Just the other day, I was Googling something in a rush and came across a blog post that I thought would give me all the information I needed.

But, when I clicked on the page and tried to start reading the post, the entire screen went dark and a giant “Subscribe to our email” CTA popped up — completely interrupting my experience.

I looked around for a “No thanks” button or an “X”, but I almost couldn’t find one. Just before I went to click the back arrow, I noticed a very faint, tiny “X” that was nearly the same color as the CTA background. It was obvious that this site’s designers wanted to trick visitors into signing up for an email list before reading their content.

Not only did this CTA almost backfire by causing me to bounce off the site, but it also made me judge the brand’s morals.

Although some business people might not think a code of ethics matters in design, it does.

In this post, I’ll explain what design ethics is, what guidelines ethical designers might use, and a few tips for avoiding questionable design ethics.

Why are ethics in design important?

One of the best places to highlight your brand’s mission, as well as its ethical values, is in your marketing and designs. After all, these are the areas of your company that prospects and customers might see most.

While ethics, inclusivity, and accessibility are not necessarily always top of mind for some busy marketers or designers,, it’s incredibly important to review any public-facing projects from an ethical perspective.

Today, more than ever, consumers are paying attention to the moral standards of brands. Research shows 62% of consumers are attracted to brands that have strong, authentic ethical values.

When companies are considered ethical, consumers trust them, feel like the brand cares about their experience, and identify with the company. On the other hand, when brands use tactics that feel unethical, consumers lose trust in the brand which could lead to less brand loyalty or purchases.

Ultimately, every aspect of your brand’s design contributes to the message you’re putting out. If you want to create content and that demonstrates your company’s values, you should regularly review your brand’s design ethics.

Ethics in Graphic Design

When creating marketing content like landing pages, web experiences, or other visuals, ethical graphic designers consider a handful of guidelines. Here are just a few:

1. Designs should not be misleading.

You should aim for your designs to engage people and nurture them towards converting. Your designs shouldn’t mislead, pressure, or coerce audiences into doing or thinking something.

In the intro, I noted a website I visited that tried to pressure me into signing up for email before I was even able to read their content. This just one of many sneaky dark pattern design techniques.

While it’s not uncommon or unethical to create colorful or embellished designs that draw attention away from an “X” or opt-out button, dark pattern designs happen when designers make an obvious and conscious effort to trick visitors into doing something, such as giving out personal information.

For example, making the “X” nearly invisible and darkening content behind a pop-up ad so visitors think they need to convert or subscribe to email list to see content is a dark pattern technique. You might also see similar techniques in spammy emails where the unsubscribe link is hidden or made illegibly small so you can’t easily find it.

While it’s understandable that you want to get as many people as possible on a promotional email list, tricking visitors into subscribing for something is not the answer.

Why? If the contact didn’t want to get signed up for the email, they might complain about the sneaky design, mark the email as spam, and unsubscribe immediately. If they aren’t annoyed to the point of unsubscribing, they might not engage with the email because they weren’t expecting it or were never interested in promotional content in the first place. This, in turn, could negatively impact email performance and future deliverability.

Ultimately, sneaking consent from visitors isn’t likely to create major engagement or brand loyalty. So, if you must use a similar tactic or an automatically checked box in your design, make sure the text is large enough so visitors can see it and easily uncheck the box if they aren’t interested in your offering.

2. Designs shouldn’t hurt the user experience.

We’ve all been on a website where an ad or full-page CTA blocked the content we wanted to see. Sometimes, this gets so annoying, it causes us to leave websites entirely.

When we bounce off a website with too many pop-ups or design glitches, the site not only loses visitors and credibility, but it also loses SEO strength.

Designers should make sure they’re creating experiences that nurture an audience member into doing something rather than force-feeding them an offer or advertisement. To do this, they should be asking themselves, “How can I design valuable online experiences that help visitors rather than shamelessly selling products to them?”

At HubSpot, we encourage companies to nurture leads rather than using unethical or desperate marketing tactics to trick them into signing up for something. Our natural lead nurturing approach can be seen right on our blog.

Each HubSpot blog post includes unintrusive CTAs at the bottom of the page, as well as a slide-in CTA that appears when the reader has scrolled passed a certain point in the post. Here’s what the bottom of a post looks like:

Not only do these CTAs fit smoothly within our blog design (and don’t cover up the content), but they also relate to the content we’re posting. This way, the reader gets a taste of our expertise in our blog content. Then, they can choose to dive deeper into our offers.

With unintrusive CTAs like this, we primarily send offerings to contacts that want them most, are likely to download more free resources, and might turn into qualified leads later on.

3. Messaging, disclaimers, and policies are clear and legible.

In the design below, another example of dark pattern design, the disclaimer, “Your subscription will renew automatically. You can cancel at any time,” is so small you might not notice it.

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Because of this, visitors might give credit card information not realizing that they’ll be charged without being asked at the end of their free trial. Ultimately, when someone’s card is surprisingly charged for a service they didn’t want because they didn’t see this message, they might get annoyed with the brand, unsubscribe, and potentially complain about the small text.

On the other hand, if your text is legible and understandable, you might only receive the customers that understand free-trial policies, are serious about your service, and won’t rush to complain if they forget to cancel their subscription before the credit card charge.

4. Use proper representation and embrace inclusion, whenever possible.

Ethical designers always ask, “Does this design accurately represent groups of people discussed?”

Between 2011 and 2015, Access Icon embraced inclusive design ethics when they revamped the International Symbol of Access — often seen on accessible parking spots or wheelchair-accessible bathrooms — to better represent people with disabilities.

While the original symbol showed a simple stick figure sitting in a static wheelchair, the new symbol shows a person’s arms moving with their body tilted forward as if they’re actively moving or speeding in their wheelchair.

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The new design came after a 2011 Boston-based street campaign, where Access Icon members placed a moving body over the static body on accessibility signs.

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Although Access Icon did not intend to replace or criticize the original symbol, created in the 1950s, the organization wanted the new version to create an “occasion for asking questions about disability and the built environment, in the largest sense. Who has access—physically, yes, but moreover, to education, to meaningful citizenship, to political rights?”

Between 2012 and 2015, state governments, cities, major companies, and local businesses around the world adopted the symbol.

By refining this design, the group aimed to accurately represent people with disabilities as mobile, energetic, and empowered, rather than as static, less mobile figures. Ultimately, they realized the original design wrongly depicted those with disabilities and created a new design that solved for it.

Ethics in the Design of Technology

Design ethics doesn’t just stop with imagery or website UX. Tech products, software, and other tools also need ethical designers to create smooth, pleasant, and trustworthy experiences for customers. While technical or product designers think about the ethical guidelines noted above, there are a few additional standards they might follow:

1. Designs should be accessible.

In recent years, accessibility has been a major topic in the world of tech and product design. Although you might not realize it, people with varying accessibility needs might be using your product. And, when your product is accessible to more people, more people can use it and buy it.

One recent example of an accessible technology design was Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller.

After learning that children with physical disabilities, such as missing limbs, were having trouble playing Xbox video games with the console’s controllers, Microsoft developed an adaptive touchpad controller, which enabled people with multiple types of disabilities to play games with their friends.

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Aside from two circular touchpads, which replace small controller buttons, the Xbox Adaptive Controller features large programmable buttons and can connect to external switches, buttons, mounts, or joysticks that make gaming more accessible for users.

The process of designing the controller was highlighted in a Super Bowl ad called, “We All Win,” which you can watch below:

On a smaller scale, accessible technological design could also involve including accessibility tools and symbols within your software interface or web page. 

For example, some brands might offer an accessibility icon at the bottom of their website where you can click to adjust settings for a smoother experience if you have a disability. Or, to make their site or UX accessible to people in other countries, websites, like HubSpot’s offer an icon and menu that allow you to toggle between languages:

2. Designs should promote safety and security.

In 2020, many people are thinking about data security as many are buying smart devices and software for workspaces and their homes. With many devices listening to our voices, logging our lifestyle habits, and even recording health data, some worry that this information could be sold, stolen, or used unethically later on.

Because of data concerns, many tech firms are emphasizing security in their overall product design.

For example, when smart home devices with virtual assistants initially hit store shelves, consumers panicked when they learned that some devices, such as Amazon’s Echo, would surreptitiously record them.

To make consumers feel more secure with Echo devices in their homes, Amazon designed each device with a very visible mute button on them. When the button is pressed, the Echo’s light ring and the button turn orange to visibly show people that the device has deactivated recording.

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While this button might make Echo owners feel secure at home, it might also ease the nerves of prospects who see it in product shots or Echo ads before purchasing it.

3. Consider or respond to unexpected ethical dilemmas.

If you’re helping to design a new piece of technology, you should consider all of the potential ethical dilemmas it could create and create a design that could either solve for them or ease your audience’s concerns.

In 2018, Netflix was forced to address a design strategy on its platform when a recommendation algorithm was panned across the web.

The algorithm in question, which Netflix called, “Artwork Personalization,” aimed to show users show thumbnails based on the design traits of thumbnails they’d previously clicked. While it sounded like an interesting personalization experiment, consumers quickly argued that this personalization was racially targeting users.

Specifically, some users noted seeing primarily content recommendations with white people in thumbnails while some BIPOC users saw mostly thumbnails that showed people of color. While Netflix denied that the algorithm targeted users by race, the news went viral.

In this scenario, had Netflix designers and developers researched their design tweaks or audited it from an ethical perspective, they might have been able to tweak the algorithm before launch.

How to Promote Design Ethics

If this post has inspired you to develop a new ethical standard for your designs, here are a few next steps you can take.

Audit Your Past Designs

Even if your designs have been successful in the past, it’s still good to re-audit them to ensure that they continue to promote design ethics. For example, you can look at your website or product’s design to ensure that they’re accessible, easy to comprehend, and inclusive to all potential web visitors.

Review Your Current Projects.

Whether you’re working on a product, website, graphic, or software-related design, reviewing it from a design ethics perspective might lead to a successful launch with fewer risks of complaints or concerns from the public.

Pivot if Needed

Sometimes a design tactic you once embraced is now considered out of date. For example, a design symbol that used to be culturally acceptable or valuable might now be seen as a misrepresentation or offensive. When you notice things like this changing, it’s smart to adjust or modernize your design tactics.

Want to learn more about design and ethics? Check out this post for additional information on dark-pattern design or this post on ethics in modern marketing.

This year, brands are increasingly bringing shopping experiences online.

But, as businesses develop online strategies, they might find that launching a fully-fledged ecommerce website is easier said than done. While many tools make this process easier than it was in past decades, launching a successful online store still requires time, money, a web strategy, and a handful of other resources that smaller businesses might not have.

Luckily, tech giants like Facebook are actively launching tools that aim to help smaller brands convert social media followers into customers.

One of the Facebook corporation’s newest ecommerce tools is called Facebook Shops. According to Facebook, Shops enables businesses to easily create a “mobile shopping experience for their audiences.” But, what exactly does this experience look like?

In this post, I’ll walk you through what Facebook Shops is and how marketers can leverage it to boost social media-driven sales in 2020 and beyond.

According to Facebook, setting up a Shop is simple and can be done on a desktop. Once a Shop is created, Facebook or Instagram Business Page followers on desktop or mobile platforms can visit the same universal store and make purchases from the app’s they’re on.

On top of linking to business pages on Instagram and Facebook, Shops can also be integrated into a Facebook Business account’s Messenger or a WhatsApp Business account so audiences on all major Facebook platforms can make purchases.

Below is a short demo video that highlights what a Facebook Shop looks like to customers on a Facebook-owned platform and how they can use it to make purchases.

Why Facebook Launched Shops

Before 2020, brands were already looking for ways to scalably make sales online. But, the need for digital transformation grew even stronger during the COVID-19 pandemic when many brick-and-mortar stores were forced to close or move their offerings online.

According to a Facebook announcement, the 2020 landscape was a motivating factor in the launch of Shops.

“Right now many small businesses are struggling, and with stores closing, more are looking to bring their business online. Our goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a global brand to use our apps to connect with customers,” Facebook noted in an announcement. “That’s why we’re launching Facebook Shops and investing in features across our apps that inspire people to shop and make buying and selling online easier.”

Now that you know what Facebook Shops is and why Facebook launched the tool, you might be interested in using it for your own business.

If so, below is a quick step-by-step guide for setting up your first Facebook Shop.

How to Use Facebook Shops

1. Make sure you’ve fulfilled all the Facebook Shops requirements.

Although creating a Facebook Shop is free for all businesses, Facebook Shops still has a few requirements. To set up a Facebook Shop for your brand, you must:

• Have a Facebook Business Page and/or an Instagram Business account that you have Business Manager admin privileges for.
• Have manager privileges for your brand’s Facebook catalog.

One thing to keep in mind is that while you do need to admin either an Instagram or Facebook Business Page, you can have one or the other and still create a Facebook Shop. This means that you don’t necessarily need a Facebook Business account to take advantage of this tool.

2. Go to Facebook Commerce Manager to access Facebook Shops

To start setting up your Facebook Shop, go to Facebook Commerce Manager and click the large “Get Started” CTA at the top of the page. From there, you’ll be given a few settings-related questions, such as, “Choose how you want customers to make purchases.”

 

 

At this point in the process, you can link an ecommerce website or API you’ve already set up and direct customers there to purchase your items or have them make buy items directly through Facebook, Instagram, or direct messages.

3. Add business information.

In this step of Shop creation, Facebook will ask you a few questions about your business, such as what category it belongs in, its location, and your preferred contact information. During this step, you’ll also be able to include an overall business description.

4. Add your products and shipping information.

As you continue to follow the simple prompts given by Facebook Shops, you’ll be asked to add products either one by one via a simple product listing form or in bulk with a spreadsheet list upload:

 

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After you add products, you’ll be able to add or update product descriptions, images, or other important information. You can also enter shipping information as well.

While Facebook Shops will prompt you to add products before launching your store, you can still add, remove, or edit product listings later on.

5. Add banking and tax information.

If you don’t have an ecommerce store and want to do all of your sales through Facebook or Instagram, you’ll be prompted to give information about the bank account where your purchase revenue will go.

You’ll also have to give your company’s tax information and agree to Facebook Shops policies before setting up your shop.

6. Customize your Shop.

Once all of the logistical information is filled in, you can take the fun and creative step of designing your mobile store. Facebook Shops allows you to make basic tweaks to the layout and style of your Shop. As you make edits, such as adjusting text styles or button colors, you’ll see them on a mobile preview screen to the right.

Here’s a look at the Shops customization page. As you can see, it’s simple and easy to understand, even for marketers with less design experience.

 

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7. Edit products or group them into “Collections.”

Made a mistake with one of your product descriptions or need to add a new product shot? Facebook Shops allows you to edit or remove product listings, even after your mini-store is launched.

Additionally, If you have products that were launched together or with a similar theme, such as a summer line of clothing, you can group products as “Collections” on Facebook Shops. To add a “Collection,” simply click “Layout” on the Shops customization page, then click “Add Collection” under the Featured Collections sidebar.

Once you create a Collection, you can add products to it from its Collection page or by editing the product’s listing.

8. Launch and promote your Shop.

When you feel like your Shop is ready for business, publish it. When you do so, be sure to share about it on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media platforms to ensure you gain initial visitors.

What Brands Should Keep in Mind With Facebook Shops

Facebook Shops might be a great option for brands that want to dabble in ecommerce for the first time or expand their strategy to major social networks.

In fact, in the case study video below, a small printing brand called Ink Meets Paper shares how Shops helped them expand their ecommerce strategy while getting sales from Instagram and Facebook followers, with a small amount of effort required.

While Facebook Shops and other ecommerce platforms might be beneficial to your brand and revenue, there are still a few things you’ll want to keep in mind before launching any online store or service:

• Promote the shopping experience: If audiences don’t know about your products or your brand, they might not find your Facebook Shop or ecommerce platform. That’s why it’s important to promote your Shop, product deals, and brand as you would with any other online store.
• Prepare for high demand: If you have a great listing of products, people might rush to buy them. But, if your team can’t respond quickly enough to customer demand, delayed orders or other snags could cause shoppers to avoid your Facebook Shop in the future. Prepare to respond to good purchasing outcomes and high demand, as well as poor outcomes.
• Brand consistency is still important: Although Facebook Shops exists on a social media platform, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stay on-brand. If your Facebook Shop’s style, images, and layout look unprofessional or inconsistent with your website or Facebook Business page, people might distrust it or be less willing to give your Shop their payment information.

If you’re building or revamping your overall ecommerce strategy, bookmark this ultimate guide to ecommerce. If you’re interested in learning more about how brands are pivoting to ecommerce in 2020, check out this piece.

In 2019, Contently, a content marketing software company that connects freelancers with enterprise brands, made a controversial move — in an effort to increase profitability and, in turn, provide more creative opportunities to their freelancers, the company announced that they’d begin charging freelancers a mandatory service fee for every assignment they book.

As you might already know, the response wasn’t great. Many freelancers messaged the company and explained the fee could hamper their earning potential, or even end their freelance careers.

Fortunately, the freelancers’ feedback didn’t go unnoticed or unrewarded. As a result of the honest feedback, Contently’s CEO Joe Coleman announced via Twitter that the company had decided not to implement the new service fee.

Contently’s realization that they weren’t prioritizing the needs of their customers ultimately helped save — and even enhance — their corporate image.

Here, let’s dive into what corporate image is, and why it matters. Plus, five ways you can bolster your own corporate image today.

What is corporate image?

Your company’s corporate image is your brand’s public perception. You can help shape it by telling the public what kind of company you are through marketing and advertising.

But what really sculpts your corporate image is your company’s actions, like performing well financially, developing innovative products and services, following ethical business practices, actually operating by your values, appropriately responding to company criticism, providing tremendous customer service, treating your employees with dignity and respect, and attracting elite talent.

All of these actions fuel the flywheel of your brand’s word-of-mouth marketing, which is the most effective and trusted form of marketing, especially when the internet has enabled every brand to scream for your audience’s attention today.

Developing a stellar corporate image also opens up more opportunities for customer testimonials, case studies, product reviews, and awards that can provide the social proof needed to earn new customers’ trust.

Why Corporate Image Is More Important Than Ever Before

Nowadays, most people support brands that share the same values as them.

In fact, brand values is often a critical factor in someone’s purchasing decision. For instance, 83% of millennials find it important to purchase from companies that align with their values.

Additionally, Weber Shandwick, one of the world’s leading global public relations firms, found that global executives, on average, attribute 63% of their company’s market value to their company’s overall reputation.

More than likely, you already know this on a quantitative level, as well. Consider, for instance, the last time you made a purchase on a product or service for which you could have found a cheaper alternative.

Perhaps you purchased a new iPhone, or splurged on that Patagonia jacket you’ve wanted for a while.

Ultimately, you likely made that purchasing decision, at least in part, due to the brand’s reputation and overall image.

That is why corporate image matters — it can influence whether consumers’ want to buy from you, and can increase brand loyalty when people feel your values align with their own.

Next, let’s dive into how you can boost your own corporate image.

How to Improve Corporate Image

1. Identify your company’s purpose.

If you truly want to build a loyal following for your brand and, in turn, strengthen your reputation, your company’s core message should focus on your purpose — not how you make your product or what your product is.

This notion, that people buy the “why” behind your organization — not the “what” or “how” — isn’t just some idealistic trend catching fire in the business world today, though. It’s actually rooted in human biology.

The most primal part of the brain is called the limbic system, and it controls all decision making. It also happens to control all our emotions and feelings. So, resonating with your audience will also appeal to the part of the brain that’s responsible for action. In other words, if you can evoke emotion, you can drive behavior.

Conveying a clear and convincing purpose through all your brand’s actions will forge the emotional connection required to persuade an audience to support you. And the more people who support you, the stronger your reputation will become.

2. Make sure you can walk the walk.

Sometimes, brands that want to reap the rewards of being a mission-driven company don’t actually adhere to the values they claim they’re so passionate about. But even though being aquasi-mission-driven company can attract new customers, once they uncover your hypocrisy, it’s almost impossible to retain them.

A Yale psychology study suggests that highlighting your morality is essentially a short-cut to high status. But if people realize you don’t actually possess the traits that shot you up the social ladder, they’ll lose trust in you and respond harshly to your deception.

Before you start boasting about your company’s dedication to putting the customer first, make sure your actions are actually aligned with these values, or that you have a plan in place to do so.

3. Own your mistakes.

Even the smartest brands make mistakes. But what separates the great companies from the good ones is their ability to admit that their wrong and change course in light of new information. Unfortunately, a lot of companies won’t admit their mistakes or change their minds, even if it’s the right choice, because they have too much pride or don’t want to seem weak.

However, admitting you’re wrong actually requires a lot more strength than sticking to something that hurts your customers just because you’ve invested a lot of time or effort into an initiative. By owning your mistake and correcting it — instead of blaming the issue on external factors — your customers will understand the rationale behind your decision and appreciate your honesty and humbleness.

Just like Contently, making a mistake that hurts you customers can spark harsh backlash and even start a trending Twitter hashtag that undermines your brand’s integrity. But, ultimately, you can still earn back your customers’ trust and support if you put your pride aside and own and correct your mistakes.

4. Offer the best customer service possible.

For many customers, one of the first interactions they’ll have with your brand is through a customer service representative — so customer service plays an undeniably critical role in corporate image.

Customer service representatives can demonstrate your company values in both their actions and words. For instance, consider Glossier’s customer service department (known as the gTEAM), who are responsible for responding to customer messages on social media and creating personalized experiences for each customer who reaches out.

This type of authentic, customer-first attitude is a small example of a bigger Glossier core value: “Devoted to the Customer”. Ultimately, each interaction your customer has with your company has the power to form their entire perception of your brand — and those customers will share both positive and negative feedback with friends. For this reason, customer service is a vital component to consider when improving corporate image.

5. Make sure your website and social media presence reflect your current corporate image.

Corporate images change over time. Just consider HubSpot’s Culture Code, which has been updated over 25 times since it was first created — while the values have stayed the same, the messaging has required adjustments to reflect HubSpot’s most up-to-date corporate image. 

As your organization grows, as consumer preferences and industries change, and as you learn more about what makes your customers happy, your priorities or vision might shift slightly. To reflect the most relevant, accurate version of your corporate image, then, it’s critical you maintain a strong social media and website presence.

Oftentimes, social media is the first opportunity people have to discover your brand — and they’ll likely make a snap judgment of your entire image as a result of a few images or videos at the top of your feed. So make them count.

Similarly, your website is your digital storefront. In much the same way you might repaint your house every few years and add fresh flowers to the pots outside, you’ll want to update your website regularly for freshness.

Take a look at your website and consider whether it truly reflects your current corporate image. If not, consider whether a complete redesign is necessary, or whether a few small tweaks could do the job.

Ultimately, creating a strong, positive corporate image can’t happen in a vacuum. You’ll need to align all aspects of your company — from marketing to sales and service and operations — under a strong vision and mission statement, and ensure leadership walks the walk when it comes to inspiring employees.

A strong corporate image will look different for each organization, but ultimately, corporate image can be the difference between a good company, and a great one. 

When the marketing industry first shifted from outbound to inbound marketing, many marketers dropped their old roles of content interrupters for new ones as content creators.

But that shift is still producing aftershocks, and to keep up with your competitors today, you need to understand what APIs are, how they integrate with your content strategy, and the social insight they bring to your website.

Don’t worry — APIs might seem complicated, but by the end of this post, you’ll know how they work and what using them entails.Here’s a brief definition of an API, followed by some key information on how to make one work for your business.

What is an API?

An API, short for application programming interface, is a series of rules. To be even clearer, it is an information middleman. APIs allow for an application to extract information from a piece of software and use that information in their own application, or sometimes for data analysis.

In the plainest terms, an API is a blueprint that enables “your stuff” to talk to and work with “their stuff.” Your stuff, in this case, is known as the API endpoint.

Sound confusing? Don’t worry — we’ll walk through an example below.

API Endpoint Example

Let’s say you want to stream public tweets in real-time so that you can stay informed on a specific topic of interest or on current trends in the world. Then you could use Twitter’s filtered stream endpoint. Its URL is: https://api.twitter.com/2/tweets/search/stream

Technically, an API endpoint need only be referred to with the end path of the resource URL. The base path, which is common to all endpoints, is https://api.twitter.com. Because that stays the same, there’s no need to keep listing it. You can instead just list the endpoint: /2/tweets/search/stream.

How to Test an API Endpoint

There are several online tools available for testing an API endpoint. For the sake of this post, we’ll walk through how to set up a test using cURL. cURL is a command-line tool for transferring data that supports multiple protocols, including HTTP. It is able to make requests, get data, and send data — making it the perfect tool for requesting information from APIs.

Let’s use an example from Twitter’s own documentation. Say, you want to stay informed on the Twitter API. Then you will want to get tweets from major accounts like @TwitterDev and @TwitterAPI as soon as they’re posted. And maybe you only want tweets that contain links to articles or documentation so you’re getting as much context as possible. 

In that case, using the filtered stream endpoint is the perfect choice. But in order for the endpoint to know what kind of tweets to send you, you’ll have to define filtering criteria. Otherwise, you’d just be asking to see every tweet posted in real-time.

Filtering criteria will be applied to the endpoint in the form of rules. To build these rules, you’ll need a set of operators. For this example, you can use two operators — from: and has:links — in order to only see tweets from certain accounts and that contain links. To instruct the filtered stream endpoint to only show tweets from the accounts @Twitterdev and @TwitterApi that contain links, you’d use the following rule: “from:twitterdev from:twitterapi has:links”

To request this information from the filtered stream endpoint, you need to include the correct HTTP request to tell the API what action to take. There are four main options. Take a look at a brief description of each below:

• GET: retrieve a resource 
• POST: create a resource
• PUT: update an existing resource 
• DELETE: remove a resource

For this example, you’ll use the POST request. In addition to including the rule mentioned above in your request, you’ll include the content type and authorization. Below the content type is defined as “application/json” so the request is rendered in the lightweight data format JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). To authenticate your request, you’ll have to replace the placeholder text $BEARER_TOKEN with your app’s unique Bearer Token, which can be generated in your developer portal.

Why are APIs important?

One of the first questions many marketers ask is: Why do all of these businesses share their data openly, for free?

Normally, the answer is: scale. As software companies grow, the staff within those companies quickly realize they have more ideas than they have time and resources to develop them.

By creating APIs, companies let third-party developers create applications that can improve usage and adoption of the main platform. In that way, a business can build an ecosystem that becomes dependent on the data from their API — a dynamic that often leads to additional revenue opportunities.

How to Use an API

Understanding the value of a particular API is essentially about understanding what information is available through an API and how it can be accessed. To find out what a particular API can do for you, you can do one of two things.

1. Ask a web developer to look at an API and discuss it with you.
2. Do the research on your own. If you don’t have access or budget to use a web developer, this is an appealing option. But don’t panic — many online services have good API documentation.

API Documentation

Let’s take a quick look at Twitter’s API reference index as an example.

Much of Twitter’s growth has been because of outside developers, and the first Twitter API started as a basic wiki. Since then, it has evolved into a detailed index of APIs that a savvy marketer can use to determine what information might be available to a developer in the form of an API — and how to include this API on your website.

Looking at the screenshot above, you can see there are multiple categories of information available to outside developers. Once you select an API you’re interested in, you can click on it to see what information is available through this API. Check out Twitter’s Tweet Timeline API endpoint below.

In the API documentation above, Twitter’s Tweet Timeline API explains how you can take a brief collection of recent tweets from a specific user’s timeline and display them, in clickable form, on your own website. The API documentation includes tweet volume limitations, the API’s resource URL, as well as what you can and cannot choose to display through this API.

Applying the API to Your Website

If you add the API’s resource URL to the backend of your website, it’ll return the information you called for to the frontend of your website. Here’s what this looks like on the New York Road Runners website, helping them promote the New York City Marathon (with a few custom design modifications):

You can also check out the HubSpot API documention to see how you can build applications and integrations using data from HubSpot.

One last caveat: In order to officially use a developer’s API, you might also need to be assigned an API key.

Think of your API key as your authentication token, declaring you a member of a developer’s community. In effect, this token identifies what you’re using the API for, and verifies that you’ve been given permission to carry out this project by the API’s owner.

Rest assured, your API key does not give the developer access to personal information about you.

APIs as a Marketing Platform

Marketing in an inbound world is about companies developing useful applications and services to sustain customer retention. Brands will need to move away from intermittently dropping in advertisements to become conduits of consumer communications.

In that process, APIs facilitate the data needed to provide solutions to customer problems.

API Examples

Understanding what information is available through an API will help your determine if it is worth working with a developer to pursue the project further. Here are two examples.

Twitter Mentions

If you wanted to show tweets on your website that included mentions on Twitter to articles from your blog, you’d need to understand if you could request tweets with only specific URLs from the Twitter API.

YouTube Video Embedding

When you right-click a YouTube video on youtube.com, and select “Copy Embed Code,” you’re essentially requesting to use YouTube’s API on your website. YouTube makes it easy for the public to embed YouTube videos to play directly on other websites.

API Terms of Service

No matter the project, it’s critical that you actually read and understand the terms of service for an API you’re considering for your website.

Most APIs have certain usage restrictions. If you don’t take the time to understand the restrictions of an API you’re interested in, you could invest more time and money in developing a marketing asset that’s rendered useless once the API provider determines you’ve violated the API’s terms of service (and revokes your access).

For this reason, most APIs have “call limits.”

What is an API call?

An API call, also known as an API request, is an instance of a website owner “calling” for the use of a developer’s API. Saving the API, logins to the developer’s website, and queries about the application all count as API calls.

With this in mind, an API call limit is the number of times you can request information about an API from a web service within a given time period. Again, please read the terms of use for any APIs you are thinking about using. These documents should clearly detail any limitations as well as appropriate use of the program.

The Future of APIs in Business

Developing on the APIs of existing web services is only the beginning. We live in a world that now expects open and available content for all — the natural progression of this is for publishers themselves to release their own APIs, so that their customers can develop applications as a result.

API sharing applies to all businesses — not just those that are web-based, but rather anyone who has a web-based tool or component of their organization. Obviously, this concept could cause hurdles for some organizations, especially from the legal department. It’s up to you to find out which APIs are most valuable and how you can lawfully and sustainably use them.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

The trouble with search engine optimization (SEO) is that it takes a long time to work and doesn’t come with any guarantees. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, on the other hand, can provide results a lot faster.

For companies that have no organic presence and need ROI fast, a paid ad is sometimes your best bet for driving traffic to (and conversions from) your website.

The problem is that your competitors are using the same search terms and keywords you will. Not only do you need to know how to build a campaign through Google Ads, but you also need to know how to stand out from the crowd.

What is a Google Ads Campaign?

Google Ads is a pay-per-click (PPC) system for advertising in the search engine results pages (SERPs) on Google. You can create Campaigns, which are used to organize groups of similar ads. Your Google Ads account can have one or many campaigns running at a time.

Each campaign then includes multiple ad groups, which house your keywords ad text, and landing pages. 

The advantage of structuring your Ads account with campaigns is that you can target different audiences (for better personalization), be more intentional with your bidding, and even run different tests without affecting your main campaigns. 

For example, let’s say your organization sells two products. One is a more lucrative opportunity, and the other is less important to your company goals but still requires some spend. By using separate campaigns, each of these products get their own ads, and you can put more of your budget toward bidding on the more lucrative product without the less lucrative one eating up all your spend. 

For more information on how ad spend works, check out our ultimate guide to Google Ads.

Let’s continue on with a few real examples of Google Ads campaigns — a service formerly known as Google AdWords — and then throw in some pro tips for succeeding with your own search engine marketing (SEM) strategy. By the time we’re done, you’ll be an expert.

1. New Breed Marketing

Search term: what is inbound marketing

Links to:

Some searchers are experiencing a pain that’s led them on a path to purchase, but they may not be clear on what it is that will solve that pain. That’s the thinking behind the first Google Ads campaign example above.

New Breed Marketing, an agency partner of HubSpot, is an inbound marketing service provider. Because New Breed’s customers might not know what they’re signing up for with “inbound marketing,” the company sought to define the term for them — helping buyers confirm that inbound marketing is indeed what they’re looking for.

New Breed Marketing’s Google Ads result above is as simple as search engine marketing gets. The meta description is just one sentence long but indicates to searchers that inbound marketing is a “process” to be invested in.

Meanwhile, the blue link, called a Site Extension, itself promises to explain inbound marketing in the form of a downloadable “guide.” This ensures those who click through to the website are prepared to submit their contact information and become a lead in exchange for that guide. Remember, Google Ads campaigns cost you money every time somebody clicks on one of your ads — you need to get something out of those clicks.

2. Nettitude

Search term: cybersecurity

Links to:

In general, the broader the search term, the less likely the searcher will want to buy something right away (a pay-per-click concept called “match types“). In the Ads campaign above, however, Nettitude bid on a broad, one-word search term — “cybersecurity.”

While this broad search term doesn’t target a specific searcher, the details of their Google Ad ensures the link can satisfy many different types of searchers no matter what their interest was when they typed in the word.

Nettitude’s AdWords campaign, above, does two things well:

First, its meta-description has several value propositions that most cybersecurity customers would be receptive to. This includes a “2 hour response time” and a “free initial consultation” to make a prospect’s initial outreach convenient and low-commitment.

Second, the ad displays a phone number directly on the page. When you bid on a search term that yields such a broad, diverse group of people, getting them on the phone is often the easiest way to nurture their interest so they don’t wander off to another search result and forget about you.

3. Rock Content

Search term: content marketing course

Links to:

Rock Content, an agency partner of HubSpot, is a content marketing service based in Brazil.

Its Ads campaign bid on a search term that’s only somewhat related to the service Rock Content is offering on its landing page. Here’s why it works.

The search term “content marketing course” is intent on finding classes that help marketers increase their content marketing knowledge. Rock Content looks to pivot searchers from taking a class for improving their content knowledge to entering an “evaluation” for determining how much they already know.

This evaluation might not satisfy every searcher, but it is a smart way of pivoting their interest to a related service and introducing them to Rock Content’s offerings at the same time.

4. Destination Canada

Search term: cheap holiday destinations

Links to:

Canada Destination’s Google Ads campaign above uses a searcher’s general interest in taking a holiday trip to advertise all the fun parts of Canada. Similar to the third example on this list, the strategy is to pivot off of a broad search term to drive value into its own offering. It’s not a casual article, but it’s also not a flight itinerary — that middle-of-the-funnel space is what makes this campaign work so well.

The link above also uses two sub-links beneath the main Site Extension, highlighting the key subjects covered in the website to maximize the ad’s click-through rate.

When people search for “cheap holiday destinations,” it can be hard to gauge their level of interest just right. When launching a Google Ads campaign, you don’t want your ad to be too broad to convert customers, but you also don’t want to be so close to the cash register that your searchers aren’t ready for what you’re offering them. Canada Destination’s digital tour of the country captures that middle ground perfectly, holding users’ interest without chasing them away with overly specific content.

5. FM Training

Search term: leed certification online

Links to:

FM Training is a certification hub for facility managers (FMs), the same people who work to make their building facilities LEED-certified. Lots of coursework can go into earning this certification, but it can be a challenge to find curricula that caters to these professionals.

FM Training’s Ads campaign makes sure FMs know they’ve come to the right place.

While the five Site Extensions beneath the ad help users jump directly to the information they’re most interested in, the first sentence of the meta-description is what really reaches out to this audience: “FMs …” — the audience is clearly stated in terms they’d understand — “… see a salary increase of 6% or more within 1 yr.” The ad uses the limited space it has to send a message designed to encourage clicks and make the ad worth the investment.

6. LeftLane Sports

Search term: hiking boots for women

Links to:

This campaign by LeftLane Sports is an example of local business advertising done right. The company doesn’t even need people to click on the link to make money from it.

If prospects in the Boston area search for “hiking boots for women,” they won’t just see a paid result by LeftLane Sports; they’ll see where the brand’s nearest storefront is and how long they’re open. It’s the perfect way to drive website traffic to the appropriate product pages and promote a local presence in the process.

1. Get a Google Ads account.

Before you can do anything, you’ll need to visit the Google Ads website and sign up for an account. 

As part of signing up for a Google Ads account, Google will automatically take you through the process of creating your first campaign, so be prepared with your financial information. Google takes its fee with each click, so your banking credentials are required during the setup process.

Note: There’s no need to worry about getting charged for ad spend as you get started with Google Ads and set up your first campaign. You can always turn it off once you get through the registration process.

2. Set your Campaign Goals.

The Google interface will prompt you to select a goal type from the following three options: 

• Get more calls
• Get more website sales or signups
• Get more visits to your physical location

This goal will be tied to your advertising campaign, so you’ll want to choose the one that most closely represents the results you want to see.

3. Complete the “Describe your business” section.

Google will then prompt you to enter your business name and website as important information that “describes your business.” This information is used to help predict your audience and is also used for the actual ad’s creation.

4. Designate your geographic area.

In this section, you’ll designate where you want your ads to appear. This is particularly helpful for local businesses. 

At the same time, if you are an online shop, you may be less concerned about geographic constraints. It’s still not a bad idea to consider where, exactly, the majority of your audience lives. If you don’t know, you may want to back up a step and consider your buyer personas first. Why spend money advertising to people in the Midwest if the bulk of your customers live in the Northeast?

You can also reach other countries if your company serves international buyers. Just be sure you’re prepared for any of the buyers who come your way as a result of your ads. You might pay a lot of money for visitors who can’t make a purchase if you’re not careful.

5. Set up keyword themes. 

Google will determine different themes based on your website content. You can customize your keywords based on their suggestions as a jumping off point for your campaign. 

Keep in mind you’ll be competing against many other companies for the same audience when choosing keywords for which you want your ad to show up. Take some time to think of the keywords that will reach people who are ready to buy.

For instance, instead of using “luxury shoes” in your PPC ad, you can use keywords such as “red leather heels.” Maybe you’ll miss out on people who are looking for shoes of all types, but you’ll snag those who have a particular shoe in mind. They’ll be more likely to make a purchase if your ad leads to a landing page with red leather heels, and that will more than pay for their click.

You can also use negative keywords and save a lot of money on your clicks. These tell Google what you don’t want your ad to show up for. In other words, you can use keywords such as red leather heels, not stilettos.

6. Write your ad.

This is the most important aspect of your Google Ads education. The copy you use is what will convince potential buyers to click. You want to attract plenty of people, yes, but you also want those people to buy. If they don’t buy, you pay anyway. 

In this section, you’re setting up the headlines and meta descriptions for your first ad(s). Note that you can choose to set up multiple ads in a single campaign, though Google starts you off with one. 

For each add you create, you have three considerations: 

• Headline
• Description
• Destination URL

Headline

Start with a great headline that uses search terms that will reach your niche. Google splits the headline up into three sections of 30 characters each, so make each character count. You might even need to use abbreviations, or you can search for shorter synonyms.

Description

After the headline, you get another 90 characters for the first description. Use this space to highlight any benefits. How will the product solve your buyers’ pains? Then, in the second description, you can capitalize on a feature.

Be ready to change these if you notice your ad isn’t gaining a lot of traction, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

Destination URL

This is where you can choose where clicks on your ad go to. Just choose the page you want them to land on and paste the URL in the field.

7. Set your ad budget. 

Here, you’ll be designating your daily budget. 

You want to include enough money to make a difference, but you really don’t want to break the bank. You can manually set the bids for clicks, which gives you more control. This also means your ads will stop showing once your budget is spent. That means you won’t end up with a shocker of a bill later.

Once you start to review the results from your campaign, you can always adjust the budget.

8. Complete the “Budget and review” section. 

In this section, you’ll be reviewing your campaign settings. It’s best to double check each of the following: 

• Your daily budget
• Your monthly budget
• The impressions you’ll get for that budget
• The clicks you should expect based on the impressions
• The location you’re targeting

9. Double check your double check.

It’s always a good idea to check over everything one more time before you set your ad in motion. Is everything spelled correctly? You’ll miss out on keyword searches if there’s a typo one of them. When you’re sure you did everything correctly, then take a deep breath and move on to the next step.

10. Set up billing.

Because Google charges per click, it needs the payment information during the Google Ads account setup. By providing your payment information, you’re giving Google the ability to charge accrued advertising costs from your campaign.

11. Hit Submit. 

By doing so, you’ve set up your first Google Ads campaign.

To create additional campaigns, perhaps with different or tighter keyword groups, you’ll want to select Campaigns from the page menu on the left. Then, click the blue plus button and choose New campaign. The Google interface will walk you through the additional steps. 

Beyond setting everything up correctly, you’ll also want to A/B test your results often. Change headlines, introduce new features, focus on different benefits — and then take note of the number of conversions. There’s always a way to make your ad perform better.

How to Cancel a Google Ads Campaign

To cancel a Google Ads campaign, first sign in to your Google Ads account. Then, follow the instructions below: 

1. Click Campaigns from the menu on the left side. 
2. Find the campaign you want to cancel. 
3. Click the checkbox next to that campaign. 
4. Click Edit from the drop-down menu that appears. 
5. Click Pause to place the campaign on hold or Remove to permanently stop the campaign. 

You can select the checkbox on multiple campaigns for a bulk edit. 

Now that you know how to set up and cancel Google Ads campaigns, there’s nothing holding you back from getting started with the many things that PPC offers you. 

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

How many times have you seen a killer marketing campaign and thought to yourself, “Wow, I wish I would’ve thought of that!”

(Glossier, I’m looking at you.)

We’ve all been there.

The truth is, when you’re just starting out, it can be tough to know whether your strategy is as comprehensive and powerful as it could be.

To help ease some of that uncertainty, we’ve created this guide that’ll show you step-by-step how to create a marketing strategy that leaves no stone unturned.

Let’s dive into the five critical components of a complete marketing strategy in 2019, followed by some examples for further inspiration.

1. Build a marketing plan.

Wait, I have to make a plan for my strategy? What’s the difference? Your marketing strategy provides an overview behind the reasons why your marketing team will need certain resources, take certain actions, and set certain goals over the year. Your marketing plan is the specific actions you’ll take to achieve that strategy.

Not sure where to start? This free marketing plan template can help. 

Image source

The right template can help you build a marketing plan that identifies your budget for the year, the initiatives your marketing organization needs to tackle, and the marketing channels you’ll use to implement those initiatives. And it will tie everything back to a business summary, to keep you aligned with overarching company goals.

2. Create buyer personas.

If you can’t define who your audience is in one sentence, now’s the chance to do it. A buyer persona is an example of your ideal customer.

For example, a store like Macy’s could define a buyer persona as Budgeting Belinda, a stylish working-class woman in her 30’s living in a suburb, looking to fill her closet with designer deals at low prices.

With this description, Macy’s Marketing department can picture Budgeting Belinda and work with a clear definition in-mind.

Buyer personas have critical demographic and psychographic information — including age, job title, income, location, interests, and challenges. Notice how Belinda has all of those attributes in her description.

You don’t have to create your buyer persona with a pen and paper. In fact, HubSpot offers a free template you can use to make your own (and it’s really fun). Buyer personas should be at the core of building your strategy.

3. Identify goals.

Your marketing strategy goals should coincide with your business goals. For example, if one of your business goals is to have 300 people attend your annual conference in three months, your goal as a marketer should be along the lines of boosting online RSVPs by 10% at the end of the month.

Other marketing goals might be to increase brand awareness or generate high-quality leads. You might also want to grow or maintain thought leadership in your industry or increase customer value. Whatever your goals, identify what they are and how your marketing organization can work to achieve them over the next year.

4. Select the appropriate tools.

Once you have your goals identified, make sure you have the right tools to measure the success of those goals. Online software like social media schedulers gives you analytics to help you keep track of what your audience likes and doesn’t. Alternatively, you might consider Google Analytics to measure blog and web page performance.

Additionally, it will be helpful if you make your goals SMART — to do so, take a look at How to Write a SMART Goal [+ Free SMART Goal Template]. Here are a few tools that can help you track and measure the success of your marketing goals:

Trello

Trello keeps your marketing team on track and openly communicating about the projects they’re working on. Create boards for individual campaigns, editorial calendars, or quarterly goals.

Built-in workflows and automation capabilities keep communication streamlined, and simplicity keeps your marketing team focused on the work that matters.

Pricing: Free; Business Class, $9.99/user/month; Enterprise, $17.50/user/month for 100 users

Monday.com

Everything on Monday.com starts with a board or visually driven table. Create and customize workflows for your team and keep groups, items, sub-items, and updates synced in real time.

You can also transform data pulled from timeline and Gantt views to track your projects on Monday.com and ensure deadlines have been met. Plus, with more than 40 integrations — from SurveyMonkey to Mailchimp and, of course, HubSpot — you can visualize your data and ensure your whole company is collaborating.

Pricing: Basic, $8/month/seat; Standard, $10/month/seat; Pro, $16/month/seat; Enterprise, contact for pricing

SEMRush

SEO continues to be a huge factor in the successful ranking of your website. SEMrush allows you to run a technical SEO audit, track daily rankings, analyze your competitor’s SEO strategy, research millions of keywords, and even source ideas for earning more organic traffic.

But the benefits don’t stop at SEO. Use SEMRush for PPC, building and measuring an effective social media strategy, content planning, and even market research.

Pricing: Pro, $99.95/month; Guru, $199.95/month; Business, $399.95/month

BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo allows you to analyze data to enhance and lead your marketing strategy, all while exploring high-performing content in your industry to increase engagement. Use the platform to identify influencers who may help your brand reach, and monitor comments and trends to make the most of every turn.

They also have tools to help with crisis management and video marketing as your needs evolve.

Pricing: Pro, $99/month; Plus, $179/month; Large, $299/month; Enterprise, $499+/month

Crazy Egg

Need to optimize your website this year? Consider getting started with Crazy Egg. You’ll be able to identify “attention hotspots” on your product pages, track ad campaign traffic on your site, and understand if shoppers are clicking where you want them to. You can even make sure your “buy now” buttons are in the best place.

Crazy Egg also offers recordings, A/B testing, and more to help ensure your website is offering the best user experience and the best return.

Pricing: Basic, $24/month; Standard, $49/month; Plus, $99/month; Pro, $249/month; Custom options available upon request

5. Account for existing resources.

Decide what you already have in your arsenal that can help you create your strategy. To streamline this process, think of your assets in three categories — paid, owned, and earned media.

Paid Media

Recall that paid media means any channel you spend money on to attract your target audience. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn offer paid media options that boost your exposure.

Owned Media

Owned media is any of the media you create — blog posts, ebooks, images, and infographics that your marketing team has created are examples of owned media.

Earned Media

Earned media is another way to say user-generated content. Shares on social media, tweets about your business, and photos posted on Instagram mentioning your company are all examples of earned media.

Gather your materials in these areas and consolidate them all in a single vehicle so you’ll have a clear vision of what you have and how you can integrate the three channels together to maximize your strategy.

For example, if you already have a blog that’s rolling out weekly content in your niche (owned media), you might consider promoting your blog posts on Twitter (paid media), which customers’ might then re-tweet (earned media). Ultimately, that will help you create a better, more well-rounded strategy.

The free option? Tweet it from your company’s Twitter or post it on Instagram and use relevant hashtags to spread it.

If you have resources that don’t fit into your goals, nix it. This is a great time to clean house or identify gaps in your materials.

6. Audit and plan media campaigns.

Cleaning house segues straight into this step. Now, you must decide which content is going to help you. Focus on your owned media and marketing goals. For instance, will updating the CTAs at the end of your blog posts help you increase RSVPs to your event?

Next, look at your buyer personas. Let’s say you work for a video editing software company. If one of your persona’s challenges is adding clean sound effects to their videos but you don’t have any content that reflects that, make a 15-second demo video for Instagram to show how great your product is at solving that challenge.

Finally, create a content creation plan. The plan should include the title, goals, format, and channel for each piece of content. Be sure to include which challenge it’s solving for your buyer persona.

For ideas on content creation or a more in-depth look at how to create a content plan, check out our post, The Ultimate Guide to Content Creation.

7. Bring it to fruition

At this point, your market research and planning should help you visualize how your strategy will be executed (and by which teams).

The final step is to bring that all together — to put actions into your planning. Create a document that maps out the steps you need to take to execute your campaign. In other words, define your strategy.

Think long-term when creating this document. A standard strategy document is 12 months. This structured timeline should be the home base for your strategic marketing efforts.

To paint an example, let’s go back to the video software company.

Maybe in January, you will launch a software update that improves the exportation process for users. In April, you want to publish an ebook that explains editing terms to your buyer personas, and in September, you plan to launch an integration with other software.

Remember, your digital strategy is unique to your business, so the document should be, as well. As long as the strategy includes all of the necessary information, you’ll be all set to take your company’s brand from okay to outstanding.

Now that we’ve explored five critical steps of a complete marketing strategy, let’s look at some “Why didn’t I think of that?” strategies to inspire your own.

Examples of Successful Marketing Strategies

1. Regal Movies

Digital strategy: Owned media

Regal Movies took the Halloween spirit to a new level, even re-naming their Twitter to reflect the spirit of the season. This “Monster Madness” poll is a fun, interactive way to get followers invested in Regal’s content:

Image Source

Regal’s tweet is an example of owned media because the company was in full control of the answers followers gave (and, apparently, American Werewolf didn’t stand a chance). Regal effectively kept true to their brand by using only classic movies in their poll,, while still putting a modern spin on it.

This is also a good example of how retweets don’t necessarily equal success. While four retweets isn’t that big of a deal, check out the votes: 461. That means there were over 400 interactions with a single tweet.

2. Taco Bell

Digital strategy: User-generated content, earned media

Real love is taking your engagement photos at your favorite fast food Mexican restaurant — right? User-generated content is one of the best ways to gain traction in your strategy — it demonstrates your appreciation for loyal customers, and also incentivizes other users’ to promote your products for the chance at a similar shout-out. Plus, sometimes the content your brand-lovers create is really, really good:

Oh, you sure did. 👏❤️ https://t.co/TXflZvxVxR

— Taco Bell (@tacobell)
September 26, 2019

It’s not every day someone takes engagement photos at a fast-food restaurant, and Taco Bell jumped at this earned media opportunity. Earned media is at work here because this couple is saying they love baja blasts and crunchwraps as much as they love each other — so it must be delicious.

3. Small Girls PR

Digital strategy: Event marketing

Wait, is that Keke Palmer?

Small Girls PR is a boutique PR company based in New York, and one of the company’s talents is throwing amazing events for their clients, like Olay. This event recap carousel on Instagram is an effective event marketing example.

Event marketing is a fantastic opportunity to boost awareness for your brand. Not every business needs to throw lavish events, either. Event marketing can be as simple as the last company outing you had at your team’s favorite brewery.

Posting a quick recap on Instagram sheds light on your business’s culture, and demonstrates your appreciation for your employees’, ideally incentivizing others to apply.

4. Diesel Cafe

Digital strategy: Word of mouth

Boston-local cafe Diesel Cafe is more than just a great location to get vegan bagels. It also rocks at word-of-mouth marketing. In fact, Diesel even has a website dedicated to it — a place where fans can submit letters about the fun times they’ve had at the cafe:

Check your company’s Yelp climate. Are people giving you nice reviews? Showcasing some of them on your social channels is an effective opportunity to provide social proof that your products or services are a worthwhile investment, since people typically trust peers more than ads.

5. Target

Digital strategy: Paid media, Twitter cards

If you’ve got the budget for paid media, take full advantage of it. Paid media is when you pay social channels, like Twitter, to promote your content on their site. By doing this, your content reaches new audiences you might not be able to reach organically:

Get wrapped up in soft sweaters and fleece-lined jean jackets.

— Target (@Target)
October 11, 2019

An inclusive ad from Target about fall shopping uses Twitter cards to promote their brand and offer easier ways to shop — simply click on the photo, and you’re redirected to a purchase page. More social channels are offering ways for shoppers to purchase in-app or close to it, driving sales and boosting exposure for brands.

Ultimately, creating a complete marketing strategy isn’t something that can happen overnight. It takes time, hard work, and dedication to ensure you’re reaching your ideal audience, whenever and wherever they want to be reached.

Stick with it (and use some of the resources we’ve included in this post), and over time, research and customer feedback will help you refine your strategy to ensure you’re spending most of your time on the marketing channels your audience cares most about.

Editor’s note: This post was originally publishing in October 2019. It has been updated for freshness and accuracy.

As any blog owner will tell you, “Should I enable comments on my blog?” is one of the first questions you’ll ask yourself as your content starts to grow.

There are plenty of benefits to enabling comments on your blog, including an opportunity to engage with your readers, grow a stronger community, and learn what your readers think about each piece of content you publish.

But there are also plenty of drawbacks — there’s a reason many major marketing blogs including Search Engine Land, SEMrush, and Buffer don’t allow comments (and, for the record, at HubSpot we don’t either).

If you’re wondering whether comments make sense for your own blog, keep reading. We’ll explore the pros and cons of blog comments, and whether they truly deliver enough SEO advantages to make them worthwhile.

Blog Comments and SEO

At HubSpot, we’ve run tests to determine whether blog comments actually lead to an increase in traffic or conversions.

In fact, a colleague of mine analyzed over 100,000 blog posts and came to the conclusion: “There is no correlation between the number of comments on a post and the number of views that post got … There’s also no correlation between comments and the number of links that post got.”

And, as HubSpot’s SEO Head of Content Aja Frost told me: “Many blogs develop thriving communities through their comment sections, such as Cup of Jo, Ask a Manager, the New York Times, etc.”

Frost adds, “Having a thriving community can be good for SEO, because it increases your direct traffic (which has a knock-on effect on organic), market awareness, etc. But only if your commenters are truly engaged.”

Frost says, “If you can build a robust community, organic traffic may follow, but I wouldn’t turn on a comment section for SEO’s sake.”

Additionally, it’s also important to note — while it may have been true a few years ago, it’s no longer true that backlinking to your website in another blog’s comment section will increase your website’s search ranking.

Ultimately, Google caught onto the black hat technique where people were stuffing blog comments sections with irrelevant links for the SEO benefit, and Google now gives much lower priority to user-generated comments on websites.

All of which is to say — leaving a comment on another blog post linking back to your website is ultimately not worth the effort. There are plenty of more legitimate, powerful opportunities to increase your SEO that I’d recommend instead.

Next, let’s dive into a few examples of businesses that do have blog comments enabled, and the potential benefits of including a comments section on your own blog beyond SEO.

Blog Comment Examples

1. Backlinko

Brian Dean’s blog, Backlinko, is a popular and trusted source for SEO tips and expert advice. Trusted by major brands including Disney, Amazon, and IBM, Backlinko provides actionable content on a range of SEO-related topics.

Dean’s blog also enables comments — and his readers love to engage. Take a look at the comments section for one of his recent posts, “Landing Pages: The Definitive Guide”:

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It’s clear that Dean cares about the comments his readers leave — in fact, he typically responds to most of them. Best of all, the comments often include actionable, tactical tips that readers can use to further their knowledge on the subject.

In a world where social proof matters, Dean has proven there is a responsible way to use blog comments to increase a blog’s value and effectiveness.

2. Cup of Jo

The popular women’s lifestyle site — which covers topics ranging from food and style to travel and parenting — has an incredibly active community of readers, and I’ll be honest … the comments section is almost as exciting to me as the blog’s content itself.

Take, for instance, the blog post on parenting Screen Time Rules. The short piece is only four paragraphs long — and yet, there are over 400 comments on the post from a range of perspectives:

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Ultimately, Cup of Jo has facilitated a strong, vibrant community of people eager to share their own opinions on the topic at-hand — so the comments section is a viable and necessary component of the blog, and in this case, adds value to the site.

3. Moz

One of the most popular digital marketing and SEO blogs around, Moz has built a community of experts eager to weigh in and provide industry insights to help digital marketers and SEO strategists.

This strong sense of community is likely why Moz has chosen to keep comments enabled on their blog:

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Wisely, the company also includes a CTA for commenters to refer to Moz’s community etiquette guidelines before posting a comment. While this won’t prevent all spam from getting through, it helps Moz outline the do’s and don’ts of their public forum for well-intentioned commenters.

There are other plenty of other examples of publications with comments sections, including Neil Patel, Web Search Social, and even the New York Times.

Ultimately, however, the decision to enable comments on your blog largely depends on your own business goals. Comments can foster a stronger sense of community and enable readers to learn from each other.

However, even with the help of spam filter services, you still run the risk of providing a space for people to post offensive or defamatory content, off-topic remarks, or promotional content linking back to inappropriate or irrelevant links.

If you feel the benefits outweigh these risks, you’ll want to hire a community manager or create a process for thoughtfully removing content that doesn’t feel relevant to the conversation at-hand.

Should you allow comments on your blog?

It’s up to you whether the benefits outweigh the risks when it comes to allowing comments on your blog.

For certain use cases and brands, comments are a necessary aspect of building a strong community and encouraging friendly discourse.

On the other hand, facilitating healthy discussions, deleting spam, and answering both on-topic and off-topic questions posted by your readers might be more effort than it’s worth.

If that’s the case, perhaps you want to explore using one of your social channels as an alternative option for encouraging engagement from readers, as Buffer does:

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For HubSpot, we decided we wanted to steer those types of conversations to a more public forum, which is why, rather than enabling comments on our blog posts, we’ll post our blog posts on our social channels with questions to facilitate effective conversations with marketers across industries.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that decision works for every brand. Brian Dean is a good example of that, as demonstrated above — the comments left on Dean’s blog posts are often just as useful as the content itself, since readers’ can share personal experiences and help other readers’ grow their businesses through shared challenges and successes.

If you’re unsure whether you should enable comments or not, you can always include a comments section for a few months and then reassessing whether the comments are productive and engaging. If not, consider how you might get creative with facilitating engagement and growing your blog audience through other methods.

As of March 2020, over 804,390 businesses in the U.S. were less than one year old. Combine that with the 31.7 million small businesses vying for customers, and the competition seems even more fierce. So how can you possibly create a marketing strategy that stands out? Diving into a specific niche is the way to set your business apart.

Let’s look at how a handful of businesses use niche marketing to their advantage, before walking through the steps to create your own growth-generating strategy.

5 Examples of a Niche Marketing Strategy

1. Flylow Gear

With 9.2 million skiers and snowboarders in the U.S, the pool of potential customers seems wide enough for all to share. But popular brands like Patagonia and The North Face can be found in almost every sports shop, making it hard to convince customers to seek out smaller brands with fewer offerings.

Flylow Gear figured out how to fight through the noise. Instead of targeting all customers interested in winter gear, their niche marketing strategy focuses on backcountry skiers looking for no-nonsense, quality gear. Their products are featured in all the right places — like Powder magazine — to reach their ideal buyers. Even their confirmation emails share that they’re a small, mountain-based crew of dedicated skiers.

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2. Octavia Elizabeth Jewelry

For ethically-minded consumers searching for jewelry, the most important factor is knowing about raw materials sourcing and product creation. That’s because this $300 billion dollar industry has come under fire for using child labor and causing extensive environmental harm.

Octavia Elizabeth understands the need for responsible jewelry. The company’s commitment to fair working conditions, legitimate living wages, and ethical production are clearly stated on its website.

Not only has Octavia Elizabeth honed in on customers looking for sustainably-sourced, handmade jewelry who are willing to pay a higher price, the brand has also elevated its niche offering by associating itself with celebrity clientele.

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3. Natural Dog Company

Research estimates Americans will spend $99 billion on their pets in 2020 alone. So how can a pet-focused business stand out amongst the thousands of memory foam beds, custom carry-on bags, and dog-friendly ice creams saturating the market?

Natural Dog Company caters to a very specific kind of pet owner: the eco-conscious consumer who pampers their pooch. By giving their organic and all-natural skin care products names like PAWdicure Pack and offering discount codes for free dog treats, they put pups first — which is exactly what their customers do.

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4. Pimsleur

Learning a new language can be a struggle, and the options for doing so are definitely overwhelming. Will you really be speaking like a Parisian after spending $1,000 on a program?

Rather than making promises of perfect grammar and flawless accents, Pimsleur focuses on learners who need to improve their speaking and listening skills. The program includes a 30-minute audio lesson every day, with each conversation building off the previous ones. While not the most innovative language-learning app, its audio-first approach is great for customers looking to improve their conversational skills.

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5. Photographers Without Borders

It’s one thing to entice people to buy a product, but it’s another thing entirely to attract donors for a nonprofit. While this type of organization may not seem like the right fit for a niche marketing strategy, it’s essential for bringing in donations and volunteers.

Photographers Without Borders has partnered with major organizations like Adobe, Sony, and Patagonia by honing in on a particular marketing technique: storytelling.

By prioritizing ethical storytelling, whether in a social media post, email newsletter, or online webinar, the organization has built a reputation for producing high-quality work that address the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and UNDRIP. Plus, their Code of Ethics makes it clear what type of community members and partners they’re aiming to attract.

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Developing a Niche Marketing Strategy

Now that you have a better grasp on how brands from all types of industries create strategies that drive growth, it’s time to shape your own.

Step 1: Know your competition.

Developing a niche marketing strategy is impossible without scoping out your competition. That’s because it’s crucial to understand your unique selling proposition — what you do differently that makes customers choose your company over another.

Maybe you design ceramic dishware that can’t be found anywhere else, or maybe you’ve developed a tool that makes it easier for marketers to send emails. Whatever is it, find your speciality and craft a story around it.

Step 2: Narrow down your niche market.

Airbnb Co-founder Brian Chesky is famous for having said, “Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like.” Put simply, it’s better to reach a small group of people who sing praises about your company, rather than a large group who thinks it’s just okay.

You can do this by honing in on the right niche market for your business. While this takes time and thought, it’s worth the effort to find loyal customers who will gladly choose you over competitors.

For instance, Thirdlove is the first underwear company to offer bras in half-size cups. Through their inclusive sizing options and emphasis on body diversity, they’ve built a loyal community of over 327,000 Instagram followers.

Step 3: Go where your buyers are.

If your ideal customer spends all of their time scrolling on Facebook, it wouldn’t make sense to develop a niche marketing strategy around email campaigns. Enter market research.

You already know who your buyers are, but research helps you go deeper to find out where they shop, how they find products, and what influences their purchase decisions. Once you have that information, you’ll get the most return for your marketing dollars.

Step 4: Listen to the word on the street.

Everyone has problems that need solutions. If you listen to people’s thoughts about a certain product or service, you can find opportunities to fill in the gaps.

David Barnett did just that when he engineered a solution for constantly tangled headphones. What started out as two buttons glued to the back of a phone case quickly turned into Popsockets, a company that brought in $169 million in revenue just seven years after its founding.

Step 5: Create a unique brand.

Once you’ve defined your unique selling point, outlined your buyer persona, found out where to reach them, and listened to their problems — all that’s left is to build a brand identity. A well-defined brand will help you develop a niche marketing strategy that’s authentic to you and attracts ideal customers.

For instance, Etsy’s position as the marketplace for independent artists has attracted more than 138 million buyers. In a 2020 TV commercial, the brand touched on the pandemic and used emotional marketing tactics to encourage support for small businesses that sell through the platform.

Creating a niche marketing strategy that drives growth for your business is more than creating a social media ad or sending a weekly email promotion. If you take the time to learn about your customers and differentiate your brand, you can develop a strategy that attracts the right buyers and helps you hit your growth goals.

A sound content marketing strategy is one of the better ways a business can help shape its brand identity, garner interest from prospects, and retain an engaged audience. It lets you establish authority in your space, project legitimacy, and build trust between you and who you’re trying to reach.

As you can assume, it’s well worth understanding. But that’s easier said than done. Content marketing isn’t static. The landscape of the practice is constantly changing. It doesn’t look the same now as it did ten years ago, and in ten years it won’t look the same as it does now.

It’s a difficult topic to pin down — one with a fascinating past and an exciting future. Out of both genuine interest and forward-thinking practicality, it’s important to understand both where it’s been and where it’s going.

Here, we’ll get some perspective on both. We’re going to take a look at how content marketing has evolved in the past decade, and how it’s going to evolve in the next one.

How Content Marketing Evolved in the Past Decade

Google changed the game.

In 2011, Google conducted its landmark Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) study. It found that 88% of shoppers use what’s known as a Zero Moment of Truth — a discovery and awareness stage in a buying cycle where a consumer researches a product before buying it. Google’s research also indicated that word of mouth was a definitive factor in swaying that moment.

The study provides a unique point of reference in the context of content marketing’s evolution. It captures the essence of how and why businesses needed to focus on content marketing at the beginning of the 2010s.

It was tacit evidence that companies’ stories were being told online — well beyond the control of their marketing departments — and it was in their best interest to help shape those conversations.

The ZMOT study highlighted the need for sound Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Ranking for relevant keywords on search engines became all but essential to bolstering a company’s online presence and holding up during consumers’ Zero Moments of Truth.

But that study wasn’t the only bombshell Google dropped in the early 2010s. Around the time the study came out, Google’s search ranking algorithm changed to discourage “keyword stuffing” — the practice of repetitively loading a webpage with specific keywords to try to sway search engine rankings.

The change represented what is still a continuous effort by Google to provide users with positive, helpful online experiences. And it did just that. The shift that set the stage for businesses to focus on producing more high-quality, meaningful content.

Social media rose.

But content marketing’s evolution wasn’t exclusively linked to search engines. Social media’s meteoric rise to prominence — one of the most disruptive trends in human history — also had a profound impact on the practice. As these platforms developed into mainstays of everyday life, they presented new challenges for content marketers.

As social media evolved, it popularized a different kind of content consumption than search engines. The difference boiled down to a matter of “pointed versus passive.”

Consumers use search engines to find content more pointedly. Generally speaking, when you use a search engine, you’re looking for a specific answer or a specific subject. Social media allowed users to consume content more passively on their preferred platforms. The content you see on your Facebook feed is finding its way to you — not the other way around.

That trend incentivized the creation of more shareable, attention-grabbing content that could easily be spread across social media channels.

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Video made a push.

Video also emerged as one of the prevailing content marketing mediums as the decade progressed, particularly among younger consumers. By 2017, over 50% of consumers wanted to see videos from brands they supported — more than any other kind of content.

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Video is inherently engaging. Generally speaking, it’s easier to follow than blog posts, email newsletters, or ebooks. Gradually, audiences took to it more and more as the decade progressed. By the end of the 2010s, platforms like YouTube were central to the landscape of content marketing.

Obviously, content marketing underwent several shifts in the 2010s, but as I said at the beginning of this article, the practice isn’t — and will never be — static. There are still plenty of changes to come.

How Content Marketing Will Evolve in the Next Decade

Video content will continue to rule.

As I just mentioned, video was emerging as one of the most — if not the most — important mediums for content marketing at the end of this past decade. There’s no indication that that trend is stopping anytime soon.

As of 2020, 85% of businesses use video as a marketing tool — up 24% from 2016. And 92% of marketers who use it consider it an important part of their marketing strategy. It’s already a staple in several companies’ content marketing operations, and research indicates that base is going to expand.

According to a survey by Wyzowl, 59% of marketers who weren’t using video in 2019 expected to be using it throughout 2020.

 

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All told, it looks like the exploration and expansion of video as the preeminent medium for content marketing is going to continue. The priority for marketers is going to be a matter of standing out.

That could mean emphasizing the quality of the content you produce — ensuring it’s enriching, well-crafted, and relevant to viewers. You could also try looking to emerging platforms like TikTok.

No matter how individual producers and companies manage to innovate when it comes to video marketing, the medium is going to be a mainstay in the evolution of content marketing going forward.

Adjusting for mobile will be essential and present new opportunities.

According to Statista, global mobile data traffic in 2022 will be seven times larger than it was in 2017. Mobile device usage is increasing astronomically, and it’s in every content marketer’s best interest to keep pace with that trend.

In 2019, 61% of Google searches took place on a mobile device, and that trend is showing no signs of slowing down. Having a website optimized for mobile devices will be central to successful SEO efforts. And a lot of the content you create will need to fit that bill as well.

Blogs should be easily navigable on smartphones. Readily accessible video content that your audience can watch on mobile devices will be a big help as well. Prospects and customers will need to be able to get as much out of your mobile resources as your desktop ones.

This shift towards mobile will also present new opportunities through emerging kinds of media. More novel mobile technology — like virtual and augmented reality — will have a very real place in the future of content marketing.

As people continue to rely more on their mobile devices, content marketers will have to as well.

Successful content will be more empathetic, purposeful, and customer-first.

Google’s ranking algorithm aims to prioritize the content that will mean the most to searchers. Ideally, by Google’s standards, the first ranking search result for any keyword is the one that best addresses whatever users are searching for. And in all likelihood, they’ll keep tinkering with their process in pursuit of that interest.

While there’s no telling exactly how the algorithm might change going forward, one fact remains — marketers need to focus on high-quality content that will register with consumers. That means understanding your audience and putting considerable effort into how to reach them best.

As HubSpot Senior Content Strategist Amanda Zantal-Wiener puts it, “Where I’m starting to see content turning a corner is in the area of empathy. In the years to come, marketers are going to start creating more content that’s truly created in the mindset of putting themselves in the shoes of others — be it their customers, prospects, partners, or someone else within their audiences. They’ll ask questions like, ‘What does my audience need from me right now? What can I create that’s truly going to help them?’ That’s going to become a requirement for marketers when they begin brainstorming content.”

Research, outreach, and community engagement will become even more important in the context of content creation. Content marketing is trending towards audience enrichment as opposed to product promotion. If this shifting tide holds true, content marketing will continue to become more targeted, purposeful, and customer-centric as the practice evolves.

If there’s anything to take away from understanding the previous and upcoming evolutions of content marketing it’s this — don’t get too comfortable. New trends and challenges are always emerging, and it will always be in your best interest to stay abreast of them.

And above all else, focus on consistently creating high-quality content that your audience will always be able to get something out of.

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

As a billionaire inventor and CEO, the fictional Tony Stark, also known as Marvel’s Iron Man, worked his way to the top of the corporate ladder while repeatedly saving the world on the side.

Despite Stark’s impressive achievements, his career success and robotic super-suit weren’t what made him a legend.

In fact, Stark’s best Marvel Comics storylines began when he joined The Avengers to save the entire universe.

Although Stark was fully capable of saving Earth alone in his super-suit, he knew teaming up with other superheroes would allow him to save multiple planets.

Marketers can learn a lot from Tony Stark.

While our brands might be capable of reaching basic targets all on their own, pooling marketing resources, combining skill sets, and jointly creating campaigns with other non-competing companies could help us reach much broader audiences. This tactic is known as co-marketing.

Although co-marketing can be incredibly beneficial to you and your partner’s brands, it will still take time, planning, and coordination when it comes to finding a co-marketing partner and launching mutually beneficial campaigns.

Like any good marketer considering a new tactic, you’ll want to know that co-marketing can be effective before devoting resources to it. And yes, you’ll likely want to research more than just the superhero analogy I’ve made above.

To help you make the case for co-marketing, here’s a list of 20 statistics that prove why you should consider this strategy.

20 Co-Marketing Stats to Know in 2020

The State of Co-Marketing in 2020

• After seeing co-marketed campaigns, 68% of consumers are able to make buying decisions before even speaking to sales representatives. (PartnerPath, 2019)
• Virtually all companies surveyed in 2018 were already active in internet marketing partnerships and affiliate programs. The few that weren’t were active planning to be in the next 12 months. (Partnerize, 2018)
• 54% of companies say partnerships drive more than 20% of total company revenue. (Partnerize, 2018)
• 34% of marketers say that co-marketing or brand partnerships are the most effective ways to increase an email subscriber list. (Ascend2, 2017)
• 74% of companies say partnerships and affiliate marketing campaigns are a high or very high priority for their businesses. (Partnerize, 2018)
• In 2018, just 5% of companies said they’d invested less in partnerships than in 2017. (Partnerize, 2018)
• More than half of respondents in a 2018 partnership survey said partnerships were driving more customers and sales in that year than in 2017. (Partnerize, 2018)

Partnership and Co-Marketing Tactics

• Brand partnerships that leverage digital channels see 4X the pipeline of non-digital partnerships. (Impact, 2019)
• 84% of vendors with brand partners offer money to those partners for co-marketing expenses. (PartnerPath, 2019)
• 30% of vendors will offer co-marketing reimbursement if their brand partner can prove ROI. (PartnerPath, 2019)
• Roughly 11% of marketers say “partnership posts” are their brand’s most engaging type of social media content. (HubSpot, 2020)
• Many brands prioritize large partnerships, versus thousands of smaller partnerships. Roughly 34% of leading brands have 50 to 99 partners, while 67% of brands have less than 100. (Partnerize, 2018)
• Only 2% of brands surveyed by Partnerize in 2018 partner with more than 1,000 brands. (Partnerize, 2018)
• In 2018, 33% of CEOs said they planned to prioritize strategic partnerships, which could involve co-marketing partnerships, in 2019. (KPMG, 2018)
• The top brand leader priorities include finding more partners (27%) and strengthening relationships with existing partners (23%). (Partnerize, 2018)

Co-Marketing and Brand Partnership Success Stories

• The Yeezy shoe line, a collaboration between Adidas and Kanye West, enabled Adidas’ net annual rose by 19.5% to $1.9 billion in 2019. (Bloomberg, 2019)
• Buffer and Social Chain’s Brand 2019 Brand and Social Media Report resulted in 17,000 download page visits in just one week and more than 3,000 shares across social media. These results were higher than an average article shared on either of their sites. (Quuu, 2019)
• When Estée Lauder and a top U.S. retailer created joint Google Ads that promoted the retailer and the brand’s fragrance products, the average ad click share rose by 70%. (Google, 2020)
• In 2018, Coors Light teamed up with National Geographic to launch a series of video ads taking place in Iceland. The campaign reached 10.5 million people and resulted in a 6.8 percent lift in brand favorability. (Facebook, 2018)
• In a recent case study, a gaming app company partnered with another brand in a cross-promotional campaign that was coordinated by Aarki — a mobile marketing agency. The gaming app received a 32% rise in downloads shortly after remarketing ads to the partnering brand’s contact list on social media. (Aarki, 2020)

The Benefits of Co-Marketing

Co-marketing can provide a long list of benefits, especially if you want to pool your resources to create a large-scale marketing campaign. Along with the statistical benefits seen above, there are a number of other qualitative perks such as:

• Audience exposure: Through co-marketing and cross-promotion, your content or brand information will be shared with your audiences as well as your brand partner’s. This enables your brand to gain increased reach. For example, when local or online stores launch Google Ads showing that they carry Estée Lauder fragrances, fans of the perfume brand might visit or follow that store for the first time.
• Increased trust and favorability: If a prospect trusts the brand you partner with, they might trust you when that brand promotes your name, logo, or content. For example, when Adidas teamed up with Kanye West to create the Yeezy line, people might have bought a pair of Yeezys because they trusted Adidas’ quality and West’s sense of style.
• Cost-effective content: When you team up with another brand, you might be able to make an agreement where you split time or production costs, or you can trade one brand strength for another. For example, if you’re a small brand partnering with a larger brand, you might be able to utilize the bigger brand’s budget and gain more exposure on their channels. Meanwhile, the bigger brand might be able to leverage your niche social media audience..

Now that you’ve learned about the benefits and stats related to co-marketing, get inspiration from these successful real-world examples of the tactic. For more on how to find the right co-marketing partner, check out this handy guide.

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