steps. For instance, you’ll want to say, ‘Write a company background’, rather than ‘Your RFP should start with a brief background on your company.’
• Use numbered lists, headers, and bullet points to break up the text and make your content as easy to skim as possible.
• Use both screenshots and written text for readers who can’t load the image on their screen or don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them from the image itself. 
• Link out to other relevant blog posts, pillar pages, or ebooks so readers can find follow-up information on certain topics mentioned in your How to Guide.
• Provide examples to show your readers what you mean.
• Write with empathy, acknowledging it can be frustrating when learning or refining a new skill. 

How to Guides often attract a wide range of readers, all with varying levels of expertise.

“How to Create a YouTube Channel,” for instance, likely attracts YouTube beginners who are simply interested in creating a channel to watch and comment on friends’ posts — but it probably also attracts professional marketers who need to create a channel for their business to attracts and converts leads.

With such a diverse audience, it’s critical you write clearly, but not condescendingly, to ensure you retain readers regardless of skill level or background experience.

To explore what this looks like in-practice, let’s explore some examples of How to Guides next.

How to Guide Examples

1. The Recipe How to Guide

McCormick’s “How to recipe guide on french toast” is neatly organized so readers can quickly determine a) how long the recipe will take, b) the ingredients you’ll need, and c) instructions for cooking.

If a reader already knows the ingredients necessary for french toast, she can click to “Instructions” to get started right away. Alternatively, if a reader prefers viewing instructions rather than reading, she can click “Watch How-to Video”. This offers good variety when it comes to how readers’ prefer consuming How to materials. 

Takeaway: When you’re structuring your own How to Guide, consider how you can best organize it so readers can jump straight to what they need. For instance, perhaps you put the most important information at the top, or include a jump link so readers can determine what they need to read — and what they can skip. 

2. The B2B How to Guide

Atlassian’s “How to write the perfect 90 day plan” provides important contextual details to the 90 day plan, including “What is a 90 day plan?” and “What should be included in a 90 day plan?” The piece is well-researched and empathetically-written. 

Best of all, the guide provides a downloadable 90 day plan PDF, so readers can immediately download and use Atlassian’s plan with their own team. 

Takeaway: Consider what ebooks, PDFs, charts, Canva designs, or Google Sheets you can make internally as an option for readers to download and use. Readers will appreciate the option to immediately apply what they’ve learned.

3. The B2C How to Guide

This “How to Become a Freelancer” guide from FlexJobs does a good job providing relevant links and data to create a comprehensive overview of what freelancing is.

Additionally, the post uses action verbs to inspire the reader — for instance, under “How to Start a Freelance Business”, you’ll see tips such as “Do Your Homework”, “Create a Brand”, and “Plan Ahead”. The language used in this post goes a long way towards encouraging readers to get started immediately. 

Takeaway: Use action verbs and concise language to keep a reader engaged. When possible, start with a verb instead of a noun when listing out steps. 

4. The Product-related How to Guide

“How to Find Data in Google Sheets with VLOOKUP” isn’t necessarily the most interesting topic, but How-to Geek effectively keeps the content engaging with empathetic statements like, “VLOOKUP might sound confusing, but it’s pretty simple once you understand how it works.” 

Additionally, How-to Geek includes useful, original images to demonstrate each tip they’re describing. These images don’t have to be state-of-the-art visuals created by a professional design team, either — as this post proves, a few simple screenshots go a long way towards helping the reader understand a complex topic. 

Takeaway: When possible, create your own visuals/screenshots to walk readers through each step-by-step instruction.

5. The Lifestyle How to Guide

I recently saw this post in Medium titled, “11 Ways to Quickly Stop Stress in Your Life“. I clicked it expecting a few quick, easy tips for stopping stress — but, instead, I was engrossed in the first section of the post, “The Effects of Stress in Your Life”. 

While I previously mentioned the importance of starting with a quick answer to the searcher’s How-to question, there are exceptions to that rule. In this case, it’s important readers understand why they should stop stress before knowing how. This Medium writer did a good job understanding the structure he should use to keep readers engaged throughout. 

Takeaway: Play around with structure. Consider what your readers need to know in order for the rest of the post to matter to them. For instance, you might start with a section, “What is XYZ?” and “Why XYZ matters” before diving into, “How to do XYZ.” This way, your readers are fully invested in finding out how these tips can improve their lives in some small (or big) way. 

If you’ve ever been in charge of gathering reports for your marketing team, then you know there are a plethora of metrics you can measure.

One metric that you might not think to use for several channels is share of voice. However, this is a versatile metric that you can use in a competitive analysis for social media, organic traffic, or even paid advertising.

As a marketer, share of voice is important because it helps you understand how well your brand is performing against the competition.

Below, let’s review everything you need to know about share of voice.

While share of voice isn’t the same thing as market share (more on that below), share of voice tends to correlate with market share and revenue. For instance, the more you’re dominating in the conversation online, the more market share you’ll have and the more authority you’ll have among users.

This metric was mainly used as a way to measure success in paid advertising, however it’s much more than that now. You can calculate share of voice for organic traffic and social media, in addition to paid advertising.

By calculating your share of voice, you’ll have a better understanding of many people know about your brand, and you can identify areas to work on. For example, if you have a high share of voice in social media, but not as much in organic traffic, then you know you need to improve your organic traffic strategies.

Now, what’s the difference between share of voice and share of market?

Share of Voice Formula

To calculate share of voice, divide your brand’s measures by the total market measures. This could be your social mentions, paid advertising clicks, or website traffic.

To find these numbers, you’ll need to use some of your marketing tools. You can look at your social media automation tool, for instance, to count how many mentions your brand has. Then, you can calculate how many mentions your competitors have. After you add all those together, you can divide your mentions by the total to find the share of voice percentage.

Calculating share of voice should help you learn which channels need your attention the most and how you stack up against competitors. Now, let’s see which channels you should calculate share of voice for.

Share of Voice

Advertising

When it comes to advertising, it’s important to find your share of voice to see how much ad space you’re taking up compared to the competition.

To find this, you’ll divide how well you did in a paid advertising metric (such as impression shares), by the total number in the industry.

For PPC ads, you can look at impression shares, which represent the amount of times your ads were shown to users compared to the number of times your ads could have been shown, based on your keyword and campaign settings.

Share of voice is important in advertising because it will help you budget, measure campaign effectiveness, and give you a competitive advantage.

Social Media

Social media is one of the main channels where you can use share of voice as a measure of success since social media is where consumers go to be heard.

With social media, you can measure brand mentions, hashtags, reach, impressions, or even sentiment.

To calculate, use a social media tool to measure brand mentions. Calculate yours, your competitors, then add those numbers together and divide your mentions by the total.

Share of voice is important in social media because it will help you determine which competitors are getting mentioned more, so you can analyze what you do versus what they do. This will help you identify gaps in your strategy. Ask yourself, what platforms are working for your competitors, which influencers talk about them, and where they’re the most popular.

Now, you might be wondering, “How can I generate these reports?”

Share of Voice Reports

To create a share of voice report, you should be able to use your marketing automation tool to gather the numbers. You can simply create an excel sheet and begin calculating share of voice for several channels including social media, advertising, or organic traffic.

Calculating share of voice is a great way to learn how well you perform against your competitors. The best part is that you can use this metric for several marketing channels, from advertising to social media.

We know that growing a business can feel like a constant juggling act: from driving sales and managing a team, to prioritizing product roadmaps and keeping customers happy. Founders are often forced to step away from building their business and consider the numbers behind their day-to-day operations, in order to fundraise, which can be a serious distraction.

The good news is that the world of alternative financing is evolving by the day. Founders have a growing set of options for accessing capital which can give them time back to focus on higher-impact work. This aligns well with our mission at HubSpot, which is focused on helping companies grow in a way that doesn’t come at the expense of customer delight or that sacrifices the culture a team has worked so hard to build.

That’s why HubSpot Ventures is thrilled to announce our investment in Pipe, a company that is changing the way companies access capital and one that shares our mission to help companies grow on their terms.

Founders Harry Hurst, Josh Mangel and Zain Allarakhia started Pipe with the idea that recurring revenue streams are assets in and of themselves. Historically, there hasn’t been  a two-sided platform connecting companies that have monthly or quarterly recurring revenue with investors who could bid to purchase these revenues for their annual value, upfront.

Pipe integrates with a company’s banking, payment processing, and accounting systems to rate a business almost instantly, without disrupting any existing workflows or customer relationships. The product tracks revenue streams automatically, and once companies are approved, they have access to the Pipe Trading Platform to see real-time bids for their full annual value.

They’ve attracted buy side participants who are vetted institutional investors who bid to purchase monthly and quarterly paid recurring revenues at a small discount to their annual value, unlocking an entirely new asset class. What this means for companies is that founders can now access low-cost, non-dilutive financing conveniently without the drawbacks of traditional debt or the distraction of raising growth capital.

We were attracted to Pipe’s bold vision to be the go-to platform for companies seeking convenient, low-cost capital, as well as their unique positioning around using ecosystem partnerships to help drive their growth. The entire Pipe team is on a mission to change the game in how companies like HubSpot’s customers access capital, and HubSpot Ventures is honored to be part of their journey.

Learn more about Pipe here, and more about HubSpot Ventures here.

Gen Z has the fastest-growing buying power of any generation — but it’s still one of the most misunderstood and challenging age groups to market to.

While previous generations can be generally be persuaded to buy products through brand loyalty, fear of missing out, or high-budget ads from major companies, Gen-Z’s relatively modest spending habits and craving for authenticity has turned some traditional marketing tactics upside down.

Gen Z’s budget-consciousness became even more apparent during 2020 and the global pandemic. As physical stores closed, brands struggled to keep up with online sales demand, and as members of the young-adult workforce worried about job security, brands had to take even more steps to market to the age group.

Not only did marketing content have to establish that products were essential, worth purchasing, or readily available to Gen Z audiences, but brands also needed to prove that they were relatable, trustworthy, and shared values with them.

Because creating engaging content for Gen Z was no easy feat in 2020, Fanbytes — an influencer talent agency — began to host Gen Z TikTok influencers in a U.K.-based home where they lived full-time, created content, and collaborated during the 2020 lockdowns. This home was named, “Bytehouse.”

What the Heck is Bytehouse?

At the moment, Bytehouse — which BBC, The Guardian, and other news outlets referred to as a “TikTok house” — hosts influencers including KT Franklin, Lily-Rose, Sebbyjon, Monty Keates, and the duo Em and Loz. According to Fanbytes content manager Shelly Chadha, the group of influencers, known as the “Bytesquad”, have more than 10 million combined TikTok followers.

“Bytehouse was created in response to Gen Z consumer behavior, which has moved away from linear TV and towards social media,” Chadha explains. 

By housing Gen Z creators together, Chadha says, “We have ensured that the content is not only relatable and entertaining to young people but reflects their beliefs and behaviors. It was extremely important to us that … [the influencers] are almost mirror images and can help answer any questions regarding identity, sexuality, and race.”

While the Bytesquad churned out many non-branded TikTok videos, they also helped market products to Gen Z. For example, here’s a Bytesquad demo of products from the skincare brand Starface:

Shortly after the success of Bytehouse, a U.S.-version, called “Hype House,” started housing YouTubers and TikTok influencers in Los Angeles. This house was also covered in publications like the New York Times and Cosmopolitan.

While influencer houses like these might seem more centered around entertainment than branding, these experiments have enabled content managers and agencies like Fanbytes to zone in on the Gen Z audience.

And while influencers might not be relevant to your marketing efforts now, you can still learn a great deal from the content they’re creating for the unique Gen-Z demographic.

Luckily, if you’re a marketer who can’t get top Gen-Z talent to make content for you, there are still plenty of ways your team can engage and reach this audience.

To help marketers in their quest to capture the Gen-Z audience, Chadha offered us a handful of great tips for creating engaging content for the age group.

How to Create Marketing Content for Gen Z

1. Remember: Gen Z and Millennials aren’t the same.

“One crucial mistake we see a lot of brands do is bundle up Gen Z and millennials into one category and create content that they believe will engage them simultaneously,” Chadha explains.

For example, “Despite both [millennials and Gen Z] looking for authenticity in the content they consume, Gen Z takes this to a whole new level and possesses unique consumer behavior,” Chadha says.

Additionally, because Gen Z was raised around revolutionary technology, like smartphones and IPads, “the content they choose to consume is always in line with the newest trends, whereas millennials may not be so picky,” Chadha explains. “It is compulsory for brands to be up-to-date with the newest innovations in the content they create if they want to win over Gen Z hearts.”

Lastly, since Gen Z grew up in times of recession, while millennials grew up in an economic boom, Gen Z tends “to not trust brands quite as readily as millennials do,” Chadha adds.

Chadha is not the only marketer to notice the key differences above. In a research-driven post, HubSpot dug into similar generational differences in spending, content consumption, and level of brand trust.

Ultimately, brands will need to leverage authentic, trustworthy, or entertaining content that demonstrates the value of a product to engage Gen Z. We’ll dive more into what this looks like with the following tips.

2. Pick the right platform.

One thing is certain about Gen Z. They love experimenting with the latest social and video creation apps.

But, if you’re marketing to young adults, it can be hard to determine which apps are just a trend, which have marketing potential, and which aren’t worth spending time on.

To ensure they’re telling brands and influencers to focus on the right platforms, Fanbytes does deep research and testing on viral apps before recommending them to clients.

“For each new app that comes to our attention, we create a strategy using members of our team by researching [the app’s] offerings. Not until we have completed thorough investigations into new platforms’ offerings will we advise which platforms are worth brands’ investments and which aren’t,” Chadha explains.

For example, two platforms Chadha’s team recently researched are Triller — a music video creation platform and Instagram Reels — a TikTok-like feature within the Instagram app.

Aside from spending time on Triller and Instagram Reels to learn how they work, as well as which influencers use them, “we look into the type of campaigns that can be run on these platforms and how other brands have used the platform,” Chadha explains.

“We also activate test campaigns with real brands ourselves to put our insights into action and see if the platform can really deliver,” Chadha adds.

Apps Fanbytes is Watching

TikTok

While TikTok saw astounding growth in its launch year, it received another burst in usage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The world saw a huge rise in the rate at which we consume short-form content, with Tiktok becoming the most downloaded app in a single quarter at the start of 2020,” Chadha says.

“TikTok provided a form of escapism to so many people that needed to tune out to what was happening in the world whilst stuck indoors,” Chadha notes. “It also offered a constant feed of short-form content, from comedy to dance challenges and everything in between.”

“TikTok has continued to rise in its numbers and other apps have risen or diversified their offerings to follow suit,” Chadha adds.

But what makes TikTok rise above its competitors? Chadha explains:

“Instead of the polished aesthetics that platforms like Instagram perpetuate, TikTok values personality, originality, innovation, and fun. Consequently, TikTok offers all types of brands the opportunity to reach users in a way that they can’t do elsewhere.”

Additionally, because TikTok’s algorithms aim to match viewers with videos they’ll enjoy based on data from the viewer and video-specific engagements, “brands and creators can go viral from a great piece of content regardless of follower count,” Chadha says. “If a brand can understand the platform’s algorithm, the behavior of its users, and the trends, even if they only have 200 followers, they’re already 75% there.”

If you choose to market your brand on TikTok, Chadha says it’s important to define your “niche” and create attention-grabbing content around it.

While knowing you’ll want to market to Gen Z is a good start to finding your TikTok niche, it’s important to remember that there are many subgroups of young adults with different interests on the app. As you determine what your brand niche is, Chadha suggests asking yourself the following questions:

• “What demographic do you want to drive traffic, sales, or clicks from?
• What content should you be creating to target those users?
• What influencers can you leverage to distribute the content?

“Noting these things down is a great first step in your TikTok marketing journey and can make all the difference,” Chadha says.

While TikTok can be a helpful tool for brands trying to reach Gen Z, you should still consider testing other similar apps as well. Although TikTok’s had historic app growth, it’s still vulnerable to bans, regulations, and censorship in certain countries which could impact marketers.

If regulations impact your TikTok strategy, staying in the know of other apps, such as those mentioned below, could help you smoothly pivot your content strategy elsewhere if needed.

Instagram Reels

“Instagram’s new Reels feature offers brands a more diverse and varied range of content on the platform and we’ve seen quite a few brands take advantage of this,” says Chadha.

For example, this Reel from Louis Vuitton creates seamless transition content,”

While Instagram Reels could have a promising outlook based on the success of other Instagram features, Chadha says Fanbytes is “still questioning” whether this alternative “will ever quite reach TikTok’s potential.”

Although Reels might not be as viral as TikTok, marketers should still check it out — especially if they’ve already gained Gen Z Instagram audiences. While TikTok has taken over app stores, Instagram Reels still allows you to reach Instagram’s audience of more than 2 billion users.

Triller

Right now, Triller — a music video creation app — might be more relevant to music industry companies. However, it might be a good app to keep on your radar for Gen Z research, especially if TikTok continues to see ban concerns around the world. To show you some of the similarities, here’s a video that demonstrates how to make a Triller video:

“From our research, we have seen campaigns taking off on Triller due to its well-deserved reputation in the music industry. With investors like Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne, it’s no wonder musicians have jumped on the app to create music videos using Triller’s built-in AI video editing software.”

However, while Triller is seeing steady usage and campaign growth, Chadha notes that it still is more specific to brands and creators in the music industry, while TikTok is still more appropriate for brands with all sorts of niches.

“We believe that Triller is going to continue to grow after being downloaded 250 million times and reaching number one in the App Store in 50 different markets,” says Chadha. “However, we don’t see it as direct competition to TikTok as Triller will continue to cement itself in the music marketing world whilst TikTok has the potential to grow in all other areas.”

Catering your content to each platform.

Once you land on a platform, you’ll want to follow some of the tips noted above to determine which types of content will stand out and which opportunities you’ll have there.

For example, when ByteHouse launches branded content on TikTok, it’s short, entertaining, and to the point.

Meanwhile, the group’s YouTube page features longer-form videos that take more time to give detailed information about a brand. Here’s an example where the group went to a restaurant called FUWA FUWA:

While ByteSquad offers quick information and attention-grabbing storylines on TikTok, they use YouTube to create more in-depth discussion around a brand.

3. Prioritize video and audio content.

“It is always advisable to go with a video approach in the content you’re creating. Gen Z rejects traditional advertising with their mobile-first mindset, spending an average of about 3.5 hours of internet videos a day,” Chadha explains.

Chadha’s words are backed by a handful of research studies. In one of the most recent from YouTube, Gen Z respondents polled said they couldn’t “live” without YouTube content. The study also revealed that many members of Gen Z rely on video research when determining if they should make a purchase.

When it comes to Bytehouse, influencers there focused primarily on creating short-form videos, primarily for Gen Z platforms like TikTok. At the moment, Bytesquad‘s official TikTok account features hundreds of original videos targeted at Gen Z — many of which have more than 100 thousand views. The squad also creates videos for platforms like YouTube and Instagram.

Aside from video, Chadha says brands might also want to consider audio marketing as well. Examples of this could include creating podcast content and advertising on music streaming services that are popular to Gen Z.

“We also predict that audio marketing is going to be big in 2021. Audio within marketing enables personalized content and intimacy, which Gen Z loves,” Chadha says. “In a report by Pandora, the average daily audio streaming hours have increased by 32%. Digital audio now commands more listening time than traditional AM/FM radio, accounting for 53% of all daily audio consumption.”

4. Hook your audience quickly.

“[Gen Z marketing] content shouldn’t just be informative, it should also be fast,” Chadha advises. “Keep it snappy and to the point.”

Regardless of which content type you use, it’s key to remember that Gen Z only has an eight-second attention span. And, that span could be even shorter when surfing fast-paced social platforms with endless content.

To capture Gen Z’s attention, Chadha advises that marketing content has “to be super succinct and come with a great hook.”

Here’s an example of a TikTok the ByteSquad created with a great hook. In the video, one of the members entices mystery by walking up to her roommates and saying “Look what I got.” Because the video is shot from her point of view, you can’t see what type of product she’s holding but see her roommates’ jealous reactions. As the video continues, it’s revealed that everyone is jealous over the influencer’s bag of food from McDonalds.

5. Embrace advertainment.

Once you hook your audience, you’ll want to keep them entertained while continuing to differentiate your content from dull product placements.

Chadha says one of the biggest challenges Gen Z marketers face is creating entertaining content that still interestingly highlights a product or brand.

“If the campaign is intrusive with brand logos plastered everywhere, the users will know they’re being advertised to and the content won’t appear organic,” Chadha explains.

Ultimately, Chadha says the “only way” marketers can be successful on TikTok or other prominent Gen Z platforms is by naturally balancing attention-grabbing content with brand information.

“This means adopting our ‘advertainment’ approach; entertainment first, product-second mentality,” Chadha advises. “By studying [a Gen Z platform] and making use of its tools, features, and trends … you can successfully win the hearts of its users.”

One example of how Fanbytes has helped brands reach Gen Z is a recent campaign they did with Idahoan Foods

When food content was on the rise during lockdowns, Idahoan Foods wanted to drive Gen-Z awareness to their instant mashed potato products.

Instead of launching traditional ads, Fanbytes created a custom TikTok sound, “leveraged influencers, and created a dance challenge to draw users in to connect with the brand,” Chadha explains.

The video below highlights one example of an advertainment video Idahoan Foods published on TikTok. In the short-clip, an influencer named Nico Bisesi compares the taste of Idahoan’s instant potatoes to that of a butter knife.

While the video clearly shows an Idahoan Foods product placement, viewers might be more intrigued by the oddness of the story. For example, rather than getting bored by a video ad, TikTok viewers might ask themselves, “Why did he eat that knife?” or “What will happen next?”

Chadha notes that Idahoan Foods’ overall TikTok strategy has resulted in more than 14 million TikTok video views, 211 pieces of user-generated content, and 3,700 added Idahoan Foods followers.

When determining why the tactic was so successful, Chandra believes it was due to the brand focusing more on the level of content entertainment and less on intrusive product placement.

“We didn’t plaster [Idahoan Foods] everywhere, but instead found a way to connect [Gen Z] users with the product through an entertaining concept,” Chadha says.

6. Embrace retargeting.

“Gen Z’s quick attention span also means that they will most likely scroll past any ads quickly,” Chadha adds.

Because Gen Z speeds past ads, brands that leverage advertising will likely need to show their promotions to Gen Z more than once.

“[Gen Z is] bombarded with ads hundreds of times a day and so one ad is not going to win them over,” Chadha explains. “Utilising retargeting helps you keep front of mind and enables users to feel that they know you.”

7. Leverage influencer marketing (and it doesn’t have to be TikTok!).

While you don’t need influencers to take advantage of all the tips on this list, they can still be quite beneficial when you have access to them.

“A great opportunity to generate a lasting and meaningful impression on Gen Z is through influencer marketing. Gen Z is a group who buy into people rather than brands and autonomy rather than big corporations,” Chadha explains. “So, building relationships with influencers who have built strong relationships with your target market is a good way to go.”

Through leveraging influencer marketing at Fanbytes, Chadha says the agency has received “astonishing results” for its brand clients.

“Let’s take ACCA, the leading international accounting body as an example,” Chadha adds. “They approached us as they were looking to change perceptions of accountancy from ‘dull, boring and exclusive’ to ‘exciting, impactful and relevant’ amongst Gen Z.”

“We selected some of our best influencers who are reliable voices in the TikTok community to head to an accountancy firm for a day and film ‘day in the life’ content for their fans.

In the video below, captioned with “Work time vs LUNCH TIME 😂 Relatable?”, Sherice Banton, a TikTok creator with more than 1.7 million followers, pretends to work alongside actual accountants. After seeing a few clips of her working in a seemingly normal office, one clip — which symbolizes lunchtime — shows her dancing alongside the accountants.

The video not only allowed viewers to get a glimpse into the world of accounting, but also made the topic of working in an office funny, entertaining, and relatable to anyone who watched. Chadha notes that this campaign drove more than 6.2 million video views, 182,000 TikTok “hearts,” and over a thousand comments.

Some of the best places to leverage influencer marketing could be on short-form video platforms, such as Instagram Reels or TikTok. This type of strategy can be especially helpful if you want to leverage a viral video platform but haven’t mastered the hottest content types, trends, or audience yet. Because influencers have built a following on a given platform, they’ll likely know what content works and how to implement information about your brand or product in those videos.

While Fanbytes works with macro-level TikTok influencers, smaller brands don’t have to toss this strategy aside if they can’t access a big name or don’t know if TikTok is right for them. While it might be more challenging to access major influencers, there are plenty of micro-level creators across social platforms with large follower-bases and strong expertise in many niches.

For example, if you sell fitness products, you might consider working with a creator who posts their workouts regularly, talks about the products they use, and has thousands of engaged followers or regular comments on their content. Similarly, if you sell clothing, you could look for creators known for posting regularly about fashion trends.

8. Let Gen Z create content for you.

“Marketers who are targeting Gen Z also have the opportunity to supercharge their campaigns by inspiring [audiences] to create content for their brand,” Chadha explains. “Gen Z loves to be creative and really experience a brand through content creation. If the concept [of your campaign] is on-trend, you might be able to build an army of fans creating content for you without having to lift a finger.”

“Take the #davidstesla trend for example. It began with a collaboration between G FUEL, an energy drink brand, and David Dobrik, a popular creator on Youtube and TikTok. The collaboration was created as a contest where David would give away a Tesla to the user who creates the best video and follows the G Fuel page.”

Since launching this campaign, G FUEL’s TikTok page has grown to more than 863 thousand followers and received more than 12 million likes.

Aside from the high-priced prize, Chadha explains the campaign went viral “because it puts the audience in control by giving them the opportunity to vote on the best videos via the amount of views, shares, and engagement on a video submission.”

“Secondly, it merges our concept of ‘advertainment’ seamlessly by hardly mentioning the product. Instead, the product is integrated subtly but is still required to follow the page to be considered,” Chadha adds.

Even if you don’t have access to a top influencer — or a free Tesla — user-generated content can still be beneficial for your brand.

For example, you could host a smaller-scale version of a giveaway that asks audiences to create content for a chance of winning one of your products. Or, you could offer to share the best user-generated videos on your site or social media channels, which might encourage people to create videos in hopes of gaining online awareness.

9. Study and embrace Gen Z trends.

“A generation that grew up with fast-paced technological developments and social media, [Gen Z is] extremely digitally savvy and used to adjusting to new technology. Because of this, trends on platforms such as TikTok move extremely fast and the content that’s popular on social media platforms one minute may be out the window the next,” Chadha says.

“Brands need to be all over social media … and constantly check in with the latest and greatest trends so that they are always a part of the conversation,” Chadha explains.

“Our number one piece of advice would be to be active on the platform you’re trying to dominate. This means not only as a marketer — but as an interested user,” Chadha advises.

“You may hear about viral TikTok trends but you will never know the power [a platform] possesses and the many types of content forms and trends it circulates every week unless you are spending at least 15 minutes a day on there,” Chadha explains.

Surfing through content on the platform you’re most interested in, “Will teach you how to master the platform and build a strong strategy so that you’re not leaving anything to chance,” according to Chadha.

10. Don’t be afraid to share your values.

“Unlike millennials, who care more about what a brand can do for them, Gen Z looks for authentic messages and what a brand stands for,” Chadha explains. Growing up with the likes of Greta Thunberg, Gen Z is a generation that stands up for what they believe in and they expect the brands they invest in to do the same.”

“The content Gen Z is interested in should speak to what they believe in and have messages communicated to them as a friend would, rather than an intrusive corporation,” Chadha adds. “Leave the flashy advertising behind and tap into the real and raw side of your brand. Think entertainment first, product second.”

Chadha explains that branded content “shouldn’t be limited to advertisements or product placements. … By creating content that provides insight into [brand] stances on socio-political issues and the story behind the brand,” companies could gain more trust, loyalty, and potentially conversions from Gen Z.

Should You Target Gen Z?

Now that you know how much effort you’ll need to put into targeting Gen Z, you might be asking yourself, “Should I target this generation?”

Well, if you market for a B2C brand, or a B2B brand with products that solve for all age groups in the workforce, you’ll either want to start planning or zone in on a Gen Z strategy. While they might not have full purchasing power yet, many of them have reached adulthood, are getting jobs, and starting to make their own purchasing decisions.

As this generation inches closer to becoming one of your marketing targets, it will be vital to do as much research on them as possible. You can get started by diving into our content on how Gen Z differs from other generations, spends money, and other need-to-know Gen Z data.

When Instagram Reels first launched, many users treated it like TikTok 2.0. They posted their videos on TikTok first, then reuploaded that same content to Reels. Now, Instagram is saying, “Hey, stop that.“

On its creators’ account, the company announced it would be on the lookout for recycled content and stop recommending it to users on the Reels tab.

I mean, they’ve got a point. Some videos lose their quality when they’re reuploaded and become blurry, which can dissuade viewers. With this new approach, brands can provide fresh content that generates more engagement, and Instagram can improve its Reels adoption rate.

So, now that you’re tasked with making Instagram Reels, get inspired by these examples below.

1. People’s Revolt

What better way to make your first Reels than by introducing your followers to your team? In this video, People’s Revolt does three things right. First, they use a viral sound in their video, which can help them reach more users.

That sound also includes a call-to-action to business owners and encourages them to engage with the post. Given that the company offers digital marketing and PR services, it’s a great way to connect with their target audience.

They also keep the video simple. No fancy props or design – just the sound, the team, and the copy. It’s really all you need for a good Reels video.

2. Sassy Woof

If you want another way to introduce followers to your team, take a page out of the ‘90s TV show playbook, like “Full House” and “Family Matters.” That’s what this brand did.

Sassy Woof introduced its staff (which included one furry boss) with the Full House theme song playing in the background – it’s the pawfect approach (don’t look at me, they started with the puns first).

3. Anima Iris

For your next Reels video, consider pulling the curtain back and showing your followers behind-the-scenes content. In this example, luxury purse brand Anima Iris gives followers a peek into the product shots for an upcoming campaign.

Consumers want brands to be more authentic, and content like this does can humanize your brand and help build a stronger connection with your audience.

It’s also an effective strategy leading up to a launch, as it builds anticipation and excitement within your following.

4. Glamnetic

Who said you need fancy lighting and equipment for product marketing?

In this video, Glamnetic uses a simple setup to market its makeup corrector pen, the latest product launch from the brand.

One benefit of using Instagram Reels is the music embed feature. As long as it’s available in Instagram’s library — which most songs are — you can use any song you want in your video. It doesn’t constitute an official advertisement, so you are not restricted by copyright laws.

5. Jumz.Accessories

Yes, this is an example of the recycled content that Instagram will now make less discoverable. You can clearly see the TikTok watermark, but that aside, this is a great example of the type of content brands should be embracing.

It’s product marketing but it’s a little more subtle. In this video titled “How to Style Our Mini Handbags,” a model styles the handbags with different outfits, showcasing the product’s versatility.

It’s unclear whether the video is produced by a Jumz team member or an influencer, but what we do know is that it checks off all the boxes for a good Reels video.

6. Apple

If your team doesn’t have the resources or time to dedicate to brainstorm Reels content, consider outsourcing it.

In this instance, Apple commissioned creative studio Incite Design to make a how-to video using the iPhone 12. The end result is a quick tutorial of two Apple products that highlights the phone’s slo-mo effect, a key product feature.

7. MissionRecruit

When in doubt, share some tips and tricks with your audience. They add value to your audience and present another opportunity to gain some credibility.

MissionRecruit executed this well with this video, which gives women three ways to dress for their next interview. As an employment recruitment firm, this type of content is in perfect alignment with the brand.

The best part? The Reels video also doubles as user-generated content (UGC), as they featured pictures from influencers.

8. Netflix

When it comes to social media, Netflix doesn’t take itself too seriously.

They’ve succeeded in tapping into what viewers want and how they want it. Their Reels content is no different.

This hilarious skit is meant to show the point of view (POV) of a plant looking at someone crying over a show on Netflix. It’s so simple but if the comments under the post are any indication, Netflix hit the nail right on the head.

Just as sounds go viral on short-form video platforms, so do special effects like this one. When the opportunity strikes, join in on the fun.

9. Skillshare

The time limit for a Reels video is 30 seconds. It’s also just the right length for a teaser video to create anticipation ahead of a new launch.

To promote a new course, Skillshare posted a snippet of the course where Kelis, recording artist and chef bringing all the boys to the yard, gives a tip on mixing flavors.

It’s a cooking show, so they could have just created a montage of what the course will cover. Instead, they took an interesting tidbit from the course and used that to attract viewers.

Another important detail to note here is the use of captions. Accessibility should always be top of mind when creating any content. Beyond their importance for deaf or hard-of-hearing people, non-native English speakers can also benefit from captioned videos. And let’s not forget those who regularly watch videos on mute or may be watching your Reels in a loud environment.

Captions broaden your video’s reach, so there’s never a reason not to use it.

10. Adobe

Creativity is a core tenet of Adobe’s brand identity. So their Reels, and most of their social media content, celebrate their users’ creativity.

This is another great example of user-generated content. For it to work, the UGC has to match your brand and audience.

In this video, the artist takes a trip back in time and shows how Adobe Photoshop has evolved over the years. One might look at this video and think, “What’s the point?“

Well, not every piece of content you make is meant to lead to a direct sale. Sometimes, a sale isn’t the goal. Sometimes, the goal is to build brand awareness, foster a community, or create stronger messaging. In this case, Adobe is already a household name, so these posts may inspire and celebrate, rather than promote.

11. HubSpot

I love a numbered list. I know exactly what I’m getting and there’s no surprise.

And from a marketer’s standpoint, this type of content is easily repurposed. Let’s say you had a listicle with this information. Well, now you can use that same information to create a 30-second Reels video.

You can also use this format to direct traffic to your blog post by introducing a few items from the list and inviting your followers to read the full list on your website.

There are so many ways to play with Instagram Reels. Try some sounds and effects and see what resonates with your audience. Once you get in a groove, you’ll see how easy it is to make short and effective video content.

Here’s a cliche among digital marketers: search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t what it used to be.

Here’s a true statement you don’t hear as often: your SEO strategy for 2021 shouldn’t focus on keywords.

These days, most businesses understand the basic concepts of SEO and why it’s important.

However, when it comes to developing and executing a sound SEO strategy for your business, just creating content for the keywords your customers are searching for is both arduous and, well, wrong.

In this post, we’ll explain what an SEO strategy is, and how you create your own to help you meet your content marketing goals.

Having an SEO strategy is important because it helps you stay on track when creating content. Instead of just creating what you think people are looking for, your strategy will ensure that you’re creating content that people are searching for. 

For content marketing, an SEO strategy is a critical piece of the puzzle because it is how your content will come to be seen in the first place, especially in search engine result pages (SERPs). If your content is scattered and unorganized, search engine bots will have a harder time indexing your site, identifying your area of authority, and ranking your site pages.

Mobile SEO Strategy

Mobile SEO is an important factor to keep in mind when creating your overall strategy. Mobile optimization involves ensuring your site and site content is available and accessible to visitors on mobile devices, so they can have the same experience and receive the same value as desktop browsers. 

Mobile optimization is incredibly important, as Google practices mobile-first indexing. This means instead of crawling a desktop site, the algorithm will use the mobile version of your site when indexing and ranking pages for SERPs. In addition, 61% of Google search queries in the U.S. occur on mobile devices. So, all things considered, your SEO strategy would be ineffective without prioritizing mobile optimization. 

While it’s not an entirely separate process, there are distinct considerations for mobile SEO like monitoring page speed, responsive site design, local SEO, and creating content that is high-quality, regardless of device it’s viewed on.

What is an SEO?

Search engine optimizers (SEOs) are people who optimize websites to help them rank higher on SERPs and gain more organic traffic. In essence, an SEO is a highly specialized content strategist that helps a business discover opportunities to answer questions people have about their respective industries.

There are three types of SEO that an SEO strategist can focus on:

• • On-page SEO: This SEO focuses on the content that’s actually on site pages, and how to optimize it to boost the website’s ranking for specific keywords.
  • Off-page SEO: This SEO focuses on links directed to the website from elsewhere on the internet. The number of backlinks a site has from reputable sources helps you build trust with search algorithms.
  • Technical SEO: This SEO focuses on a website’s backend architecture, like site code. Google cares just as much about technical set-up as it does content, so this position is important for rankings.

Bear in mind that every business has different objectives, so it is an SEO’s job to examine their industry, determine what their audiences care about, and develop a strategy that gives them what they’re looking for. 

Below we’ll go over some steps you can take to ensure your SEO strategy sets you up for success. 

1. Make a list of topics.

Keywords are at the heart of SEO, but they’re no longer the first step to achieving organic growth. Instead, the first step is to make a list of topics you’d like your content to address. 

To start, compile a list of about 10 words and terms associated with your product or service. Use an SEO tool ( Google’s Keyword Tool, Ahrefs , SEMRush or GrowthBar just to name a few) to research these words, identify their search volume, and come up with variations that make sense for your business. 

By doing this, you are associating these topics with popular short-tail keywords, but you’re not dedicating individual blog posts to these keywords. Let’s go over an example of this process using the image below.

Let’s say a swimming pool business is trying to rank for “fiberglass pools,” which receives 110,000 searches per month. This short-tail keyword can represent the overarching topic for creating their content, but the business will also need to identify a series of related keywords to include in their content. For example, they could opt to use the “fiberglass pool prices,” or “fiberglass pool cost,” to achieve additional rankings for the overall keyword of fiberglass pools. 

Using search volume and competition as your measurement, you can create a list of 10-15 short-tail keywords that are relevant to your business and are being searched for by your target audiences. Then, rank this list based on monthly search volume. 

Each of the keywords that you’ve identified are called pillars, and they serve as the primary support for a larger cluster of long-tail keywords, which we’ll discuss below.

2. Make a list of long-tail keywords based on these topics.

During this step you’ll begin optimizing your pages for specific keywords. For each pillar you’ve identified, use your keyword tool to identify five to 10 long-tail keywords that dig deeper into the original topic keyword.

For example, we regularly create content about SEO, but it’s difficult to rank well on Google for such a popular topic with this acronym alone. We also risk competing with our own content by creating multiple pages that are all targeting the exact same keyword — and potentially the same SERPs. Therefore, we also create content on conducting keyword research, optimizing images for search engines, creating an SEO strategy (which you’re reading right now), and other subtopics within the SEO umbrella.

This helps businesses attract people who have varying interests and concerns — and ultimately create more entry points for people interested in what you have to offer.

Use your long-tail keywords to create blog posts or web pages that explain the specific topics within the pillars you’ve selected. Together, all of your long-tail keywords create a cluster around a pillar topic. Search engine algorithms depend on the relationships between clusters to connect users with the information they’re looking for.

Here’s a short video on this concept:

Think of it this way: the more specific your content, the more specific the needs of your audience can be, and the more likely you’ll convert this traffic into leads. This is how Google finds value in the websites it crawls — the pages that dig into the inner workings of a general topic are seen as the best answer to a person’s query, and will rank higher.

3. Build pages for each topic.

When it comes to websites and ranking in search engines, trying to get one page to rank for a handful of keywords can be next to impossible. But, here’s where the rubber meets the road.

Use the pillar topics you came up with to create a page or post that gives a high-level overview of the topic using the long-tail keywords you came up with for each cluster in step two. These pillar pages can essentially be a table of contents, where you’re giving a description of the main topic, and briefing readers on subtopics you’ll elaborate on in other posts.  

Ultimately, the number of topics for which you create pillar pages should coincide with your business needs, like the number of products and offerings you have. This will make it much easier for your prospects and customers to find you in search engines no matter what keywords they use.

4. Set up a blog.

Blogging can be an incredible way to rank for keywords and engage your website’s users. After all, every blog post is a new web page and an additional opportunity to rank in SERPs. If your business does not already have a blog, consider creating one.

As you write each blog post and expand on your clusters, you should do three things:

1. Don’t include your long-tail keyword more than three or four times throughout the page as Google doesn’t consider exact keyword matches as often as it used to. In fact, too many instances of your keyword can be a red flag to search engines that you’re keyword stuffing to gain rankings, and they’ll penalize you for this.
2. Second, always link out to the pillar page you created for your topics. You can do this in the form of tags in your content management system (CMS), or as basic anchor text in the body of the article.
3. Once you publish each blog post, link to it within the parent pillar page that supports the subtopic. By connecting both the pillar and the cluster in this way, you’re telling Google that there’s a relationship between the long-tail keyword and the overarching topic you’re trying to rank for.

5. Create a consistent blogging schedule.

Every blog post or web page you create doesn’t necessarily need to belong to a topic cluster. There’s also value in writing about tangential topics your customers care about to build authority with the Google algorithms. 

With that in mind, make it a point to blog at least once a week. Remember, you are blogging primarily for your audience, not search engines, so study your target market and write about things that they are interested in.

It may be helpful to create a content strategy to remain consistent and focused on your goals. 

6. Create a link-building plan.

The topic cluster model is your way forward in SEO, but it’s not the only way to get your website content to rank higher once it’s been created.

While our first five steps were dedicated to on-page SEO, link-building is the primary objective of off-page SEO. Link-building is the process of attracting inbound links (also called backlinks) to your website from other sources on the internet. As a general rule, sites with more authority that link back to your content have a more significant impact on your rankings. 

Dedicate some time to brainstorming all the various ways you can attract inbound links. Maybe you’ll start by sharing links with local businesses in exchange for links to their own sites, or you’ll write a few blog posts and share them on different social media platforms. You can also approach other blogs for guest blogging opportunities through which you can link back to your website.

7. Compress media files before uploading them to your site.

This is a small but important step in the SEO process, especially for mobile optimization. 

As your blog or website grows, you’ll undoubtedly have more images, videos, and related media to support your content. These visual assets help retain your visitors’ attention, but it’s easy to forget that these files can be very large. Since page speed is a crucial ranking factor, it’s important to monitor the size of the media files you upload to your site. 

The bigger the file size, the more difficult it is for an internet browser to render your website. It’s also harder for mobile browsers to load these images, as the bandwidth on their devices is significantly smaller. So, the smaller the file size, the faster your website will load. But, how do you compress images and still retain quality?

It’s worth considering the use of a compression tool to reduce file sizes before uploading images, videos, and gifs. Sites like TinyPNG compress images in bulk, while Google’s Squoosh can shrink image files to microscopic sizes. However you choose to compress your media, keeping files in the kilobytes (KB) range is a good rule of thumb.

8. Stay up-to-date on SEO news and best practices.

Just like marketing, the search engine landscape is ever-evolving. Staying on top of current trends and best practices is an important strategy, and there are multiple online resources that can help you do so. Here are a few resources to check out:

• Moz
• SEOBook
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Engine Land
• Diggity Marketing
• This Blog!

9. Measure and track your content’s success.

SEO can take a lot of time and effort, and, because of this, you’ll want to know if your strategy works. It’s important to track your metrics to understand the success of your overall process, and identify possible areas for improvement. 

You can monitor organic traffic using your preferred web analytics tool or create your own dashboard using Excel or Google Sheets. Also, tracking indexed pages, conversions, ROI, and your rankings on SERPs can help you recognize your success as well as identify areas of opportunity.

SEO Process

Once you’ve created your SEO strategy, you should also build a process to continue optimizing for new keywords and evolving search intent. Here are a few steps you can take. 

1. Historically optimize your content. 

Devote some time each month to updating old blog posts with new and up-to-date information to continue ranking in SERPs. You can also use this time to add any SEO best-practices that weren’t initially addressed, like missing image alt text.

2. Look out for changing keywords and new search intent.

After a few months, track how your blog posts are ranking, and which keywords they’re ranking for. This can help you adjust subheadings and copy to leverage new search intent that your audience may be interested in.

3. Add more editorial value to your old content.

Sometimes, you’ll find that a post is completely out of date. In this scenario, you should go beyond the average historical SEO update and give it a full refresh. You can do this by updating out of date information and statistics, incorporating new sections for added depth, and adding quotes or original data to give the post more referral traffic.

4. Create a monthly content plan.

To keep up with your SEO strategy, it can be helpful to create and refine a monthly content plan. You can place it into a spreadsheet, and your teams can track accordingly. The list below is an example of a content monthly content plan that takes the above steps into account. 

With a monthly SEO plan like the one above, plus a tracking document like a search insights report, you can build out and execute on an efficient SEO strategy. You can also identify and leverage low-hanging-fruit topics to discuss related to your industry.

Create A Strategy That Supports Your Business Goals

Ranking in search pages can be difficult. While it may seem enticing to create content that is centered around high-traffic keywords, that strategy may not help you meet your business goals. 

Instead, opt to create an SEO strategy that helps you address your individual business needs, like increasing customer acquisition, for greater marketing success. To learn more about SEO, check out our Ultimate Guide to SEO.

Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in April 2019 but was updated in February 2020 for consistency and freshness.