Would it be correct to assume a major part of your marketing strategy today is digital? Probably.

Consumers and businesses alike are almost always online and on the go – and you want to be able to reach them and observe their behavior where they spend their time.

But when you’re growing a business, this ever-changing digital landscape can quickly become an overwhelming one. With a number of other responsibilities and tasks that you need to do, how can you also efficiently create, fine-tune, and maintain an agile digital marketing strategy?

We’ve put together this guide about marketing strategies to help you improve your digital presence and grow better.

If you’re a small business and you’re unsure how to jumpstart your strategy, this digital marketing strategy template will help you get there. It includes actionable tips and templates to set you up for success.

Now back to this — are you confused about the difference between a marketing strategy and marketing tactics? We cover that below.

Marketing or not, there are three parts of any strategy:

1. A diagnosis of your challenge
2. A guiding policy for dealing with the challenge
3. A set of targeted actions that are necessary to accomplish the policy

Depending on the scale of your business, your marketing strategy may include several moving parts, each with different goals. With that said, working on your strategy can become daunting at times.

So, if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed about your marketing strategy, refer to these three steps to keep you focused on achieving your objectives.

To provide a better understanding of what they may entail, check out the following list of basic marketing strategies commonly utilized by teams across a range of industries.

Marketing Basics

• Publish a blog.
• Advertise on specific social media platforms (e.g. Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads).
• Offer free educational resources.
• Search engine optimize your digital content.
• Create a giveaway and/ or contest.
• Test different campaign types to determine what works best for your audience.
• Organize a webinar.
• Produce a podcast.
• Create an email campaign.

Now, let’s look at digital marketing strategy.

Similar to marketing strategies versus marketing tactics, “digital marketing strategy” and “digital marketing campaign” are also often interchanged. So, how do they differ?

We cover that in the following sections.

What is a digital marketing campaign?

Digital marketing campaigns are the building blocks and actions within your digital marketing strategy that move you toward a specific end goal.

For instance, if the overarching goal of your digital marketing strategy is to generate more leads through social media, you might run a digital marketing campaign on Twitter. You may share some of your business’s best-performing gated content on Twitter to generate more leads through the channel.

1. Build your buyer personas.

For any marketing strategy – digital or not – you need to know who you’re marketing to. The best digital marketing strategies are built upon detailed buyer personas, and your first step is to create them.

Organize your audience segments and make your marketing stronger with templates to build your buyer personas.

Buyer personas represent your ideal customer(s) and can be created by researching, surveying, and interviewing your business’s target audience.

It’s important to note that this information should be based upon real data whenever possible, as making assumptions about your audience can cause your marketing strategy to move in the wrong direction.

To get a rounded picture of your persona, your research pool should include a mixture of customers, prospects, and people outside your contacts database who align with your target audience.

But what kind of information should you gather for your own buyer persona(s) to inform your digital marketing strategy?

That depends on your business — it’s likely to vary depending on whether you’re B2B or B2C, or whether you sell a high-cost or low-cost product.

Here are some starting points that you can fine-tune and tailor to your particular business.

Quantitative and Demographic Information

• Location: Use web analytics tools to easily identify what location your website traffic is coming from.
• Age: Depending on your business, this may or may not be relevant information. But if it is, it’s best to gather this data by identifying trends in your existing prospect and contact database.
• Income: It’s best to gather sensitive information like personal income through persona research interviews, as people might be unwilling to share these details via online forms.
• Job Title: This is something you can get a rough idea of from your existing customer base and is most relevant for B2B companies.

Qualitative and Psychographic Information

• Goals: Depending on what challenge your product or service solves, you may already have a good idea of the goals of your buyer persona. Cement your assumptions by speaking to real customers and internal sales and customer service reps.
• Challenges: Speak to customers, sales and customer service reps, and any other customer-facing employees to get an idea of the common challenges your audience members face.
• Hobbies/Interests: Ask customers and those who align with your target audience about their hobbies and interests. If you’re a fashion brand, for example, it’s helpful to know if large segments of your audience are also interested in fitness and well-being to inform future content and partnerships.
• Priorities: Talk to customers and target audience members to find out what’s most important to them in relation to your business. For example, if you’re a B2B software company, knowing your audience values customer support over a competitive price point is very valuable information.

By combining all of these details, you’ll be able to create buyer personas that are accurate and highly valuable for your business.

2. Identify your goals and the digital marketing tools you’ll need.

Your marketing goals should always be tied back to the fundamental goals of your business.

For example, if your business’s goal is to increase online revenue by 20%, your marketing team’s goal might be to generate 50% more leads via the website than the previous year to contribute to that success.

Use a high-level marketing plan template to outline your annual marketing strategy, identify top priorities, and more.

Download the Template

Whatever your overarching digital marketing goal is, you must be able to measure the success of your strategy along the way with the right digital marketing tools.

For instance, the Reporting Dashboard in HubSpot brings all of your marketing and sales data into one place, so you can quickly determine what works and what doesn’t to improve your strategy for the future.

3. Evaluate your existing digital channels and assets.

When reviewing your existing digital marketing channels and assets to determine what to incorporate in your strategy, it’s helpful to first consider the big picture — this will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed or confused.

Gather what you have, and categorize each vehicle or asset in a spreadsheet, so you have a clear picture of your existing owned, earned, and paid media.

Owned, Earned, Paid Media Framework

To do this effectively, use the owned, earned, and paid media framework to categorize the digital “vehicles,” assets, or channels you’re already using and decide what’s a good fit for your strategy.

Owned Media

This refers to the digital assets your brand or company owns — whether that’s your website, social media profiles, blog content, or imagery. Owned channels are what your business has complete control over.

This can also include some off-site content you own that isn’t hosted on your website (e.g. a blog you publish on Medium).

Earned Media

Earned media refers to the exposure you earn through word-of-mouth marketing. Whether that’s content you’ve distributed on other websites (e.g. guest posts), PR work you’ve been doing, or the customer experience you’ve delivered. Earned media is the recognition you receive as a result of these efforts.

You can earn media by getting press mentions and positive reviews as well as by people sharing your content via their networks (e.g. social media channels).

Paid Media

Paid media refers to any vehicle or channel you spend money on to catch the attention of your buyer personas.

This includes things like Google AdWords, paid social media posts, native advertising (e.g. sponsored posts on other websites), or any other medium through which you pay in exchange for increased visibility.

Since you have a better grasp of what this framework entails, let’s look at an example.

Say you have an owned piece of content on a landing page on your website that’s been created to help you generate leads. You know you want to incorporate different parts of the framework rather than just working with owned, earned, or paid media alone.

To amplify the number of leads the content generates, you make an effort to ensure it’s shareable so your audience can distribute it via their social media profiles. In return, this will increase traffic to your landing page. This is the earned media component.

To support your content’s success, you might post about the content on your Facebook page and pay to have it seen by more people in your target audience.

This is how the three parts of the framework are able to work together — although, it’s not necessary for success. For instance, if your owned and earned media are already both successful, you might not need to invest in paid. So, evaluate the best solution to help you meet your goal, and then incorporate the channels that work best for your business into your digital marketing strategy.

Now you know what’s already being used, you can start to think about what to keep and what to cut.

Keep track of your paid media efforts with this free Paid Media Template.

Download the Template

4. Audit and plan your owned media campaigns.

At the heart of digital marketing is owned media — and it almost always comes in the form of content. That’s because nearly every message your brand broadcasts can be classified as content, whether it’s an About Us site page, product descriptions, blog posts, ebooks, infographics, podcasts, or social media posts.

Content helps convert your website visitors into leads and customers while improving your brand’s online presence. And when this content is search engine optimized (SEO), it can boost your search and organic traffic.

Whatever your digital marketing strategy goal is, you’ll want to incorporate owned content. To start, decide what content will help you reach your goals.

If your goal is to generate 50% more leads via the website than last year, your About Us page is most likely not going to be included in your strategy, unless that page has somehow been a lead-generation machine in the past.

Here’s a brief process you can follow to work out what owned content you need to meet your digital marketing strategy goals.

Audit your existing content.

Make a list of your existing owned content, and rank each item according to what has previously performed best in relation to your current goals.

For example, if your goal is lead generation, rank your content according to which pieces generated the most leads over the last year (such as a blog post, ebook, or site page).

The idea here is to figure out what’s currently working, and what’s not so that you can set yourself up for success when planning future content.

Identify gaps in your existing content.

Based on your buyer personas, identify any gaps in the content you have.

For example, if you’re a math tutoring company and know through research that a major challenge for your personas is finding effective ways to study, create some.

By looking at your content audit, you might discover that ebooks hosted on a certain type of landing page convert really well (better than webinars, for example).

In the case of this math tutoring company, you might make the decision to add an ebook about “how to make studying more effective” to your content creation plans.

Create a content creation plan.

Based on your findings and the gaps you’ve identified, make a content creation plan outlining the content that’s necessary to help you hit your goals.

This should include:

• A title
• Format
• A goal
• Promotional channels
• Why you’re creating the content
• The priority level of the content

This can be a simple spreadsheet, and should also include budget information if you’re planning to outsource the content creation, or a time estimate if you’re producing it yourself.

5. Audit and plan your earned media campaigns.

Evaluating your previous earned media against your current goals can help you get an idea of where to focus your time. Look at where your traffic and leads are coming from (if that’s your goal) and rank each earned media source from most effective to least effective.

You can obtain this information using tools like the Sources reports in HubSpot’s Traffic Analytics tool.

You may find a particular article you contributed to the industry press drove a lot of qualified traffic to your website, which boosted conversions. Or, you may discover LinkedIn is where you see most people sharing content, which increases traffic.

The idea is to build a picture of what types of earned media will help you reach your goals (and what won’t) based on historical data. However, if there’s something new you want to experiment with, don’t rule it out just because it’s never been done before.

6. Audit and plan your paid media campaigns.

This process involves much of the same process: You need to evaluate your existing paid media across each platform (e.g. Google AdWords, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to figure out what’s most likely to help you meet your current goals.

If you’ve spent a lot of money on AdWords and haven’t seen the results you’d hoped for, maybe it’s time to refine your approach, or scrap it altogether and focus on another platform that seems to be yielding better results.

Use this free guide for more on how to leverage AdWords for your digital marketing strategy.

By the end of the process, you should have a clear idea of which paid media platforms you want to continue using, and which (if any) you’d like to remove from your strategy.

7. Bring your digital marketing campaign together.

You’ve done the planning and the research, and you now have a solid vision of the elements that will make up your digital marketing strategy.

To review, here’s what you should have solidified so far:

• Clear profile(s) of your buyer persona(s)
• One or more digital marketing-specific goals
• An inventory of your existing owned, earned, and paid media
• An audit of your existing owned, earned, and paid media
• An owned content creation plan or wish list

Now it’s time to bring all of this together to form a cohesive marketing strategy document. Your strategy document should map out the series of actions you’re going to take to achieve your goals, based on your research up to this point.

Let’s discuss how our digital strategy template can help.

Digital Marketing Strategy Template

While a spreadsheet can be an efficient format for mapping your digital marketing strategy, that approach can quickly become messy and overwhelming.

To plan your strategy for the long-term – typically between six to 12 months out, you need a reliable digital marketing strategy document. But, where to start? With our free digital marketing plan template.

This template will walk you through your business summary and initiatives, help you build your target market and competitor information, and flesh out your marketing strategy — including your budget and specific channels and metrics.

Use this digital strategy template to build out your annual digital marketing strategy and tactics. By planning out these yearly plans, you can overlay when you and your team will be executing each action. For example:

• In January, you’ll start a blog that will be continually updated once a week, for the entire year.
• In March, you’ll launch a new ebook, accompanied by paid promotion.
• In July, you’ll prepare for your biggest business month — what do you hope to have observed at this point that will influence the content you produce to support it?
• In September, you’ll focus on earned media in the form of PR to drive additional traffic during the run-up.

This approach provides a structured timeline for your activity which will help communicate plans among colleagues.

Finally, here are some examples of digital marketing campaigns and their strategies to inspire you.

1. Béis: Paid Ad

Travel accessory brand, Béis, recently launched a social media campaign to announce feature updates to one of its products. And they did it in the best way: by showing instead of telling.

In a 34-second clip, the brand showed how their product performed before and how it performs now following some changes to the material.

This is a fantastic campaign as it not only highlights an improvement on a product but it also shows customers that the brand is constantly iterating and improving. Secondly, they make sure to include captions in the video to ensure that it’s accessible without sound.

2. Omsom: Social Media

Asian food brand Omsom leverages its TikTok profile to share behind-the-scenes content, recipes, and culturally relevant content.

In a recent video, the brand’s co-founder shared how it sources one of its key ingredients and how they chose the more difficult route to preserve the integrity of the food.

@weareomsom

here’s why we choose to make our lives harder as food founders! #business #sourcing

♬ original sound – Omsom

Here’s what Omsom did right: They highlighted their brand’s values while still building excitement around the product.

Sharing behind-the-scenes content is a great way to connect with your audience and share details that will simultaneously highlight your mission and/or values.

3. The General: Paid Advertising

After reports that consumers thought the brand was untrustworthy due to its low-budget ads, The General decided to revamp its entire marketing strategy.

In a commercial featuring basketball superstar, Shaq, the brand addressed the elephant in the room and introduced a new-and-improved look.

In addition, they also emphasize their credibility by mentioning how long they’ve been in business and how many people they’ve helped.

By addressing negative perceptions head-on, brands can not only change how consumers view them but also show that they are in tune with their target audience.

Grow Better With Marketing Strategies That Improve Your Digital Presence

Your strategy document will be very individual to your business, which is why it’s almost impossible for us to create a one-size-fits-all digital marketing strategy template.

Remember, the purpose of your strategy document is to map out the actions you’re going to take to achieve your goal over a period of time — as long as it communicates that, then you’ve nailed the basics of creating a digital strategy.

If you’re eager to build a truly effective strategy to help grow your business, check out our free collection of content marketing templates below.

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

According to a Pew Research Center survey, 85% of Americans say they go online on a daily basis, with 31% reporting that they go online “almost constantly.”

With people spending more time online than ever before, it’s important that your website is optimized for visitors to browse and stick around. But longer isn’t necessarily better. You want visitors to stay on your website because they’re enjoying the content and experience — not because they can’t find the information that they’re looking for or can’t complete a desired action, like making a purchase.

In this post, we’ll cover what a “good” average time on page and average session duration benchmark is, and how to improve these metrics on your website.

Average Time On Page Benchmark

According to Contentsquare’s 2021 Digital Experience Benchmark report, the average time on page across all industries is 54 seconds. While you can use that as a benchmark, meeting it doesn’t necessarily mean your average time on page is optimal.

Like page views, bounce rate, and other website metrics, average time on page is contextual. What’s “good” depends on the type of website you have, the industry you’re in, and the web page you’re tracking, among many other factors.

For example, in their 2021 Digital Experience Benchmark report, Contentsquare analyzed data

from over 20 billion user sessions from across the globe. They were able to track average time on page across 10 industries, and found major differences.

Image Source

B2B, for example, had the highest average time spent on page with 1.37 minutes. This was at least 20 seconds higher than the other industries. The industries on the other end of the spectrum were grocery and energy, with an average time spent per page of 44 seconds. This gap emphasizes the importance of using an average time on page benchmark that’s specific to your industry.

A “good” average time on page also depends on the type of content. For example, you ideally want visitors spending more time on your product pages and blog posts. In fact, in a survey by Databox, 45% of respondents said that the average time on page for their blog posts is 3-5 minutes. A higher time on page indicates that the content is relevant, easy to read and understand, and targeted at the right audience.

On landing and checkout pages, however, higher time on page could mean that there are obstacles to conversion. The content, CTAs, or form might be confusing, for example.

Average Time on Page Google Analytics

Google Analytics is one of the most widely used tools to measure average time on page, among other performance metrics. It’s therefore important to explain how Google Analytics calculates this metric.

Google Analytics tracks average time on page by measuring the difference between the timestamps of hits. That means if a user lands on a web page and then closes their browser window or tab, or types another URL into their address bar, their visit is not counted.

So average time on page is calculated from the non-exits and non-bounces only, which is a smaller percentage than the total hits for a page.

That’s why this average is typically higher than average session duration, which we’ll talk about more in the next section.

Google Analytics also keeps tracking time on page even if the user’s browser window or tab is hidden. So while this metric is not the most accurate, it is still a valuable indicator of how engaging and effective your content is.  

Now that we have a better understanding of how to calculate and benchmark the average amount of time users spend on individual pages, let’s take a look at how to figure out how long visitors are spending on your entire website.

Average Time Spent on a Website

Average time spent on a website, like average time on page, is dependent on a range of factors. Industry, the type of website, and even the device that users are on impact this average.

For example, Statista calculated the 20 most popular websites worldwide as of June 2021, by time per visit. Users spent approximately 22 minutes and 44 seconds per visit on Google, the most popular website, and only .54 minutes on VK.com, the 20th most popular.

To calculate how long visitors are staying on average on your entire website instead of individual web pages, look at average session duration.

Average session duration measures the average length of sessions on a website. Google Analytics begins counting the length of a session from the time the user lands on a site until the user exits the site, or is inactive for a predetermined amount of time. (In Google Analytics, a session can last for up to 30 minutes without a user interacting with your pages.)

That means a session can consist of a user viewing a single page or viewing multiple pages, and can range anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours.

Average session duration is calculated as: total duration of all sessions (in seconds) / number of sessions.

This is a key difference between average time on page and average session duration. Whereas average time on page excludes visits that end in exits or bounces, average session duration counts all bounces as zero seconds. This can lower the average session duration significantly if your website has a high bounce rate.

The Google Analytics dashboard below, for example, is tracking the same website as above. So while its average time on page last week was 14 minutes and 50 seconds, its average session duration was 1 minute and 37 seconds.

To improve average session duration, or the average time spent on a website, try the best practices below.

1. Decrease load time.

Decreasing load time can help reduce your site’s bounce rate, which can significantly improve average session duration.

In a study commissioned by Google and conducted by 55 and Deloitte, decreasing mobile site load times by just one tenth of a second resulted in significant decreases in bounce rate: 0.6% for homepages, 5.7% for product listing pages, and 1.9% for product details pages.

Using a CDN, optimizing images, reducing redirects, and compressing files are just a few ways to decrease load time. To learn more, check out our full guide on optimizing your website speed.

2. Optimize your navigation.

Website navigation enables visitors to quickly and easily find the information they’re looking for, like a blog post, and important information that they weren’t looking for, like pricing info. A good navigation system can improve the chances of visitors taking action and browsing your site longer.

When designing a navigation menu, follow these best practices:

• Put your most important items at the beginning of the navigation menu.
• Use navigation labels that align with your type of business and are SEO-optimized.
• Include a search box.
• Add navigation links in the header, sidebar, and footer of your site.

3. Add internal links.

Another way to enable visitors to easily find and read relevant content on your site is adding internal links. Internal linking makes your site easier to navigate, which increases the chances that readers look at more content and stay on your site longer.

Here’s an example of a blog post with lots of internal links encouraging visitors to dive into these subtopics in more depth:

Image Source

4. Improve the readability of your posts.

When evaluating the readability of your content, you need to consider what the words are on the page and how they look.

To improve the flow of the post, remove any instances of passive voice, shorten long sentences or paragraphs, and add transition words. To improve the look of the post, try adding headings, subheadings, and bullet points to break up chunks of texts. Also make sure you’re using an easy-to-read font and accessible color scheme.

A tool like Yoast SEO can help automate this process. In fact, it has a readability analysis tab where it provides actionable feedback to make your post or page easier to read.

Image Source

5. Add images and videos.

Adding multimedia content, like images, videos, and infographics, is another way to improve the readability of your content. Not only do they break up chunks of text — they can also illustrate complicated ideas (like APIs, for example) and appeal to different types of learners.

Image Source

Images and videos enhance the overall user experience and encourage visitors to stay on the page longer.

6. Optimize for all devices.

According to a study by Perficient, 68.1% of all website visits globally in 2020 came from mobile devices and only 28.9% and 3.1% came from desktops and tablets, respectively. However, desktops drove 46.4% of total time on site globally and tablets drove more total time on site than mobile devices.

This emphasizes the importance of having a fully responsive website that’s optimized for all devices. Sizing and styling buttons, SVGs, images, and fonts are especially important when creating a responsive site. For more best practices, check out our complete guide to responsive web design.

7. Use exit intent popups.

Exit intent popups appear when a visitor is about to bounce from a website. These contain an offer or message that’s designed to keep them on the page. Briogeo, for example, has an exit intent popup encouraging visitors to take their hair quiz before leaving the site.

Image Source

While this won’t convince every visitor to stay, it may convince some, which will ultimately help improve your average session duration.

Encouraging Visitors to Stay on Your Site

Average time on page and average session duration are excellent indicators of how engaging and effective your content is and whether you’re attracting quality traffic. Now that you understand what these metrics mean and what benchmarks to use to evaluate your performance, you can focus on optimizing your site to have visitors browse for longer.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Have you ever sat down at your desk first thing in the morning and spent a good 45 minutes browsing social media or getting lost in your inbox because you can’t focus on what you need to do? At the end of the day, you feel as if you’ve wasted 8 hours of your life that you’ll never get back.

On the other hand, have you ever sat down, opened your calendar app or a to-do list, and jumped right into work, knocking out task after task in a matter of minutes? When you shut your computer at the end of the day, you feel accomplished and know that you’ve done everything possible to move towards your professional goals.

What’s the difference between these two scenarios? A plan. Having your day (or week, or project) mapped out with a concrete action plan will help you feel more focused and accomplished in less time. When it comes to marketing, an action plan could mean the difference between a campaign that sizzles and a campaign that fizzles.

Now that you know there’s a way to ensure more days end with the satisfaction of work done well, let’s take a closer look at what these plans actually are and how they can benefit you.

What is an action plan?

An action plan is a proposed strategy for whatever you want to accomplish. It’s a clear, detailed list of all the steps you need to take to reach your goal, along with a proposed timeline of when you’ll complete each step or task.

Perhaps you’ve heard of action plans in the past, but never tried to create one of your own, Or maybe, this is a brand new concept to you and you’re pretty sure you just heard a choir of angels in the background.

What is the purpose of an action plan?

Action plans are designed to help you reach your goals faster. By breaking down projects into smaller steps, you can ensure that you:

• Meet your goal in a timely fashion
• Don’t skip a step
• Communicate effectively with team members
• Set reasonable expectations for what you can accomplish in a specific period of time

While they will vary in complexity, action plans are good for small projects, large projects, projects that you complete on your own, and projects that involve other team members or individuals outside of your organization.

Convinced you need action plans in your life? Good. Let’s take a look at the steps necessary to implement them.

How to Write an Action Plan

Action plans can be as simple or complex as they need to be. However, before you start writing out the steps to reach your goal, you’ll need to identify something very important… your goal, of course!

What is it that you’d like to accomplish? Is there a new campaign you need to prepare before a specific launch date? Maybe you’re teaming up with another business or a nonprofit for cross-promotion. Perhaps you’re looking to increase brand awareness through various channels.

Whatever your goals, get very clear on what it is you want, why it’s important, and when you need it done. You may wish to create a SMART Action Plan by incorporating SMART goals into it. SMART stands for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. This framework helps you determine if your goals are realistic, identify what actions are needed to reach your goals, and defines what success looks like.

Once you’ve determined what you want to accomplish and when it will need to be done, it’s time to start devising your plan. Follow these easy steps to create your plan of action.

1. Use a template or tool to capture your action plan and share it with anyone who needs to be involved. (You’ll find some options in the next section)
2. Brainstorm. Consider all the steps that need to get done to complete your project. You may find it helpful to start with larger aspects of the project and then break those down into smaller tasks. No task is too small to be listed (let’s be honest, checking things off a to-do list feels amazing).
3. Delegate and assign responsibilities to team members. You don’t have to go it alone! Hopefully, you have a trustworthy team standing by to help complete tasks and inch you closer and closer to the finish line. This also allows you to identify what resources you need to achieve the goal.
4. Schedule due dates. If your project needs to be done by a specific day (which it should or it could stretch on indefinitely), then each task will have its own due date. Keep in mind that some tasks can be worked on at the same time, while others will require that a previous task has been finished before you can start the new one.
5. Set up alerts to keep yourself (and your team) on track. It’s very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind and forget about a larger project looming in the distance. Use your scheduled due dates to set up reminders and pencil in time to work on specific tasks.
6. Track your progress and check in with your team. Your action plan may have looked top-notch when you wrote it, but as you work through it, you may discover that things need to change. If you see that you’re falling behind in the tasks, it may be time to re-evaluate and potentially tweak your action plan.
7. Celebrate. Completing a project is often cause for celebration, but don’t forget to review what worked and what didn’t for a smoother project next time.

Leadership action plans will not only help you achieve your goals, but will also help your team be clear on what they need to do, and feel accomplished once they’ve done it. They will also serve to identify any weak links in your organization.

Action plan Formats may differ depending on the needs of our specific project, however, as long as you include the goal, the steps, the people involved, and the due dates, you’ll have a solid plan to work with.

Action Plan Templates

When you’re ready to create an action plan, there’s no need to start from scratch. There are a number of templates and examples available that will provide the framework you need to devise your marketing strategy.

Below, is an action plan example for a 30-60-90 Day onboarding plan. This can always be tweaked to onboard individuals into a marketing position, or to create a marketing plan for your organization.

A marketing action plan may be as simple as this template:

Image Source

You can also use Hubspot’s Marketing Plan Generator to guide you along the way.

No matter how you do it, an action plan may take a little bit of time to create, however, you’ll save time, energy, and resources when you have a clear plan of action for your next project or campaign.

What do you use spreadsheets for? If you’re anything like me, you likely use them to collect data, track campaign or blog post analytics, or keep track of weekly assignments.

But have you ever thought about using spreadsheets to make a calendar? If not, let me tell you why Google Sheets is the perfect tool for your content calendar.

If you often work on campaigns for a few different clients, creating individual calendars in Google Sheets could be uniquely useful for ensuring the client understands when certain content will go live. Alternatively, perhaps you need to create an internal Google Sheet calendar for your team to keep track of upcoming projects.

Making a calendar in a tool that’s commonly used for spreadsheets sounds a little intimidating, but don’t worry, the process is actually pretty intuitive. And with the help of some tips, you can easily make a functional calendar that you can sync your schedule with.

Below, we’ll go over how to make a calendar in Google Sheets and include some tips that’ll help you elevate the design. At the end, your calendar will look something like this:

Open up Google Sheets and get ready to create your very own calendar. 📅

1. Open a new spreadsheet and choose your month.

First, open a new spreadsheet. 

Then, choose your month. For this example, I decided to do January 2022, so I filled that into the first cell. What’s great about Google Sheets is that it automatically recognizes dates, so typing in a month, followed by the year in YYYY format will tell Google that you’re going to be working with dates.

2. Begin to format your calendar.

Next, format your calendar. I selected the text, January 2022, in Column A, Row 1. I highlighted seven columns (A-G), and clicked Merge to make that cell span across the entire column. You can find this button to the right of the Fill tool.

Here, I also center-aligned my text using the tool next to Merge. Then, I increased the font size and bolded the month.

3. Use a formula to fill in the days of the week.

Next, fill in the days of the week in each column (A-G). You can do this manually but I decided to use a formula. Sheets has a function that lets you type in formulas to complete certain actions at once.

To fill in days of the week, in the cell where you want your first weekday to be, type: =TEXT(1, “DDDD”). What this tells Google is that your number will be replaced by a date or time and the format you’re using is weekdays.

Highlight the number 1 in the formula and replace it with: COLUMN(). Then, press enter and select your first day. You’re going to copy the formula in Sunday’s cell by dragging the selector to the end of your row, (A-G), and pressing enter again.

Pressing enter should automatically fill in the rest of the week. Remember, if this doesn’t work for you, you can always fill in the days manually.

Pressing enter should automatically fill in the rest of the week. Remember, if this doesn’t work for you, you can always fill in the days manually.

4. Fill in the numbers.

Excellent! You have your days of the week. Now we’re going to fill in the numerical values. Before this step, I took the time to add color to the days row and changed the font to one I liked a little more.

For the numerical values, we’ll simply identify the first day of the month and click and drag to fill in the rest.

How?

Place the number 1 on the box right underneath the first day of the month, then click and drag horizontally. Depending on the day of the week, you may need to follow this process using the second day of the month so you can click and drag horizontally.

5. Fill in the rest of the numbers.

Note: In this step, I filled in the calendar numbers every other row to help with my formatting later.

Now that you’ve filled out your first row, it’s time to fill in the rest. Manually insert the next number under “Sunday,” then click and drag horizontally to fill in the rest.

Repeat the process for the next rows. You’ll insert the first number manually, then click and drag down the row. Here’s what that looks like for the next row in January.

Note: Make sure to end the month on the right number! For January, that would be the 31st.

6. Reformat your calendar if necessary.

Everything is starting to look like a calendar, right? At this stage, I reformatted things to clean up the look of my calendar a little.

Remember those extra rows in between the numbered rows? I expanded those rows to create boxes underneath the numbers. To do this, I simply dragged the rows down to make those cells bigger.

Here are some additional formatting tips:

• Select the empty rows underneath your numbers and center them using the center text alignment tool.
• Select your entire calendar and vertically align all elements so that they’re in the center of their cells. To do this, use the vertical alignment tool.
• Bold your day numbers.
• If desired, lightly shade your numbered rows.
• If desired, gray out the Saturday and Sunday columns so that your workdays stand out.

7. Add design elements to professionalize the look.

Finally, you can add in some fun design elements to personalize the look and feel of your calendar. If it’s for a client or upcoming project, you’ll want to incorporate the necessary launch days here.

For this step, I added in a few fun images, included a few hypothetical calendar events, and played with font sizes.

8. Repeat the process from February to December.

It’s time to repeat for the month of February to December. Simply duplicate your January calendar once you’ve designed it how you want it to look. To do this, right-click the sheet’s tab and select Duplicate from the menu.

To fill in the numbers, you’ll only need to know the beginning day, then click and drag to fill in the rest of the rows. Here are the first days for every month for the year 2022:

• January: Saturday
• February: Tuesday
• March: Tuesday
• April: Friday
• May: Sunday
• June: Wednesday
• July: Friday
• August: Monday
• September: Thursday
• October: Saturday
• November: Tuesday
• December: Thursday

Next, you’ll want to know how many days you’ll need to fill in. Here are the number of days you’ll need for each month:

• January: 31
• February: 28 or 29
• March: 31
• April: 30
• May: 31
• June: 30
• July: 31
• August: 31
• September: 30
• October: 31
• November: 30
• December: 31

And then, you’re done!

It’s handy to use Sheets because you can open your calendar right on your browser. You can also keep track of your schedule in a place that’s separate from your phone.

Alternatively, you can create important business documents such as social and editorial calendars. Below, I share a template that’s perfect for the task.

Google Sheets Calendar Template

Here’s an editorial calendar template for all of your editorial planning needs. This template helps you lay out a strong editorial strategy on a daily basis.

Featured Resource: Free Editorial Calendar Templates

Download the Free Templates

Use a Google Sheets Calendar to Organize Your Tasks

If you’re handy with Sheets and want to give it a shot, create a Google Sheets calendar. It’s a great option if you need to create a clean calendar to track an internal marketing campaign, organize a client’s upcoming projects, or share an event calendar with key stakeholders. But if you don’t want to create one from scratch, use our editorial calendar template to jumpstart your planning and organization efforts immediately.

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

I first discovered podcasts a few years ago when I was commuting for work two to three hours a day, every day.

The first podcast that got me hooked was NPR’s “How I Build This” show on entrepreneurship. 

Today, I listen to a wide range of podcasts on business, pop culture, and current events, like The Nod and “Louder Than a Riot.” So, what does it take to start a podcast in 2022? We’ll cover that in more in this article.

• What is a podcast and how does it work?
• What is a podcast host?
• What equipment is needed to start a podcast?
• How to Start a Podcast

1. Find a unique and compelling topic or theme.
2. Set up your show format.
3. Leverage your network.
4. Record and edit your episode.
5. Finalize your creative assets.
6. Set up a website.
7. Build a promotion strategy.
8. Track your metrics.
9. Learn how to monetize your podcast.

What is a podcast and how does it work?

A podcast is an audio series that a user can download to a personal device and listen at their leisure. It centers around one theme or topic, with each episode typically ranging from 20 to 60 minutes.

Think of a podcast as the audio version of any television series. It follows the same production format: It follows a specific theme or topic, t’s episodic and can have several seasons, and can be reality- or fiction-based.

One thing that sets podcasts apart from TV series is the use of a podcast host. Every podcast needs a host who can narrate the story and guide the listener through the episode. In addition, podcasts are only audio. Otherwise, the two mediums are very similar.

The most popular platforms to listen to podcasts include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

Google Trends shows that podcasts have gradually become more popular, peaking around the fall of 2019 and the spring of 2020 worldwide.

Today, 28% of the U.S. population over 12 years old listens to podcasts on a weekly basis, according to the 2021 Infinite Dial study – a 17% year-over-year increase.

Podcasts vs Standard Audio Files

The difference between a podcast and standard audio files is the same as the difference between a video and a television series.

An audio file is a file format used to store audio on a digital device. A podcast, on the other hand, is a produced show that involves storytelling, formatting, and audio sourcing. You need audio files to create a podcast, but the same is not true the other way around.

What is a podcast host?

A podcast host is a platform that stores your podcast and distributes it to publishing platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Here’s how it works: You first upload your audio file to your hosting platform, then they create an RSS feed and send your episodes to various directories (AKA publishers).

The most popular podcast host platforms include Casted, Buzzsprout, Captivate, Libsyn, and PodBean. Here are the top features you should look for as you evaluate your options:

• Transcription integration
• Unlimited storage and bandwidth
• Custom website
• Analytics
• Text editor for show notes

What equipment is needed for a podcast?

One of the best things about starting a podcast is that it doesn’t take much to get started. All you need are these high-quality items:

• A microphone – While you might be tempted to use your computer’s or phone’s built-in microphone, invest instead in an XLR or USB mic that will offer better sound quality. If you’re just starting out, you might opt for a dynamic mic that’s less sensitive to ambient noise. If you have a studio set up, a condenser mic might be better.
• A studio or soundproof room – When recording a podcast, you should minimize ambient noise as much as possible as that can distract listeners. Because of this, it’s important to create a quiet, soundproof space to record.
• Editing software – Once you record your episode, you will need to edit it to add in music and ad spots and remove any content that may not fit. There are various audio editing software that you can use, including Audacity, Adobe Audition, and Descript – each ranging in editing features.
• Noise-canceling headphones – Headphones are important both during production and in post-production as they allow you to monitor and detect sounds during the recording.
• A hosting platform subscription – Before you can distribute your episodes, you must first upload your files to a hosting platform first.

1. Find a unique and compelling topic/theme to cover.

The first thing you need to start a podcast is an idea. For an individual, it can stem from a passion for or expertise in a particular topic/industry. For a brand, this can come from research you’ve gathered about your audience.

At the core, your podcast should speak to a particular audience. Because if there’s no interest in it, then you’ll be speaking into an empty room. And if you’ve ever done an 8 a.m. PowerPoint presentation in college, you know exactly what that’s like.

If you’re reading this article, there’s a good chance you already have an idea for a podcast. In this case, the goal is to dive deeper into your idea and see if it’s worth pursuing.

To do this, here are the questions you want to ask yourself:

• Has this been covered before in another podcast? If so, is there another angle I can take?
• Is this idea relevant and timely?
• Is there an audience for this? If so, what type of listeners will it attract?
• Is there enough content to create a season?

You’ll know you have a winning idea when you have a clear answer to these questions. Your idea may go through some changes as you develop it but the foundation starts here.

During this step, you may be tempted to secure your name and logo but we recommend waiting on that. More on that in step five.

Want some inspiration? Check out these marketing podcasts.

2. Set up your show format.

The great thing about podcasts is that they can follow just about any format.

Some are interview-based and conversational with one or several hosts bringing on guests while others focus on storytelling (fictional and non-fiction). It’s up to you to decide which format will suit your theme the best.

From there, start brainstorming your episode segments, which break down your show into sections to make it easier for listeners to follow.

Segments aren’t always clearly stated either. Sometimes, it’s as simple as act one, two, and three. It’s all about finding the best way to tell the story in a way that captures and maintains the audience’s attention.

3. Leverage your network.

Once you’ve figured out which format you want to follow, you might need to reach out to your network.

Perhaps you need a co-host, or you need to line up a few high-profile guests for upcoming shows. This is when you reach out to your network.

In addition to posting on your social platforms, you should also reach out to your network in shared interest groups, like Facebook Groups, as members may have a special interest in your project.

4. Record and edit your episode.

Now that you’ve worked out all the editorial details of your podcast, it’s time to record your first episode.

While this may seem nerve-racking, see it as a dry run. Once you review the recording, you can work out any kinks in the episode regarding segments, flow, storytelling, etc.

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from others. While you’re in the early stages of developing your podcast, this is the perfect time to get notes on where you can improve and implement them before it officially launches.

5. Finalize your creative assets.

So, earlier I mentioned not finalizing your name and logo during the initial development stages. That’s because, from idea to production, your idea may have evolved into something different from what you originally thought.

In addition, you may get more inspiration after creating your first episode and having a clear product to name.

You may find that you had a name for your podcast from day one, and that’s great. But if you need something more concrete to get your juices flowing, that’s fine too.

6. Set up a website.

Consider your website as your home base for your podcast.

It’s where all information surrounding your podcast will live, including show notes, transcripts, episode descriptions, host descriptions, and more. It also allows you to get more listeners by increasing organic traffic to your website.

By following SEO best practices, you can reach consumers who may be interested in your content and make them convert once they land on your website.

7. Build a promotion strategy.

Having a great podcast concept won’t be enough to attract users. You have to build a robust promotion strategy to get it in front of your target audience. Because how will they listen to something they don’t even know exists?

First, the pre-launch. Promotion doesn’t start after your first episode has aired, it should start before.

Why? It builds anticipation surrounding your show and can help you start out with a strong listenership right out of the gate. Share on platforms you’re already on along with those you haven’t yet explored.

For instance, you might start by securing your handle on social media and sharing a few posts to count down the air date for your first episode. If you already have a captive audience elsewhere, like a newsletter or a blog, prioritize promotion on those channels as well.

Once your show launches, be consistent about promoting the episodes, and don’t be afraid to test various methods.

You may find that posting audio snippets from episodes get higher engagement rates than posting about your guests. Or vice versa.

Once you identify what your audience responds to, stick with it.

Pro-tip: Reviews can go a long way in gaining new listeners. During your post-launch strategy, consider incentivizing your audience to leave a show review by hosting a giveaway.

8. Track your metrics.

If you’re not tracking it, did it even happen?

Once your podcast launches and is in full swing, start monitoring its performance. Here are the metrics you want to keep an eye on:

• Subscriber count
• Monthly episode downloads
• Unique page views to the podcast page
• Average listening time

Every piece of data you track will offer insight into your listeners and inform your strategy for future episodes.

For instance, say your top episode is on a particular topic, you could cover that more. Here’s an in-depth piece on how to grow a podcast.

9. Learn how to monetize your podcast.

Finally, it’s important to figure out how to earn an income based on your podcasting.

The most straightforward way is through sponsorship. Ever heard “This episode is brought to you by [insert brand]”? Well, it means the show has set up a partnership with the brand to increase brand awareness or meet another marketing goal.

In some cases, the sponsorship will also include ads pre-roll (at the beginning of the episode) and mid-roll (in the middle of the episodes). However, that’s not always the case.

Affiliate marketing, which refers to the process of promoting a product or service in exchange for a commission on the sale. Podcasts hosts will often do this by offering a unique discount code that includes the show name.

With both strategies, you’ll have to actively seek out these brands in the beginning. Create a pitch explaining the benefits of partnering with you. It’s easy to do this once you have a few episodes under your belt and can show metrics to support your points.

Another podcast monetization strategy is offering paid membership tiers for exclusive, bonus content through services like Patreon and Stitcher Premium. For instance, say your podcast is interview-based.

You could promote extended interviews at the end of each episode and encourage your listeners to join your membership platform.

If you join a podcast network or advertising network, some of this work is done for you. But it also means you don’t have full control over which ads are placed on your show. Additionally, you may not receive the full profit from the ad, as that may be split between you and the network.

Lastly, you can also maximize your podcast by publishing it on YouTube. If you have a good at-home setup or a studio setup, consider recording both video and audio – particularly if your show is educational or conversational.

This way, you can publish it on YouTube, access a wider audience, monetize your channel, and diversify the ways in which you promote your show.

Luckily, you’re not alone. Many marketers have asked those questions and might not have found a solid answer yet. We’re here to demystify bounce rate with an overview of what constitutes a bounce rate — what doesn’t — and exactly how you can fix it.

Keep in mind that bounce rate is different from an exit rate. Bounce rates only measure “one-and-done” visits — the ones in which people arrive and leave your website without navigating away from a single page. Here’s what they look like in your HubSpot Web Analytics Dashboard, for example:

Exit rates, on the other hand, are a little more complicated. They include the percentage of people who leave your website from a certain page — but, that’s not necessarily the only page they’ve visited on your website. The page from which they exited could be the last in a long sequence of page visits. That’s why the exit rate isn’t always as troubling as bounce rates.

But a high exit rate, on the other hand, wouldn’t be cause for concern. It would mean that this page was the last in a chain of visits — people exiting from that page probably arrived from its preceding landing page, downloaded the offer on the thank-you page, and left to go make use of the content they just downloaded.

Keep in mind that this scenario is hypothetical, and these takeaways can differ based on other page metrics — but it serves as a simple illustration of the difference between bounce and exit rates.

For example, if 100 people visit your site and 10 of them only visit one page, then your bounce rate would be 10%. This number will likely change over time, so using an analytics provider to track all the changes is beneficial for understanding what’s affecting your bounce rate.

What is a good bounce rate?

If you’ve recently taken a look at your website’s bounce rate, you might find yourself discouraged at the number. But if you then decide to aim for a 0% bounce rate, you’ll probably find yourself even more discouraged. The average bounce rate is somewhere between 26% and 70%, with the optimal range being between 26% and 40%. To land anywhere under 20% is generally unlikely, so if that’s what your data is showing then you may want to double-check some things. Duplicate code, incorrectly implemented tracking, and third-party add-ons can all result in an inaccurately reported bounce rate.

The average bounce rate can also change depending on the viewer’s device. Mobile devices, for instance, have the highest bounce rate across all industries at 51%. Whereas the average bounce rate on a desktop is 43% and the average for tablets is 45%. So, take into account where the traffic is coming from as you’re judging your site’s bounce rate.

High Bounce Rate

A bounce rate over 70% is above average, but it’s not necessarily on the high side until it’s reaching 56%. If it’s over 90%, that’s a major cause for alarm but it’s usually easy to decrease because there’s something specific scaring everyone off. Things like bad design, errors in your tracking code, excessive bots, or browser incompatibility could be the culprit. Also be aware that high traffic from social media or paid ads, as well as a lot of mobile visitors can be increasing your bounce rate as well.

How to Reduce High Bounce Rates

Now you know what a bounce rate is. But what can you actually do about it?

In general, high bounce rates might indicate that the page is irrelevant or confusing to site visitors. But don’t jump into drastic actions like deleting a page or undertaking a redesign right away. There are some important steps you need to take before you figure out which action to take.

Remember: Bounce rates only tell you that someone landed on a web page and left it without visiting any other page on your website. It doesn’t tell you how someone interacted with your page. That’s why it’s important, says Director of Product Marketing at Iterable Jeffrey Vocell, to take “practical steps” to examine other metrics and pieces of your web presence to see what might be behind the bounce rates. We’ve outlined these steps below.

1. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly.

Mobile users account for about half of web traffic globally. That makes it crucial, says Vocell, “to not only provide a mobile-ready experience,” but to make sure that experience is engaging. How annoying is it when you arrive at a mobile site, only to have to zoom in to read its content? Having a responsive site is no longer enough — engagement with the mobile version has to be user-friendly and interactive.

Video is one particularly engaging type of content. It can often explain complex topics more concisely than text, which might be why 4X as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. But when it comes to mobile usage, long videos require a significant amount of data and might therefore slow the user experience — causing the visitor to bounce. For that reason, Vocell suggests eliminating these longer videos from your mobile site or creating more concise versions that still address the most important points.

This kind of improvement, however, isn’t limited to video. Take a holistic approach to evaluating your mobile experience, and consider how you’ll address contingencies like these.

2. Look at your bounce rate based on different sources.

Sometimes, the sources directing traffic to a given page might have something to do with its bounce rate. That’s why the HubSpot Web Analytics Dashboard allows you to break down the bounce rate according to source:

Let’s say your bounce rate is particularly high from direct traffic — take a close look at the URL to make sure it’s easy to read, remember, and type in. Then check to see that the visitor isn’t being greeted with a 404 error or a home page that isn’t very inviting. The headline should be clear and signal to the person that they’re in the right place.

You have to meet the expectations of the visitor — regardless of source.

3. Avoid other disruptions that might hurt the user experience.

We’ve already discussed the importance of a good mobile user experience, and that goes for all platforms. Things like full-screen pop-ups, for example, are not only annoying but can also result in search penalties.

The key thing to consider is the user. “You want visitors to be drawn into your page and stay for as long as needed to convert,” says Vocell, and while “some pop-ups are good,” — like well-crafted inbound messages that add context to a site — avoid any that significantly disrupt the user experience in a way that might cause visitors to leave.

4. Determine which keywords this page ranks for — and if your content sufficiently covers those topics.

Remember how we cautioned against misleading visitors about your site’s content in social distribution? The same goes for keyword rankings. “Matching keyword intent to your content is important to ensure organic visitors get the content they expect,” explains Vocell.

Let’s say someone is searching for “marketing automation software solutions” — it’s likely that this person is looking for software to help nurture leads into customers. But if someone is using the query, “What is marketing automation?”, she’s probably not at a stage where she’s looking to buy a product. Rather, this person is looking for content that’s more informative than anything else.

So when you evaluate the keywords for which your page is ranking, make sure they’re aligned with the actual content. Once you’ve done that, try looking at a topic-cluster framework — the kind that groups your site’s pages into clusters according to subject — to help attract organic traffic to the right pages.

Let’s Bounce

When you’re investigating bounce rates, make sure you’re looking at the full picture. Take a look at the time people spend on your site, where they’re coming from, and what device they’re using — and if your content and experience are aligned with all of those factors. You might uncover patterns that show how you can fix the bounce rate problem.

Think of bounce rates like your car’s “check engine” light. When it goes on, you know there might be a problem — but you need to check all of the car’s systems to accurately diagnose the issue. There’s no one-size-fits-all fix for bounce rates, but knowing what they are and how they can inform your marketing strategy can help ensure your website’s success.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2014 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

And just like that, another year is (almost) in the books. As marketers begin to map out their 2022 marketing plans, it’s the perfect time to dust off the crystal ball and predict what will shape the industry over the coming year.

There’s certainly a lot to consider — the continuing impact of the global pandemic, the massive shift to digital advertising, and the rise of platforms like TikTok — to name a few. Simply put, what worked for your marketing strategy in the past might not fly in 2022.

Ready to explore the future of marketing? Let’s look at all different types of advertising, and the 6 types brands are investing in this year.

1. Video Advertising

As marketers look for innovative ways to engage audiences, video has become an integral part of the conversation. Video advertising uses videos to promote products and services, educate or entertain consumers, and reach new audiences in an engaging way.

But let’s be honest — video isn’t a new, “up-and-coming” strategy. It’s here, and its impact is already undeniable. And with the popularity of video-related platforms like YouTube and TikTok, it remains a top priority for marketers.

2. Social Media Advertising

It’s hard to imagine any company successfully marketing its offerings today without a social media account. With over 4 billion people on social media, it’s easy to see why companies gravitate to this medium.

Social media advertising serves paid ads to your target audience on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Aside from its reach, it also offers a wealth of opportunities to boost brand awareness, generate and convert leads, and foster customer relationships.

Social media is also great for retargeting, which is the process of targeting audiences who have previously interacted with your website or social media. SharpSpring Ads is one retargeting platform that lets users recapture lost viewers by sending them targeted ads on Facebook, Twitter, and across the web.

3. Mobile Advertising

Digital advertising is all about meeting people where they are, and more often than not, they’re on their phones. In fact, as of July 2021, 56% of all web traffic came from mobile phones. If we jump back to 2011, this number was just over 6%.

Mobile advertising encompasses all forms of advertising on mobile devices — anything from banner ads and popups to SMS text messages. When done correctly, marketers can take their campaigns mobile to reach audiences exactly where they are.

4. Display Advertising

Display advertisements are mostly found along the top or sides of third-party websites. And due to their flashy style and placement, they aren’t exactly subtle. However, display ads can offer impressive reach, and they are easy to create and track in Google AdWords.

During a time where consumers want less intrusive ad experiences, it can be easy to write off display ads. Although it may take some trial-and-error, marketers can create effective displays ads while providing consumers a great experience. Plus, if the ads are enticing enough, they can build brand awareness and capture leads.

5. Print Advertising

When I think of print advertising, I picture the infamous poster of Rosie the Riveter, recruiting women for defense industries in World War II. While the ad industry has evolved since the 40s, print is still an effective and universally-used medium. It’s now migrated to the digital space, encompassing digital magazines, newspapers, and brochures, among others.

Unlike digital ads, print advertising is nearly impossible to track and analyze as accurately. However, many businesses have found innovative ways to incorporate print into digital ad campaigns.

6. Broadcast Advertising

Broadcast advertising uses TV and radio to promote products and services. TV ads, in particular, have a broad reach and can provide a more engaging, multi-sensory experience. But, these ads are expensive and the audience may avoid them (by clicking to another channel).

A cheaper alternative is radio, which plays spoken advertising spots between music and programs. It’s particularly powerful for local and regional advertising. But if you’re looking for national reach, podcast advertising is a similar method.

7. Native Advertising

Have you ever seen an advertisement on Instagram that looks exactly like a normal post from someone you’re following? That’s one example of native advertising.

Native ads often resemble the design, style, position, and functionality of the content around them. They’re undoubtedly harder to spot, but that’s actually a good thing. Because native ads naturally integrate with other content, they’re almost impossible to spot and skip — capturing three times more time and attention than other digital ads.

For example, you may run an ad campaign across TV, print, and social media to promote a new product launch. Regardless of the medium, the singular message is there — we have a new product, and we want you to know about it.

Types of Advertising Campaigns

Here are three main types of advertising campaigns:

1. Promotional Campaigns

Promotional campaigns focus on promoting products or services and building awareness in new markets or locations. In other words, the name of the game is customer acquisition. For example, you may run a Facebook campaign to promote an upcoming business event.

2. Engagement Campaigns

Engagement campaigns have a simple goal: provide enough value that people complete an action (make a purchase, sign up for an e-newsletter, download an eBook, etc.). It’s an excellent way to attract, retain, and, ultimately, convert leads and build brand awareness.

3. Advocacy or Retention Campaigns

We’ve all heard the statistic — it’s cheaper (and arguably easier) to retain customers than to convert new ones. This is why advocacy and retention campaigns are so important. These campaigns keep your business top-of-mind for your existing client white boosting repeat business long-term.

6 Types of Advertising Brands Are Investing In This Year

Ad spending in the US will surpass the $200 billion mark in 2022. Let’s find out where marketers are investing their time and money next year:

1. Short-Form Videos

Short-form videos are everywhere nowadays. In a 2021 HubSpot Blog poll of 1,000+ global marketing professionals, 85% of marketers ranked short-form videos as the most effective type of content in 2021. Additionally, 64% of marketers surveyed plan to invest their ad spend into video in 2022.

The popularity of short-form videos has continued to rise since the introduction of TikTok, and it has no signs of slowing down. Unlike its digital marketing counterparts, short-form video can create immersive experiences for users. They’re more “sticky,” shareable, and, in my opinion, way more addicting than other formats.

A variety of social media platforms have tried to emulate TikTok’s format. This creates a lot of ground for marketers to cover — from Stories on YouTube to Reels on Instagram. For marketers who have the budget for creating, producing, and editing video content — and the creativity to make engaging videos — the iron is hot for the striking.

2. TikTok and YouTube

Since short-form videos are skyrocketing in popularity, it only makes sense that video-sharing platforms are too.

Marketers are certainly setting their sights on YouTube and TikTok next year. In a 2021 HubSpot poll, 44% of marketers plan to leverage YouTube for the first time in 2022. And 61% of marketers plan to increase their investment in TikTok marketing in 2022.

When it comes to video marketing, YouTube has become the go-to destination for marketers. It now has over 1 billion active users, and is the second most popular website behind Google (which owns YouTube). All this to say, your audience is probably on there.

Then there’s TikTok. It’s climbed the ranks over the past few years, becoming the most downloaded app in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Not only is it the app of choice for Gen-Z’ers, but it’s also quickly growing in popularity among Millennials. The app has yet to plateau, so there’s still time to leverage it.

3. Live Video Streaming

Before the COVID pandemic, I’d never heard of Zoom. Now, I use the app a few times per week. Turns out I’m not alone — many marketers did experiments with live video in 2020 and realized its power as a customer acquisition and retention tool.

In terms of expenses, live video is typically more cost-effective than producing and editing an actual business video. Additionally, many social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have live video capabilities, presenting a great opportunity to expand your reach.

We predict live video streaming will become a default for marketers moving forward. Whether that means refining your presentation skill or learning to engage views on stream, marketers will need to keep a pulse on best practices and industry standards in this space.

4. Conversational Marketing

Conversational marketing and chatbots are becoming commonplace online. In 2021, 47% of marketers report using bots for marketing efforts, up from 45% the year before — and this trend isn’t slowing down.

Here’s why we’re hedging our bets on conversational marketing in 2022 — first, chatbots are now much easier to use and add to websites. Second, AI powers many of these tools — which significantly impact (and improve) the way we connect with customers and manage leads.

Marketers should expect to see AI powering a growing number of customer support, ad targeting, campaign management, and automation tools. This leads to our next trend…

5. Marketing Automation

Odds are, you have at least one marketing automation tool in your wheelhouse — and we predict this number will grow in the next year.

76% of companies in 2021 report using automation. Of those that don’t, 26% plan on adopting automation in 2022.

The trend is clear — marketers are turning to automation to make their life easier. For instance, AdStage offers automation for scheduling and tracking digital ads — which frees up valuable time for other tasks.

When nearly 90% of agencies say their marketing automation strategy is successful, it’s clear why it’s here to stay.

6. Hybrid Events

Hybrid events occur both in-person and “virtually” through a streaming platform.

Engagement is what distinguishes a hybrid event from, say, a Ted talk on YouTube. Hybrid events cater to both in-personal and online attendees by using technology to spark participation between them. Virtual attendees can typically still ask questions (if applicable) and engage with presentations with no issues.

A report found that 93% of event professionals plan to invest in virtual events post-pandemic. That’s a staggering number, and we predict it will continue to rise.

Final Thoughts

Marketers are always learning to evolve in a world where consumer preferences are ever-changing. As we inch closer to 2022, it’s important to revisit the past year, pinpoint areas for improvement in your advertising efforts, and leverage emerging trends and shifts.

You’ve heard it a million times, native advertising is one of the most immersive advertising experiences. But what exactly is native advertising, and why is it causing such a stir for brands, agencies, and publishers?

Native ads developed as a concept over 10 years ago and have a unique ability to evolve with media as it changes. They have since overtaken display ads as the most popular form of digital advertising.

Native advertising is a chance to put editorial expertise to work for advertisers and brands. It provides a more trusted and valuable, channel to reach readers as compared to banner or traditional display advertising.

In this article, we’ll cover why they’ve continued to grow in popularity and effectiveness and how you can incorporate them into your marketing strategy next quarter.

A small icon is also an indicator, often a small “s,” that if you click on it will indicate that the content is a paid ad. Google search results often include native ads in the form of listings that appear at the top or in the sidebar. The nature of native advertising is that it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb as the ad. So, the signs are often more subtle than traditional ads.

Image Source

Image Source

Image Source

Native Advertising vs. Content Marketing

The purpose of native advertising is to blend in and not disrupt the viewer’s experience with the given content and media. Native ads engage new audiences through a third-party with an established audience. It’s a method for distributing content, rather than the content itself. This might sound similar to content marketing, but the goal differs.

Content marketing is content that lives on your platforms, such as your website or social media pages. The purpose of this content is to build a following, grow a reader base, establish yourself as an industry expert, build trust with your audience, demonstrate credibility, increase engagement, improve sales, or all of the above.

1. Altran Engineering in the Financial Times

This native advertisement combines some of the best elements of digital advertising: video, a human interest story, and classy hi-tech with an Elon Musk connection.

Produced by the Altran engineering company, and published in the Industrial Tech section of the Financial Times, the above video, “Hyperloop: designing the future of transport?” tells the story of a group of students from the Technical University in Valencia, Spain who are competing in the 2018 Hyperloop Pod Competition run by Musk’s SpaceX company.

This native video ad has a palpable human component — the students and the Altran staff who are supporting them in the tough competition. This brings in its futuristic aspect — the best and the brightest working to design the fastest transport pod that will transform the future of transportation. And it’s presented as a news story, not as a promotion or ad for Altran or the SpaceX competition (although it’s actually promoting both).

What Stood Out

This video has a high production value, making it a high-quality native video ad. The compelling narrative it provides also strongly pulls viewers in and gives them a story they want to engage with.

2. Land Rover — A Mini Suspense/Action Movie

Land Rover uses diverse outstanding content marketing campaigns to promote its vehicles. These native content strategies are in full form in Land Rover’s Dragon Challenge video, shown above. It’s eye-catching, slick, and suspenseful. It’s everything a native campaign can and should be.

This nail-biting ad shows the world’s first attempt to scale the stairs leading to the Heaven’s Gate landmark in China — by vehicle. A specially fitted Range Rover SUV successfully drove up the 999 steps to Heaven’s Gate, at a frightening angle of 45 degrees.

What Stood Out

This native campaign perfectly captures the brand essence of Land Rover — daring, excellence, adventure, and ultimately, success. Promoted via social Land Rover’s networks, it’s much more than an ad. It’s a record-breaking event and a story of its own.

3. Eni Energy on CNN

Image Source

Here’s an example of graphic, luscious storytelling, ripe with green landscapes, promoted by oil and energy conglomerate Eni. It focuses on the Green River Project in the Niger Delta, an Eni development program for farming and livestock to improve the livelihoods of local communities. The campaign is promoted with native ads on CNN.com, linking back to the Green River Project. It’s a truly impressive example of native content.

The site is designed as a story, divided into three sections: Past, Present, and Future. The content is a mix of just about everything — text, imagery, audio, video, personal stories, animations, and illustrations. The complete look and feel is reflective of an environmental agency, rather than an oil company.

What Stood Out

In this native campaign, Eni succeeds in distancing itself from the criticisms faced by energy conglomerates. They also manage to create a brand image as a 21st-century social and environmental force for good, and a beacon of corporate responsibility.

4. Mercedes in The Washington Post

Image Source

This native campaign by Mercedes is an example of smooth, clean content designed to pique interest and engage the user. The campaign is called “The rise of the superhuman,” and it focuses on various technologies that are turning people into “superhumans,” such as robotic exoskeleton suits, virtual reality in medical settings, and the Mercedes Benz E-class series that integrates the new Intelligent Drive system.

The native content above is highly interactive, featuring quiz questions and hot spots the user can click to get more information. But one of the best things about this campaign is how it effortlessly creates a connection between Mercedes and the “superhuman.” It’s reminiscent of one of the oldest native examples, the “Penalty of Leadership” ad by Cadillac, which enhanced the Cadillac image as a prestigious leader. That simple print ad, published in 1915, is credited with reviving the Cadillac brand and boosting flagging sales that plagued the company at the time.

What Stood Out

The major draw of this native ad is the powerful connection it creates between the car and the concept of cutting-edge excellence. It establishes Mercedes as a company that is about more than just crafting cars.

5. Viral Meme on VentureBeat

Image Source

Nothing beats a viral meme in terms of sheer stickiness, and it’s a great way to promote brand awareness. Recently, during the famous “Laurel or Yanny?” dispute, we saw VentureBeat take advantage of the meme in native content to promote the upcoming Transform conference on artificial intelligence and analytics. How? By using an artificial intelligence (AI) device to settle the dilemma of Laurel versus Yanny, once and for all.

VentureBeat promoted an article that briefly describes how AI was used to determine whether the stated name was Laurel or Yanny. The native article discusses some of the problems that arose, and how the engineers had to adjust the algorithms to get an accurate result.

What Stood Out

Using a viral meme is a smart move because it capitalizes on a large audience that already exists. It’s attention-grabbing and exposes you to a wider pool of viewers.

6. Allbirds in The New York Times

Special articles in The New York Times focus on creating an experience, not just a story. This is a great opportunity for native advertising to come into play. This paid post, The View From Above: Why Our Future May Depend On the Fate of Birds, was placed online and sponsored by the shoe company Allbirds. This example was placed as an in-feed/in-content ad on the platform’s newsfeed.

The article is about how valuable birds are to our environment and the ways climate change is putting them at risk. Allbirds as a company has a major focus on sustainability, and, obviously, has “birds” in its name. The post’s beautiful animated graphics and soundtrack of bird sounds create an awesome experience for viewers that also promotes the company.

What Stood Out

The format of native advertising is at its best when the media can align with the brand. Allbirds being able to create an experience about sustainability promotes not just their product but also their priorities as a company.

7. Influencer Promotion on BBC.com

BBC Future is one of the BBC’s “storytelling” channels, which connects brands to audiences via sponsored stories. An interesting example is this BBC article, which purports to show the face of the “average American politician.”

In fact, this is achieved by using technology to perform “face averaging,” creating composite images of all American politicians to derive the average face.

This technology can lead to all kinds of research and suppositions about what the average politician represents, including gender, race, republican, and democrat — all hot topics in a highly politicized time period.

The article ends with a call-to-action (CTA) to learn more about face averaging with an online tutorial on OpenCV, an open-source computer vision software. The link leads to a website owned, not by a large corporation or software giant, but by an individual entrepreneur, programmer, and blogger: Satya Mallik.

Image Source

What Stood Out

In this example, we love how native advertising is accessible to small businesses and influencers, affording powerful promotion opportunities on premium websites like the BBC.

8. Colored Corn on Business Insider

Image Source

One of the best native tactics is creating a story. And if the story is visual and colorful, well, that’s a huge help. Take this example of native content promoted on Business Insider.

The example above looks and feels just like a regular Business Insider article. It’s about Glass Gem Corn, a multi-colored corn variety that became a public sensation in 2012. It’s the story of one man and his search for his Native American roots that led him to develop the colored corn. And in true Business Insider fashion, the story of the rainbow corn is retold in amazing, bold, eye-catching visuals.

The article contains links to buy the seeds online from Native/SEARCH, a not-for-profit conservation company that now owns the product. So what’s in effect a product sales page is presented as a remarkable, colorful news story.

What’s most interesting about this article is the disclaimer published by Business Insider: “This article was originally published in 2013 and has been updated because the story is timeless.” It just goes to show: Evergreen content promoted natively can truly be a long-term success story.

What Stood Out

Crafting a story that is fun, interesting, and promotional is a great way to format a native ad. This also has the benefit of being attached to a viral story, making it even more effective.

9. KPMG on Forbes

Image Source

Forbes’ BrandVoice is a platform for native advertising and sponsored content. Many brands have their own BrandVoice channels, such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, SAP, Deloitte, and even the government of Japan.

KPMG has taken its native content on Forbes to the next level, with a campaign called “The Great Rewrite.”

Big and bold (just like native advertising should be), The Great Rewrite focuses on different industries and how they are being “rewritten” in a post-innovation age. The campaign look and feel is grand and ultra-modern, yet easy to navigate.

What Stood Out

This native ad connects KPMG with the future of innovation, while continually adding new “chapters” about various sectors. Each chapter is packed with content, including video, featured articles, and content recommendations. This is a great example of a native campaign that, just like its title, is rewriting the rules of native in an ongoing, ever-growing, content-rich user experience.

10. Orbit Gum on CollegeHumor

Image Source

Videos make great native ads because the entertainment value makes it easy to blend into traditional media. “Dating Footnotes” presented by Orbit was released ahead of Valentine’s Day on the popular YouTube comedy channel CollegeHumor. It’s short, funny, and capitalized on the holiday of the time.

Orbit has a history of fun, memorable commercials, so a native ad like this fits perfectly into their branding. This native ad also blended well into the humor of the channel where it’s posted and was able to promote Orbit Gum’s products without feeling like a regular commercial.

What Stood Out

Humor and creativity go a long way when it comes to advertising. This, plus the real-world application of a product, like gum on a first date, makes for a memorable and effective native ad.

Native Ads Have Great Potential

These days, many native ads that we see online are truly spectacular. Some are eye-catching, others are original, and yet others offer inspiration for new ways to promote compelling content and capture mindshare.

The nine examples give a taste as to how native advertising is constantly advancing, pushing the boundaries of content and design to create new, unexpected online brand experiences.

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

It’s been several months since Apple’s iOS 14 update went into effect and the dust has begun to settle. One of the main questions has been, “How are advertisers handling the mobile tracking changes?”

Earlier this year, we talked about how this change could impact advertisers, but now, we want to follow up. Have any new strategies evolved? What have advertisers been doing to reach their target audiences?

In this post, we’ll discuss how advertisers have navigated the iOS 14 mobile tracking changes and give you a few tips on how to have continued success with social media and online advertising.

Wait, what happened with the iOS 14 update?

To summarize, at the beginning of 2021 Apple released a new update that would impact the way that advertisers reach their audience. With the iOS 14 update users needed to opt-in, or give permission, to an app to track their activity outside of the platform.

So, why were advertisers and marketers concerned? Well, a lot of ad campaigns target audiences based on their behavior online. If an app can’t track that information, ads will become less personalized, and in turn, could be less effective.

The concern for marketers was that they wouldn’t be able to deliver their ads to people based on certain activities, like if they’d visited their website, for example. This meant that ads would likely have smaller audience sizes and less accurate reporting.

Additionally, with this update advertisers are only allowed to use up to eight conversion events from a single website domain. This means if you run a campaign and track several different conversion types (like Lead, Landing Page Views, Purchase) you’ll now be capped at eight at any given time.

At HubSpot, Rex Gelb, the director of paid acquisition, says, “It’s hard to quantify, but from a search perspective, we haven’t seen any major impact at HubSpot. With platforms like Google and Bing we are less reliant on cookies and more reliant on people searching for our target keywords.”

Now, you might be wondering, “What have advertisers been doing?” Let’s discuss it below.

How Advertisers are Navigating the iOS 14 Mobile Tracking Changes

While the iOS 14 update has made advertisers jump through some more hoops in setting up their ad campaigns (getting domain verification and aggregated event management), the update ultimately hasn’t been the death of retargeting or Facebook ads.

Of course, there have been changes. So far, it looks like more than 90% of users are opting out of data tracking. This is more than industry experts were predicting.

So, what have advertisers been doing?

1. Diversifying ad spend.

The main story of how advertisers are navigating the latest iOS tracking update is diversifying ad spend.

This means companies have shifted some ad spend that was previously allocated to Facebook to other platforms like Google because of the remarketing features and the ability to target users based on search intent.

2. Reporting Facebook success with Google Analytics.

While some money is still being used to advertise on Facebook, there are different ways of reporting.

Companies have begun using UTM parameters on their site’s URLs to generate data tracked by Facebook to Google Analytics. This means you can use Google Analytics to track some of the activity on your Facebook ad campaigns.

3. Using owned data for lookalike audiences and retargeting.

Strategies such as using lookalike audiences or retargeting an email list have continued to drive results. With privacy updates becoming a norm for the big tech companies, marketers will need to begin focusing on owned data to inform their campaigns.

With your owned data (such as an email list), you can target lookalike audiences or retarget those very people.

Keep in mind, you can still use the old method of retargeting campaigns because not all of your audience is on iOS devices. You can still use the channel as a cost-effective way to see some return on ad spend (ROAS).

4. Using other Facebook advertising options.

Besides these new ways of approaching ad campaigns, some advertisers are investing in other ways to reach audiences on Facebook.

For example, you can use the messaging objective to create a lead-generating chatbot on Facebook Messenger. There are options to retarget users who reach out to you on messenger and start conversations with new leads who click on an ad of yours.

Additionally, Facebook has another strategy that advertisers have explored: the Facebook lead ads (in-app lead form).

While using your own landing pages is definitely the preferred method, in a cookieless world, using lead forms on Facebook can help you generate leads and capture first-party data.

The iOS 14 mobile tracking changes have made Facebook ads less effective, but there are still ways for advertisers to target their audience and generate leads on the platform.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.