SMS marketing is an effective way to meet your target audience exactly where they are—their smartphones. With short snippets of text messages, SMS marketing can be a great way to engage customers and boost sales.
Throughout this article, we’re going to dive deeper into what a successful SMS marketing strategy looks like, plus some top tips and tools for making it work for your business.
Key Takeaways
SMS marketing is a great method for communicating directly and effectively with your audience.
With SMS marketing, you’re getting access to a faster, higher engaging, and less saturated form of marketing.
To maximize results, be sure to require opt-ins, send short and sweet messages, identify your company with each communication, and optimize your timing.
What Is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is a promotional strategy that uses text messaging to communicate with current and potential customers. Due to the nature of texting, SMS marketing tends to focus more on short promotional messages like discounts, sales, product launches, and low stock alerts.
Benefits of SMS Marketing
SMS marketing is a newer strategy so it comes with a lot of benefits that not many companies are taking advantage of yet. If you’re considering creating an SMS marketing strategy, these perks might be just the thing to sway you.
It’s Less Saturated
Of all the types of digital marketing—social media, content, email, etc.—SMS marketing is one of the lesser used tactics. This can give you an edge because customers aren’t inundated with marketing texts the way they are with marketing emails or social media posts.
So if someone in your target audience opts in for SMS communication, you can be sure that they’re probably actually reading your text, and not just sending it to the trash because their inbox is overflowing with messages from brands.
You Have Faster Open Rates
People tend to open text messages they receive faster than new emails. In fact, 90% of people open new texts within the first three minutes. This means you can watch your results come in much more quickly with SMS messages than with emails, getting a sense of how your texts are performing almost instantly.
Get Better Engagement
Not only do you see faster results, but you see better results. Text messages have a 98% open rate, 5x the open rate of marketing emails. Most businesses see an SMS click-through rate between 21-35%, meaning people are also interacting with their texts.
Plus, the opt-out rate is just 1-2%, meaning people tend to stick around with text message marketing more than via other channels.
Create an Omnichannel Strategy
SMS marketing can be a huge part of a successful omnichannel marketing strategy. Let people hear from your business in their preferred channels, and make it easy for them to shop via mobile by sending promotional messages straight to their smartphones.
Personalize Your Communication
Texting is a much more personal form of communication. But more than that, you can make it even more personal by using their name, segmenting people based on their behavior with your business, and bringing a really personalized approach to your strategy.
It’s Cost-Effective
SMS marketing is a cost-effective way to promote your business and its products or services. You just need an SMS marketing platform and some copy—no need for additional visuals or assets, making this a quick and easy strategy to get up and running.
Top SMS Marketing Tips & Best Practices
To make the most out of your SMS marketing strategy, you need to implement some best practices. These tips can boost your results and help your SMS communications perform even better.
Only Send Messages to Customers Who Opt In
Just like with email marketing, you must receive an actual opt-in or consent from a customer to start sending them text message communication. Your business must comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) if you or your customers are in the United States, or whatever SMS regulations are available in your audience’s country/ies.
This doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Ask for people to opt into your text message communications the same way you would ask them to sign up to receive your email newsletter.
Take a look at this example from Crate and Barrel’s website to see what we mean:
Want to boost your SMS subscribers? Give them an offer they can’t refuse. Many businesses use pop-ups on their website to ask people to opt-in to their email and/or text communications by offering a discount code.
A 15% off discount isn’t a bad deal for simply handing over your email address and phone number. And it’s just on the customer’s first order. So you’re likely generating a new customer at the same time you’re getting them to opt into marketing communications. Win-win, right?
Send Short Text Messages
The maximum character count for SMS messages is 160 characters, so your texts need to be short and sweet, conveying your message in just a quick sentence or two. But more than that, people don’t want to open a text message to a wall of content—unless they’re getting the latest gossip from their friends.
Take a page out of beauty brand NaturAll’s book. Each of their marketing texts is straight to the point, letting customers know exactly what they’re promoting, whether it’s a $9.99 sale or a new product:
Identify Your Company in Your Texts
Not everyone who opts into your SMS messages is going to save your company’s contact information. This means it’s important to identify yourself in each message you send.
Here’s an example from mattress company Casper. The brand includes its company name at the start of every text it sends—a common way for brands to identify themselves right from the jump:
Optimize Your Message Timing
Text message timing is a bit more sensitive than email timing. Most people don’t receive email notifications straight to their phone, whereas texts alert them every time. This means you need to ensure you’re sending your text communication during times you won’t be interrupting your customers.
Many regulations even have parameters in place to ensure companies can’t bother consumers during inopportune times. For example, according to the TCPA, companies cannot send text messages between the hours of 9PM and 8AM in their local time zones.
So you need to keep timing in mind so you’re not sending messages during the wrong time frame. But you also want to optimize your timing to improve the chances that your customers will take action after reading your messages.
If you look back at our example from Casper, you can see that the brand sends its text messages at 12:01PM like clockwork. Try to find a time between 10AM and 5-6PM that seems to work for your brand.
Don’t Text Too Often
If you send too many text messages, you’re going to have an extremely high opt-out rate. Analysis from SMS marketing platform Attentive shows that sending more than 10-15 messages per month can make your opt-out rate skyrocket.
This is different from email marketing, where some industries send daily emails. Instead, you want to max out at 1-2 text messages per week, sometimes going as infrequent as 2-4 texts per month.
Send More Than Just Promotional Messages
Many brands use their SMS strategies just to send out discount/sale alerts, product launches, low stock reminders, and more. However, you should expand your strategy and send out more than just promotional messages.
You can use your SMS marketing communications for:
Promoting events
Sharing details about your loyalty program
Sending people to educational content on your website
Look at this example from baby formula brand Enfamil. The company sends out plenty of promotional messages, while balancing out their communication with educational content, too:
Finish With a Call to Action
What action do you want your text recipients to take? Make it clear by ending your messages with a call to action (CTA). This can be a simple “Shop now,” or “Learn more.”
Take a look at how organic baby brand Snuggle Me adds a call to action at the end of each of its messages, making it easy for the recipient to take the exact desired action:
Ensure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly
If you’re using SMS marketing to send people to your website, they’re almost always going to be clicking to your site using their mobile device. If your website isn’t mobile -friendly, you’re essentially losing customers as soon as they click, making your SMS efforts completely obsolete.
If you’re going to use SMS marketing, your website needs to be mobile friendly so customers can click your links, shop around, and check out all via their mobile devices.
Make it Easy to Opt Out
Just like with email, you don’t want your customers to have to jump through hoops to unsubscribe. They’ll get frustrated if they can’t easily figure out how to opt out from receiving texts from your brand.
Take a look back at our example from Snuggle Me. Every single text ends with “Text stop to stop.” Enfamil ends theirs with “Text STOP to cancel.”
Use a similar strategy to make sure your recipients know exactly what to do if they decide they’re not interested in hearing from your business anymore.
7 Easy-to-Use SMS Marketing Tools
If you want to launch your own SMS marketing strategy, you need the right tool to help. These SMS marketing tools are perfect for creating, sending, and analyzing your text campaigns.
Textedly
Textedly is a great SMS marketing platform for businesses looking to send out mass marketing messages, as well as have 1:1 conversations with their customers. Send out your marketing texts while also reaching customers directly to send appointment reminders, ask for reviews, and more.
Pricing: Free for your first 50 text messages. Paid plans start at $26/month for up to 600 monthly messages.
Attentive
Attentive is a great tool for businesses looking to combine their SMS and email strategies as you can send both types of communication using this platform. It also offers RCS messaging, which is a more modern version of messaging that incorporates additional features from platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp.
Pricing: Request a demo to get pricing information.
Twilio
Twilio is a customer engagement software that makes it possible for businesses to connect with their audience via platforms like SMS messaging, email communication, voice chat, and video. This is a great way for your brand to build an omnichannel experience seamlessly through just a single tool.
Pricing: Pricing varies based on the types of communication you want to send out.
SimpleTexting
SimpleTexting is an SMS marketing service that lets you send out mass marketing messages or communicate one-on-one with your customers. If you want to offer text message customer service so your audience can reach you directly via their mobile phones, this is the perfect platform to get started with.
Pricing: Plans start at $39/month for 500 messages/month.
Textmagic
Textmagic is another platform that makes it easy to send both SMS and email communication from one seamless dashboard. Create interconnected campaigns to promote your business and analyze your results in the Textmagic interface.
Pricing: Plans vary based on your usage. For example, for just 500 texts and 500 emails/month, you’ll pay just $37.50/month. It’ll go up from there, based on how many messages you’re sending so you’re never paying for messages you don’t need.
SlickText
SlickText makes it easy to send comprehensive SMS marketing campaigns, letting you put together one-off messages, create automated workflows based on how customers respond to your promotions, and segment out your audience to personalize your messaging.
Pricing: Plans start at $29/month for up to 500 monthly messages.
EZ Texting
EZ Texting is another great SMS marketing platform that enables brands to send mass marketing messages, hold one-on-one conversations, create text automations, and more. With EZ Texting, you can even get access to AI tools that help you compose texts so your brainstorming and content creation process is jumpstarted for you.
Pricing: Plans start at $20/month for up to 500 contacts.
FAQs
What is SMS marketing?
SMS, or short messaging services, refers to using text messages to communicate with leads or customers. Brands can share promotions, news, shipping updates, and more.
Does SMS marketing annoy customers?
If you don’t use them correctly, SMS marketing can definitely backfire and annoy your customers. Make sure to ask permission, make it easy for consumers to opt-out, and only send specific or time-sensitive messages — such as a sale.
Is SMS marketing expensive?
No, it’s often much cheaper than other types of marketing like paid ads because each message usually only costs a few cents each to send.
Why should I use SMS marketing?
SMS marketing is cost-effective, easy to deploy, and incredibly effective because messages are delivered directly to users’ phones.
Is SMS marketing effective?
Yes, when it’s done right. People open texts faster than emails, and they’re way more likely to read them. SMS has higher engagement, lower competition, and quicker results. If your list is opted-in and your timing’s smart, SMS can drive real revenue.
Get Started With SMS Marketing
SMS marketing is a key strategy for communicating with your customers in a quick and easy way. Share sales, discounts, launches, educational content, and more in a digestible format that your audience will receive almost instantly. If you want to implement even more great ways to reach your audience, I’ve also created a full guide to email marketing you won’t want to miss.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-07-26 19:00:002025-07-26 19:00:00SMS Marketing: What It Is + Top Tips & Tools
If you don’t know how much it costs to acquire a customer, you’re flying blind. And if you do know, but you’re paying too much, you’re in trouble.
The simple fact is, scaling a business without understanding your customer acquisition cost (CAC) is like trying to fill a leaky bucket.
This post will break down what CAC is, how to calculate it the right way, and how to reduce CAC without killing your growth.
Key Takeaways
Customer acquisition cost should account for so much more than ad spend. When you’re only tracking ad spend, you’re missing the bigger picture of what it truly costs to win a customer.
A healthy CAC marketing strategy balances cost efficiency with long-term value. Alongside CAC, you should also consider LTV and payback period. These combined will tell you more about your success than CAC alone.
An increasing CAC isn’t always a bad sign. Use this time to evaluate your funnel, but also consider that this increased cost may contribute to increased value.
You don’t need to kill growth to reduce CAC. Start with what’s already working: optimize your website, lean into organic, and automatic where possible.
Your happiest customers are your best way of reducing CAC. Invest in keeping them because their LTV will not only reduce your CAC but it may bring in additional leads.
What is Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)?
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) refers to the total expense incurred in acquiring a new customer.
Here’s the basic formula:
CAC = (Total Sales and Marketing Costs) / Number of New Customers Acquired
Sounds simple, but here’s where most people mess it up: they only include ad spend.
You also need to include expenses such as:
Ad spend
Content creation (blog writers, video editors)
Marketing tools and software
Team salaries
Free trials, discounts, onboarding costs
Sales commissions and tools
Sales travel and events
Example: You spend $25,000 and land 500 customers. That’s a CAC of $50.
Why CAC Matters More Than You Think
If you don’t have a handle on your CAC, you’re probably wasting money. Even worse? You might think you’re profitable when you’re not.
It’s not just about how much you spend, but whether you’re spending it efficiently.
The straight CAC calculation above isn’t the only one that matters, though. You should also consider the following metrics as part of your overall marketing strategy:
Lifetime Value (LTV) to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio: You want at least a 3:1. That means for every $1 you spend, you make $3.
CAC payback period: How long until you break even on a customer? The shorter, the better.
Channel-specific CAC: Know your per-channel numbers. SEO CAC might be $20, but paid social CAC could be $100.
What’s a Good CAC? A Look at Industry Benchmarks
A “good” CAC depends heavily on your industry, pricing model, and the length of time your customers stay. But having ballpark figures can help you understand how your acquisition costs stack up.
More important than how you compare to others in your industry is how you compare to yourself.
A low CAC doesn’t always mean you’re doing great, but one that is steadily decreasing while other metrics grow or remain steady (like revenue, orders, etc) is a step in the right direction.
How to Calculate Your Real CAC
You can’t fix what you can’t measure. And most businesses underestimate their CAC because they forget to include the full picture.
Here’s what you need to add up:
Ad spend (across all channels)
Content creation and creatives (even for organic content)
Marketing and sales tools
Team salaries (and commissions) and benefits
Discounts and returns
Agency fees or freelancers
Any customer onboarding or support costs
Example: If the above costs $80,000 and you receive 1,000 new customers, your CAC is $80.
Now, what if you have a subscription model?
In subscription-based businesses like SaaS, CAC should be spread over the average customer lifetime. For example, if your CAC is $300 and your average customer stays for 15 months, you’re paying $20 per month for each customer.
This helps align acquisition costs with the recurring revenue they generate and gives you a clearer view of profitability over time.
Top Mistakes That Drive CAC Through the Roof
Here’s what I see killing CAC marketing strategy time and time again:
Ignoring team and tool costs: Your tools and salaries count.
Living off paid ads: Paid channels get expensive fast. Branch out into organic marketing.
Chasing volume over quality: If customers churn fast, your CAC increases.
No attribution strategy: Without solid tracking, you over-invest in what looks good but doesn’t convert.
Short-term promotions: They boost conversions but often attract low-LTV customers.
Fix these, and your CAC will drop. Fast.
Multi-Touch Attribution for Smarter CAC Tracking
While I mentioned attribution strategy above, it deserves its own section. Why? The attribution model you use can make or break your CAC tracking.
Modern buyers interact with multiple touchpoints before making a purchase. If you rely on first-click or last-click attribution, you’re missing out on valuable information.
That’s why multi-touch attribution is the best approach.
With multi-touch attribution, you distribute credit across every interaction.
For example, imagine a customer who first clicked on a Google ad, then read your blog, and finally converted via an email promo.
With first-touch, you’re giving all the credit to Google, which can result in costly increases to your ad budget. With last-touch, you’re giving all the credit to email, which can result in a failure to support other avenues (like your blog).
Multi-touch attribution enables you to assign a portion of the CAC to each of those channels, providing a clearer understanding of what’s truly effective.
Here’s how it helps reduce CAC:
Allocating spend intelligently. See which touchpoints drive conversions (so you can invest more) and which are merely noise (so you can reduce spend).
Forecasting smarter. Use historical multi-touch data to estimate the true cost of new customer acquisition.
Aligning teams. When sales and marketing see that both of their teams contributed to a conversion, it improves alignment and resource sharing.
Multi-touch attribution makes for more accurate CAC, which makes for smarter decisions.
How to Lower Customer Acquisition Cost Without Killing Growth
Let’s talk solutions. Here’s how to lower your CAC and still scale like a champ.
Dial in Your Website and Funnel
Your website is your best salesperson, so make sure it’s optimized to convert.
Consider the following changes that can have a big impact:
A/B test headlines, calls to action, images, and offers
Improve site speed
Remove friction from the checkout or sign-up flow
Minimize form fields and unnecessary steps
Also consider incorporating referrals and similar customer acquisition strategies into your funnel.
Dropbox is a notable example of this, achieving a 3,900% growth rate in just 15 months.
Their “give and get storage” model rewarded current users and their invitees with 500MB each of additional storage. Referral links were integrated directly into onboarding, and the system provided transparent tracking so users saw their progress.
This virtually zero marketing cost strategy made this campaign all the more successful and led to decreased CAC while driving explosive growth.
Go Big on Organic
If you focus only on paid channels, you could be unnecessarily bloating your CAC. Organic marketing can naturally decrease CAC by driving more customers will significantly less cost than paid channels.
How?
Create SEO-driven blog content that solves your customers’ problems
Repurpose blog content into videos and short-form social posts
Stay active on platforms where your audience actually hangs out
Lean into user-generated content (UGC) and word-of-mouth marketing
Don’t forget email, too. Automated drip campaigns keep leads warm and buyers engaged long after the first click.
Retention as an Acquisition Strategy
Keeping customers is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones.
Take Glossier as an example. In a 2018 interview, the founder stated that repeat purchasers drove over 50% of revenue. That, combined with their customer-led growth strategy, has turned Glossier into the cosmetic powerhouse it is today.
If you want to lower your CAC by nurturing existing relationships, focus on:
Onboarding experience: Drive early wins and product adoption with an exemplary onboarding experience.
Referral programs: Reward your customers for sharing your product/service and generating warm leads.
Loyalty perks: Identify which loyalty perks your customers appreciate (such as discount codes or free products) and use them to encourage repeat business.
Remember, happy customers are your best marketers. This retention approach won’t only lower CAC, but it will also boost LTV.
Get Smart With Paid Ads
Organic marketing is important, but paid ads aren’t the enemy. A bad ad strategy is, though. Here’s how to tighten up your strategy for improved CAC:
Refine targeting and use lookalike audiences built from high-value customers
Optimize for return on ad spend (ROAS), not just impressions
Test lower-lost platforms (like Pinterested and Reddit)
A/B test your campaigns, including headlines and creative
The greatest tip of all: be ruthless with underperforming campaigns. Pause, tweak, or cut them fast so your ad campaign doesn’t quickly devolve into a money pit.
Automate and Streamline
How much time and money are you spending on manual processes? Automate as much as you can to lower CAC and reduce friction.
Here’s how:
Automate onboarding emails and customer education series
Use AI to personalize offers and predict behavior
Align sales and marketing teams with shared CRM workflows
Efficiency means a lower CAC. It’s that simple.
Tools to Help You Track and Optimize CAC
You don’t have to do this alone. There are various tools available to support your CAC optimization journey.
Monitor User Journeys: GA4
GA4 helps you understand exactly how users move through your site.
From first click to conversion, you can identify drop-off points and optimize touchpoints that matter most.
Track Attribution: Northbeam
Northbeam provides multi-touch attribution, showing which channels and campaigns drive conversions.
No more guessing which ad gets the credit.
Make Smarter SEO Decisions: Ubersuggest
Lowering your CAC starts with attracting the right traffic. That’s where Ubersuggest comes in.
Ubersuggest can help you identify high-intent, low-competition keywords your ideal customers are already searching for. By targeting those terms, you can drive more organic traffic without paying for every click.
With Ubersuggest, you can spend less time on acquisition and get more qualified leads in the door.
Automate CRM: HubSpot
HubSpot streamlines customer management with automated workflows, lead nurturing, and pipeline tracking.
Automate Email Sequences: Klaviyo
Klaviyo makes email marketing smarter with data-driven automations that respond to customer behavior. These keep engagement high and CAC low.
Visualize Customer Drop-Off: Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg shows you where users click, scroll, and drop off on your site. Use heatmaps and session recordings to quickly resolve friction.
FAQs
What is customer acquisition cost?
CAC is the cost of convincing a potential customer to buy a product or service. It includes everything you do to attract a new customer, like your advertising, the staff you employ, and your tools.
How do I calculate customer acquisition cost?
Take your total expenses spent on acquiring customers over a specific time and divide it by the number of customers you gained in that same time.
How do you lower customer acquisition cost?
Start by fixing your funnel. If your site’s clunky or confusing, you’re paying to lose people. Then, build out organic channels like SEO, email, and referrals, which scale without burning cash. Use multi-touch attribution to track what’s actually working, and cut what’s not. Automate where it saves time, and keep your best customers happy so they’ll do your marketing for you.
Conclusion
Customer acquisition cost is a reflection of how well your business turns effort into growth.
If it’s too high, don’t panic. Instead, get curious.
Where’s the waste? Where’s the friction? Start small: optimize your funnel, test organic channels, and automate what you can.
The goal isn’t to spend less, but to spend smarter. So measure often, adjust quickly, and remember that your best customers often bring the next ones with them.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-07-25 19:00:002025-07-25 19:00:00The Real Cost of Customer Acquisition (And How to Cut It)
You want more customers, and you’re ready to advertise your business.
But how should you do it?
There’s Google Ads. Instagram. Flyers. Billboards. TikTok. And dozens of other online and offline options.
Some deliver better results than others:
But that doesn’t mean they’ll work for you:
You have to find the right channels for your business, not just the ones that are popular.
At the agencies I’ve worked with, I’d often see small businesses like auto repair shops and restaurants boost ad returns by 50-200% — just by switching to better-fit channels.
In this guide, I’ll help you pinpoint the winning channels for your business — the ones that can unlock real revenue potential.
I’ll go through it step by step in three phases, covering:
How to choose the right channels
How to set up winning campaigns
How to measure your results (and what to do with the data)
And I’ll show you exactly how I’d do it if I had a starting budget of $500.
Note: Want a quick list of ad ideas? Grab this free sheet with 30 ways to promote your business.
Phase 1: Choose the Right Channels to Advertise On
There are dozens of channels you can use to advertise your business.
But unless you have a lot of time and budget, you can’t be everywhere.
In this phase, we’ll find out which ones are actually worth testing for your business.
I’ll use a local furniture store as a running example. But you can follow the same steps no matter what you sell.
Let’s start with the step most people skip:
Step 0: Should You Even Invest Money in Paid Ads?
If you’re short on time and want results fast, paid ads can absolutely work.
But that doesn’t mean they’re the best move right now.
Think of it like this:
Paid ads = renting attention. You pay, you get traffic. Stop paying, the traffic stops too.
Organic marketing = earning attention. It takes longer, but the traffic builds over time (and keeps going even when you stop).
Ideally, you’d do both.
Paid gets you quick wins, while organic builds trust and visibility in the long run.
But when you’re working with limited time and budget, you’ll need to choose:
Want calls, sales, or visits this week? Paid ads are your fastest bet.
Want to build long-term traffic without spending monthly? Start with organic.
If you’re ready to move forward with ads, let’s lock in your #1 goal.
Step 1: Pick One Result You Want from Your Ad
You can’t run effective ad campaigns until you know what you want it to achieve.
Your goal decides everything, from where you advertise to what your ad looks like.
One goal = one outcome = one high-converting ad.
Not “get more attention.”
Not “build awareness.”
We’re talking actual business outcomes, like:
Phone calls
Website visits
DMs
Online orders
Store walk-ins
Form submissions
Can ads do more than one thing? Sure.
But when you’re starting out, trying to get five outcomes with one campaign just spreads your budget thin and hurts your ROI.
So pick one.
Ask yourself: “When someone sees my ad, what’s the one action I want them to take?”
Let’s say I run a local furniture store. I’m not trying to sell sofas online, I just want people to visit the showroom.
That’s my goal, and everything in the ad should lead there.
Make yours just as clear (and measurable).
Pro tip: Use the SMART framework to help you choose the right goal.
Step 2: Find Out How Your Last 20-30 Customers Found You
Before you spend a dollar, look at how your last 20-30 customers found you.
Because chances are, your next customers will come from the same places.
Here’s how to do it:
Think back to recent calls, emails, or walk-ins
Skim your DMs or contact form entries
Ask your team: “Where did that lead come from?”
You’re looking for repeat mentions, or anything that stands out.
For example:
If 12 out of 30 found you on Google? That’s a sign to use Google Ads.
If multiple people say they found you on Instagram? That’s your sign to create ads on Instagram.
If you don’t have the answers yet, start collecting data now.
Ask every new lead: “How did you hear about us?”
Track the next 30 manually. Write each one down in Google Sheets or Docs.
Here’s what that might look like for my local furniture store:
Note: If you’re a brand new business with zero customers, clearly you won’t have any data yet. You can still use advertising channels, but your market research and competitor analysis (see below) will become even more important.
Step 3: Analyze How Your Top Competitors Are Advertising
Your competitors are already advertising. Which means they’ve already spent time and money figuring out what works.
So instead of guessing, reverse engineer them.
Here’s how it might look for my local furniture store:
One competitor sends weekly promo postcards. Another runs billboard ads on the freeway and has flyers at the nearby mall.
That tells me they’re spending heavily on local print and outdoor ads (and likely getting results from it).
I won’t copy them blindly. But I’ll take notes:
What channels they’re using
What offers they’re promoting
Whether they’re trying to drive foot traffic, calls, or website visits
Then I’ll go online.
I’ll start by manually checking if my competitors are running ads on major platforms.
Many ad platforms have public ad libraries you can search.
Like Google’s Ad transparency, where I can see if my competitors are running ads on Google Search, Google Shopping, and YouTube:
I can also look up their Instagram or Facebook ads in Meta’s Ad Library:
Step 4: List the Channels Your Audience Pays Attention To
Before you finalize your three channels, sanity-check them.
Just because a platform is popular doesn’t mean your audience is paying attention there.
You need to use what you know about your ideal customer’s habits to spot the right fit for your business specifically.
For instance, for my furniture store, let’s say I know that most of my buyers are homeowners in their 40s or 50s shopping for higher-ticket items.
(Ideally, you’ll have internal data to help here, but tools like Semrush can help here with their demographics feature.)
Based on that insight, they’re probably searching on Google, browsing Facebook, checking mailers, and listening to local radio. Not scrolling Snapchat or TikTok.
So I’ll cross those off my list, and I’ll focus on the ones that match how they already consume info.
How to Advertise Your Business on Instagram or Facebook
In my example, I also chose Facebook for one of my channels.
But Facebook and Instagram both use the same Meta ad platform.
So I can run one ad and show it on both platforms if I want.
Instead of targeting keywords (like Google Ads), you can reach people based on:
Location (like everyone within 10 miles of your store)
Demographics (homeowners aged 35–55)
Interests and behaviors (e.g., “interior design” or “recent movers”)
You can choose from image ads, videos, carousels, or Stories.
Meta lets you set your own budget and charges you per result (like per click, impression, or DM).
Before you run your ad, there are a few things you should understand to ensure good ROI:
What ad format matches your goal
How Facebook’s algorithm picks who sees your ad
What action you want people to take, and how to optimize for it
How to Advertise Your Business Locally with Postcards
Postcard campaigns are straightforward.
You create a physical card, choose the delivery area (like ZIP codes or neighborhoods), and send it to local homes through a provider like USPS Every Door Direct Mail or FedEx.
But to get real results, you need to understand the fundamentals:
How to target delivery routes effectively (without needing a mailing list)
What goes into pricing, including printing, postage, and quantity requirements
How early to plan your drop date so cards arrive during your promo window
How to track responses, like adding a unique offer code or asking “how did you hear about us?”
This is one of the simplest ways to advertise your business locally if you’re trying to drive foot traffic fast.
Where to Learn More
Some channels are simple. Like designing a flyer and dropping it off.
Others take more time and practice to get right. Like running Meta ads or setting up Google Ads campaigns.
You don’t need to master every feature. But you do need a handle on how your chosen channels actually work.
That way, your campaign isn’t based on guessing. It’s grounded in real data.
That’s why I’ve put together a free resource library with guides for all major channels. This will help you get up to speed with how each channel works.
When you focus on one product or service, everything gets easier — from writing the ad to measuring results.
Pick something simple, proven, and easy to sell. Ideally:
A best-seller
Something seasonal or in demand
Something customers already ask about often
Something your competitors are actively promoting
For my furniture store, I might go with loft chairs. They’re popular and high-margin.
And one of my competitors is promoting them in Google ads:
You can test other products later. But for your first campaign, keep it focused.
Step 8: Create a Clear, Time-Sensitive Offer
Even the best ad won’t work if there’s no reason to act.
That’s what your offer does. It gives people a reason to click, call, or visit now — not “later.”
Great offers are:
Easy to understand in 1-2 seconds
Focused on one product or service
Time-sensitive (like “ends soon” or “limited quantity”)
Backed by a clear benefit (like discount, free bonus, or fast delivery)
For my furniture store, I’ll offer “25% off all loft chairs until Sunday, June 22, while stock lasts.”
Like this competitor does:
It’s clear. It’s specific. And it makes people move.
A lot of small businesses don’t want to cut into their margins. That’s totally fair.
There are plenty of other ways to make your offer feel urgent, without lowering your price.
You could offer:
Free delivery (especially if competitors don’t)
A small bonus (like a free cushion or add-on service)
Priority scheduling (e.g., “Book this week for earliest delivery”)
A real deadline (something that ends or runs out, like an event or quantity)
Write down your offer clearly before you move on. This is what you’ll build your ad around.
Step 9: Define the Action You Want People to Take
Every ad needs one clear next step.
Click. Call. Visit. Book.
Not all four. Just one.
For my furniture store, I want people in my showroom.
So across Google Ads, Facebook, and postcards, the action would be the same: to get directions to my store.
One of my competitors does this with Google ads:
Whatever action you choose, make it obvious.
If you want calls, put the number up front
If you want bookings, link straight to your calendar
If you want foot traffic, use a bold address or a map pin
Step 10: Build Your Ad Content
This is where it all comes together — your channel, your offer, and your CTA.
Now you decide the ad format, write the copy, and choose (or design) the visuals.
For my furniture store, I’m running three ads across three channels: Google Search, Facebook, and postcards.
On Google, I’ll keep it tight. The ad will match what someone’s searching for. Like “recliner chairs near me.”
The headline? Something like: “20% Off Loft Chairs – This Week Only.”
The description line makes it actionable: “Visit our showroom in Queens. Free parking. Sale ends Sunday.”
No fluff. Just keywords + urgency + next step.
On Facebook, I’ll go visual. I’ll use a clean image of the actual loft chair in a styled room.
The headline might match the offer (“20% Off Loft Chairs”) and the text could highlight one feature. Like “Reclines fully, fits small spaces.”
The CTA button would be something like “Get Directions.” Like this:
For postcards, I’ll design it around simplicity.
Large product photo. Bold offer right up top. Short subtext that reinforces the benefit.
And the bottom section will show store hours, our address, and a small map.
No matter the channel, the roles of each part of your ad are the same:
Your offer is what grabs attention
Your visual or headline is what earns you that extra half-second before they scroll or toss it
Your CTA tells them exactly what to do
If anything’s vague, crowded, or trying to do too much, it gets ignored.
So before you launch, ask yourself:
Would I stop for this?
Would I click it?
Would I know what to do next?
If the answer isn’t yes within 3 seconds, it’s not ready yet.
But if it is ready, it’s now time to work out how to get the most out of your ad budget.
Step 11: Allocate Your $500 Budget Across the 3 Channels
Not every advertising channel costs the same to get results. And not every channel works the same way.
That’s why you don’t want to split your $500 evenly.
Instead, think through each channel using three simple questions:
How much does it cost to show up on this channel?
How likely is this channel to drive your goal?
What’s the minimum budget I need to test it properly?
Let’s walk through my setup.
For my ads on three channels, here’s how I’d split the budget:
Google Ads: $250
People are literally searching for what I sell. So the intent is high — and I want to show up.
But clicks cost more here.
$1.11 is the average cost per click for a keyword like “buy lounge chair.”
Just to give you a sense of scale:
If I spend $250 at $1.11 per click, I’ll get roughly 225 clicks. (This is an estimate. CPC is an average, not a fixed price per click.)
And if just 5% of those people visit the showroom, that’s 11 visits.
That’s why I’m putting the biggest share of my budget here.
It costs more to show up, but the intent is also higher. And that makes it worth testing.
Facebook Ads: $130-$150
I can reach local homeowners for less on Facebook than I can on Google Ads.
These ads aren’t as targeted by intent, but they’re great for visuals and awareness.
I’ll test a couple of versions to see what lands.
Postcards: $100-$120
These have a flat cost with no bidding to worry about.
I’ll send around 500 cards to homes near the store and track if anyone brings one in.
This will cost me approximately $115 to print at FedEx.
Will this split be perfect? No.
But that’s not the point.
You’re not trying to get every dollar “right.”
You’re testing to see which channel shows real promise. Then you can double down in the next round with more data, more confidence, and better returns.
Step 12: Launch All Ads Within the Same 1-2 Day Window
You’ve built the ads. You’ve set your budget.
Now it’s time to launch.
And when you do, launch everything at once.
Here’s why:
If your Google ads go live on Monday, your Facebook ads on Wednesday, and postcards land the week after, that’s three different tests. You won’t know what’s working and what’s just a matter of timing.
Launching all campaigns within the same 1-2 day window gives you a clean read.
Same market. Same conditions. Real signals.
That means:
Hit “publish” on your digital ads
Confirm your start dates on each platform
Submit postcards for mailing (or schedule the drop if you’re batching it)
And once they’re live, don’t touch anything.
No tweaking. No pausing. No panic edits.
You’ll optimize later.
In the next phase, you’ll learn how to track the results and double down on what’s working.
Note: Setting up and launching your first ad campaign takes time.
It has a steep learning curve and can feel overwhelming.
Here are a few things that’ll make it easier:
Check our resource library, where we’ve curated useful links for various ad channels to help you learn how to maximize your budget
Hire freelancers from platforms like Upwork or Fiverr for setup or design help
This phase is simple: Check your results, keep what worked, and fix or cut what didn’t.
Over the next few steps, you’ll learn how to track, compare, improve, and reallocate budget across your three channels.
This will help ensure your next ad campaign achieves better ROI (and avoid you wasting money).
Step 13: Track One Clear Result per Channel Over 14 Days
Don’t try to measure everything.
Just focus on the one action you wanted each ad to drive.
For my furniture store, here’s what I’m tracking:
Google search ads: How many people clicked “Get Directions”
Facebook ads: How many tapped the CTA or sent a message
Postcards: How many walked in with their card and/or mentioned the offer
Log your results in a simple spreadsheet, and check once a day for 14 days.
Two weeks should give your ads enough time to generate meaningful data for this small $500 budget.
Here’s how my spreadsheet might look:
Ad platforms generally provide detailed campaign reports that show metrics like clicks, impressions, cost, and more.
Like Google Ads:
And Facebook:
If you’re running offline ads, they’re harder to measure.
But here’s what I’ve seen work:
Add a promo code they need to show in-store
Ask every customer how they heard about your business
Use a unique phone number or custom page link for each flyer or postcard
You don’t need a fancy tool — just a clear record of what happened.
Because you’ll need that data to figure out what paid off, and what didn’t.
We’ll get into that next.
Step 14: Compare Results to Cost
You’ve seen what happened. Now it’s time to make sense of it.
Ask this question: Was this ad worth my money?
Let’s say, for my furniture store:
Google search ads brought in about 11 showroom visits (from 75 clicks)
Facebook ads brought four (from 48 DMs)
Postcards yielded 8 walk-ins
Let’s say 10 of those visits turned into customers, and each sale averaged $350.
That’s around $3,500 in revenue from a $500 budget.
If I have a 30% profit margin, that’s $1,050 in profit.
This isn’t deep analytics.
It’s a simple check to understand your ROI.
Later, as you test more channels and scale up your spend, you’ll want better tracking systems. But for your first campaign, this level of insight is enough.
Next, we’ll figure out why certain channels didn’t perform and what to do about them.
Step 15: Diagnose What Didn’t Work (and Fix It)
Some ads hit. Some didn’t. That’s normal.
The important part is knowing why.
Because a low-performing channel doesn’t always mean it was the wrong channel.
It might just mean the message was off. Or the audience was too broad. Or the offer didn’t land.
In my experience working with clients, there are four main reasons an ad doesn’t perform:
Wrong channel: It simply wasn’t built to drive the result you wanted
Weak targeting: The right message reached the wrong people
Low-impact creative: The ad didn’t stop the scroll or earn attention
Flat offer: The incentive wasn’t strong or urgent enough to act on
Go back to your underperforming ads and assess them against these factors. Write down where the breakdown likely happened.
And don’t just look at what failed: do the same for what worked.
For my Google Search ads, here’s what likely helped:
The offer matched exactly what people were searching for
The copy was short, specific, and action-focused
The CTA (“Get Directions”) matched the goal: showroom visits
For my postcards campaign, here’s what may have held it back:
I didn’t promote the right product
The headline didn’t stand out enough
The design felt too busy for a quick glance
It arrived too early and lost its urgency by the time the sale started
Don’t guess. Use your campaign data to spot friction and fix it before the next round.
Step 16: Plan Sprint 2 with Smarter Inputs
Your sprint 1 campaign is done. Now it’s time to level up.
You’ve seen what worked. You’ve seen what didn’t.
Here’s what you’ll typically do in the second sprint:
Finalize your channels, keeping what worked, and replacing what flopped.
Set a new, slightly bigger budget, and allocate it accordingly
Refine or upgrade your offer (e.g., stronger incentive, tighter deadline)
Create fresh creatives for each channel
Lock in your next 1-2 day launch window
Track results like before
In my case, for my next cycle, I’ll:
Double Google Ads spending (most visits, clean way to track ROI)
Rework the Facebook ad entirely (lots of clicks, poor conversion rate)
Replace postcards with flyers (cheaper, easier to test)
And I’m going to increase my budget to $1,000. Because now I know what works, I’m comfortable putting in more.
Eventually, as every subsequent sprint improves based on data, we’ll optimize our ads even further.
And with that, our ROI will go up.
Launch Your First Ad Campaign
How you advertise your small business comes down to three things:
Knowing how each ad channel works
Having practical ways to promote your product or service
Following a clear, step-by-step roadmap
To make things easier for you, we’ve put together a downloadable worksheet that includes:
A resource library to learn the top ad channels
A list of real ways to promote your business across different channels
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Nowadays, SEO AI tools are a dime a dozen. There’s always a new platform vying for our attention and offering the best of the best in SEO analysis. But…
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Black Friday is the biggest rush of the year for most ecommerce businesses, and it is right around the corner. The most successful merchants prepare for Black Friday early and follow a structured plan to prepare their stores, ensure visibility, and convert first-time visitors into long-term customers.
This guide breaks down your preparation into three categories: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. Each section builds on the last so that you can grow your readiness over time, regardless of your team size or budget.
Basic: Start with what you can control for Black Friday
These actions lay the groundwork for everything else. Without these, no advanced strategy will stick.
1. Optimize your metadata
First impressions matter, and your metadata is the first thing users see in search results. So make it count and leave a lasting impact.
Why it matters: Strong metadata can improve visibility and attract more clicks. When your titles and descriptions align with what shoppers seek, your chances of standing out rise significantly.
Actionable tips:
Prioritize metadata for high-traffic products and category pages.
Include seasonal keywords such as “Black Friday deals” or “holiday gift ideas.”
Keep titles and descriptions concise and compelling.
With Yoast SEO for Shopify and Yoast WooCommerce SEO, you can preview and improve your metadata in real time. The tools flag missing or duplicated fields and guide you on how to write content that earns clicks.
2. Optimize product pages for both humans and search engines
Product pages are the moment of truth. They’re where curiosity turns into clicks and clicks turn into customers.
Why it matters: No matter how great your traffic or ads are, most people will leave without buying if the product page feels confusing or incomplete. A well-structured page improves your chances of ranking in search and helps buyers feel confident in their decision.
Actionable tips:
Lead with benefits, not just specs. Tell shoppers how the product fits into their lives.
Use bullet points and headers to make details skimmable.
Reinforce trust by showing stock levels, customer reviews, and delivery clarity.
Bulk update how you showcase your product on Shopify using Yoast SEO for Shopify Content Templates feature.
Yoast WooCommerce SEO and Yoast SEO for Shopify help your product pages appear cleanly and clearly in search results. They add structured data behind the scenes and check your content for SEO and readability so you can focus on turning visitors into buyers.
3. Use internal links to guide traffic
Internal linking guides customer to surface key pages, maps user behavior, and boosts your site’s SEO.
Why it matters: Internal linking helps search engines understand your site structure, distributes authority to key pages, and guides visitors toward high-converting content. It keeps users engaged, supports SEO, and makes your promotions easier to surface across your site.
Actionable tips:
Link to your Black Friday page from key blogs and evergreen content.
Feature top categories or bestsellers in your navigation.
Use anchor text that aligns with what users are searching for.
Yoast WooCommerce SEO offers internal linking suggestions as you write, making keeping your content connected and strategic easier.
Fast wins and common pitfalls
Once you have set up the basics, some steps can help you boost impact quicker and avoid costly missed opportunities.
Fast wins:
Swap stock photos for original product shots
Double-check coupon logic and expiration dates
Test any gift wrap or personalization options on product pages
Big pitfalls to avoid:
Waiting until November to publish seasonal content
Using duplicate product descriptions from suppliers
Letting broken links or outdated pages remain live
Intermediate: Strengthen your SEO and campaign strategy
Once the technical foundation is stable, it’s time to focus on your content and promotions.
4. Test and improve your site’s speed
Site speed directly impacts user experience, especially during high-traffic periods like Black Friday. Slow-loading pages frustrate shoppers and lead to lost sales.
Why it matters: A fast site supports smoother browsing and quicker checkout. Search engines consider page performance in rankings, and users are more likely to buy when the experience feels seamless.
Actionable tips:
Use performance monitoring tools to identify slow pages.
Compress and resize large images to reduce page load times.
Deactivate unused plugins (WooCommerce) or apps (Shopify).
Clean up excessive code or bulky page elements.
While Yoast SEO is not a speed optimization tool, clean site structure and proper internal linking help improve crawlability and engagement, indirectly supporting performance.
5. Create a focused Black Friday landing page
Your landing page is the command center for your seasonal promotions. It’s where visitors decide to browse further or bounce.
Why it matters: A dedicated page gives your Black Friday campaign direction and cohesion. Instead of scattering your offers across the site, it provides a clear path for shoppers to follow. It simplifies navigation, allows for better internal linking, and gives you a consistent, trackable URL for email campaigns, ads, and site banners. Plus, it’s reusable! Just update the content each year.
Actionable tips:
Create a short, memorable URL like /black-friday-deals and keep it live year-round.
Showcase limited-time offers, bundles, top-selling categories, and exclusive discounts.
Use persuasive headers, quick-loading images, and CTA buttons that lead directly to product pages.
Answer common buyer concerns upfront, e.g., shipping deadlines, return windows, and local pickup options.
6. Segment your email list and automate flows
Email isn’t just another marketing channel during Black Friday; it’s your direct line to customers ready to buy.
Why it matters: Blasting the same message with monotonous tone to everyone no longer works. Crafting compelling emails with personalized messages that resonate with the reader is key to email marketing. People are more likely to open, click, and shop when an email speaks to their pain points and highlights the solution. A segmented email list means you’re talking to people based on what they care about: early access, bundles, or a product they viewed or left in their cart.
Actionable tips:
Break your list into clear segments, e.g., loyal customers, cart abandoners, and holiday-only shoppers.
Map out your flow: teaser email, early access offer, launch announcement, final hours.
Track performance with UTM parameters like utm_campaign=bf25 so you can optimize in real time.
7. Create content that helps people find your deals earlier
Buyers don’t always search for discounts. Many start with questions or ideas like “affordable gifts for coworkers” or “best tech gift under $100.”
Why it matters: Helpful blog posts and gift guides pull in people who aren’t searching for your brand yet. These early touchpoints introduce your products and lead them toward your Black Friday offers.
Actionable tips:
Write guides and roundups tied to real shopper intent.
Use long-tail keywords that match seasonal search habits.
Add smart internal links to featured products or your Black Friday landing page.
Fast wins and common pitfalls
Once your product pages are polished, tighten up the surrounding details.
Fast wins:
Set a calendar reminder for your campaign email and social media schedule
Add an announcement banner linking to your Black Friday page
Test your email signup and welcome flow to catch any issues
Big pitfalls to avoid:
Forgetting to link email campaigns to relevant landing pages
Using inconsistent messaging and UTMs across channels
Launching your Black Friday page too late for indexing and ranking
Buy WooCommerce SEO now!
Unlock powerful features and much more for your online store with Yoast WooCommerce SEO!
Advanced Black Friday preparation: Boost visibility, trust, and retention
If you’re already doing the essentials well, these strategies will help you scale.
7. Improve your chances of showing up in local search
If you offer in-store pickup or have a physical store, don’t miss out on the people searching near you. Shoppers looking for same-day purchases often skip past online-only stores.
Why it matters: When someone searches for a product near them, being present in the results can drive instant foot traffic and build trust before they even walk in.
Actionable tips:
Ensure your name, address, and phone (NAP) are identical across all pages and listings.
Update your opening hours and add clear pickup instructions.
Add content to your site that mentions your location, city, or neighborhood.
Yoast Local SEO is included in the Yoast WooCommerce SEO. It helps you create and manage local schema and landing pages that appear in search. (It is not available for Shopify.)
8. Use structured data to stand out in search
When someone searches for a product and your listing shows price, availability, or reviews, that’s not luck. That’s structured data.
Why it matters: Rich snippets give your products more space in search results, credibility, and clicks.
Actionable tips:
Add structured data (schema) for Product, Offer, and Review to top-selling listings.
Use Google’s tools to check that your schema is implemented correctly.
Use product variant schema to improve your chances of showing in rich search results.
9. Set up post-purchase flows before the sale starts
Black Friday may be over at checkout, but it’s just the beginning of your relationship with a new customer.
Why it matters: People who buy during Black Friday often need reassurance and support. They’re far more likely to come back if they feel taken care of.
Actionable tips:
Set up automated flows for thank-you messages, setup tips, and review requests.
Offer a discount for a second purchase or referral.
Guide people back to your product pages or Google review profile.
Taking care of this now means you can focus on fulfillment and service during the Black Friday rush.
Fast wins and common pitfalls
A thoughtful follow-up and last check make sure you build on opportunities and are ready for what might come your way.
Fast wins:
Recheck your sitemap to ensure new pages are indexed
Update your business hours and contact details in your footer
Enable review requests to trigger automatically post-purchase
Big pitfalls to avoid:
Making last-minute technical changes with no buffer
Ignoring mobile performance and checkout testing
Overlooking schema validation or broken structured data
Final thoughts
Preparing for Black Friday is about being proactive, not reactive. Every SEO improvement you make now, from product pages to local visibility, will help you attract more shoppers and turn clicks into customers.
Yoast gives you the tools to stay ahead: clearer product listings, stronger search visibility, and smart automations that scale with your store. Whether you’re using Shopify or WooCommerce, optimize now to be ready before the crowds arrive.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-07-22 12:40:022025-07-22 12:40:02How to prep your Shopify or WooCommerce store for Black Friday before the rush starts
If you’re not using AI in marketing, you’re already falling behind. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming more and more prominent, and many have functions specifically designed to help marketers better promote their products and services.
Throughout this article, we’re going to dive deeper into what AI in marketing looks like, sharing the benefits of taking advantage of AI, how AI can be used in marketing, plus some AI marketing tools to get you started.
Key Takeaways
AI can provide a number of benefits for your marketing team, like speeding up tedious tasks, providing you with better insights, and boosting your overall results.
You can use AI as part of your content planning and creation process, to gather competitive insights, to improve your customer service, and more.
There are a number of AI tools that can help you automate processes and streamline your strategy.
Benefits of Using AI in Marketing
Why should you incorporate AI into your marketing strategy? There are so many benefits that these tools can bring to your team—if you use them right.
Speed Up Processes
AI can help marketers speed up processes and spend less time conducting certain tasks manually. According to HubSpot’s State of AI Report, 79% of marketers agree that AI helps them to spend less time on manual tasks, showing just how valuable these new tools can be.
Improve Personalization
AI can analyze customer data at scale, helping you to gather more insights and understand how to better personalize your content and segment your audience. Better personalization can provide your business with better results from your marketing campaigns.
Better Insights
Because AI can analyze data more effectively than humans can, you can get better insights. For example, AI analysis can help you identify trends earlier, forecast sales and customer behavior more efficiently, and help your marketing team make better decisions.
Cost Savings
Incorporating AI tools into your team’s daily processes can save time and resources, resulting in cost savings within your marketing budget. While AI shouldn’t replace core human workers, there are certain tasks that it can take off their plates, letting them focus on things that actually impact your business’s bottom line.
Higher ROI
Because AI tools can help your marketing team better understand customers, personalize campaigns, and ship better content, you’ll see a higher return on investment (ROI) as a result. Start using AI within your day-to-day marketing tasks to see how it can help improve your performance.
How AI Works With Marketing: 9 Use Cases
Because AI is a newer technology, you might not be sure how it works with marketing quite yet. However, there are a number of key use cases that AI can help with.
Content planning: AI chatbots can be a huge help in brainstorming content ideas. Tell the chatbot about your business and your overall content goals and ask for topics that you may not have covered yet. You can then run the ideas through an SEO tool to find top keywords to center your content around.
Content creation: While AI shouldn’t be handling the entire content creation process, it can still provide some assistance. Get help creating a comprehensive outline, get ideas for your introduction, or get AI to start with a summary that you can expand on.
Marketing automation: Incorporate AI tools into your marketing automation workflows to further your team’s productivity. AI tools can be used as a step within your workflows or they can help you set up new workflows, improving efficiency.
Customer service: AI can be a huge help within customer service. Use an AI-powered chatbot on your website to help answer basic customer questions while also escalating issues to a human service representative for larger issues. This can make sure your customer service team is only having to deal with major issues, with AI responding to all smaller queries.
Audience segmentation: AI tools can analyze large amounts of customer data, helping you to segment out your audience in a much more effective way than if your team were analyzing the information themselves. Segmentation can help you create more personalized campaigns and marketing efforts.
Social listening: Incorporate AI into your social listening strategy to more quickly analyze the data, understand overall sentiment, and generate a summary of overall customer conversations. This type of AI assistance can make your social listening strategy much more effective.
Competitive intelligence: Again, because AI is such a powerful tool when it comes to analyzing data, it can be a huge help when looking at competitive insights. Discover how your competitors are faring in comparison to your own performance, plus analyze market trends to see what you can expect in the future.
Predictive analytics: Similarly, AI can also be used to predict customer behavior, taking a look at past campaigns and forecasting future results based on historical data. This can be a huge help when creating new campaigns so that you can make them better than ever.
Administrative tasks: AI is also hugely helpful with basic administrative tasks like data entry, scheduling, pulling reports, and more. Use AI for the boring manual tasks to free up your team’s time for more important work.
3 Examples of AI in Marketing
Let’s look at some real life examples of businesses using AI in ways that market their products or make working with their business feel more appealing.
Spotify
Spotify is a music streaming service that recently launched its own AI product to help its users have a better listening experience. This AI product is called “DJ,” and it analyzes your top songs and plays music based on your past listening habits.
The DJ will play five songs that all come with a similar vibe, then come back onto the “mic” to share your next five songs. If there’s a set of songs that listeners aren’t interested in, they can tap the “DJ” icon to move onto the next set.
It’s a unique experience that really helps to set Spotify apart from other streaming platforms.
Curlsmith
Curlsmith is a beauty brand focused on curl care. It has a chatbot widget on its website to help customers find what they’re looking for.
As you can see, the chatbot responses are all “Automated with AI.” Customers can use this chatbot to:
Find the right products for their curl type
Check in on a recent order
Ask questions about shopping with Curlsmith
Ask about discounts
Change an order
There are programmed responses, but if a user says that they need additional help, there’s a conversational AI chatbot implemented as well that will analyze a user’s response in order to provide them with the best customer service.
Heinz
Heinz put together a creative ad campaign a couple of years ago and used AI to help them build it. The ad told the story of how the Heinz team typed “ketchup” into an AI image generator, and the output was a ketchup bottle with a logo that looked eerily similar to the Heinz logo.
The campaign essentially said, “even AI knows ketchup is Heinz,” and showcased several other prompts the team ran through the AI image generator, all including the word “ketchup,” and the output they received.
This was a creative way to incorporate AI tools in a marketing campaign that also provided an extremely effective result.
AI Marketing Tools to Use
If you want to get started incorporating artificial intelligence into your marketing strategy, you need to find the right tools to use. Below, we introduce you to six different AI marketing tools, each with its own use case.
ChatGPT – AI Chatbot
ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot that can provide answers to anything you type into the text box. It can help with things like:
Brainstorming
Outlining
Conducting research
Optimizing content
Analyzing your market
But ChatGPT can honestly help with nearly any request you might have for it. You can also upload Excel files and have it analyze historical data, helping you generate predictive analytics, forecast customer behavior, and gather competitive insights, even without tools that are more catered to those capabilities.
If you don’t use any other AI tool, you should at least have a ChatGPT account under your belt.
Pricing: Completely free for limited (but still extensive) use. To get access to more models and more capabilities, premium plans start at $20/month.
Jasper – Content Generation
If you’re looking for help with your content generation, Jasper is the perfect tool for you. The tool provides an intuitive workspace that makes it easy to generate content at scale, optimize content so it hits every mark, conduct research to fully flesh out your content, and more.
While Jasper is the ultimate content generation tool for marketers, it also offers AI agent capabilities. AI agents are tools that can operate autonomously, helping marketers get more done in less time.
Pricing: Plans start at $39/month/seat.
Midjourney – Image Generation
Midjourney is an AI-powered image generation platform. It was originally built through a Discord server (which still remains active), but now can be accessed through an easy-to-use web app. Users can input any text-based description, upload images for reference, and incorporate some of Midjourney’s built-in parameters to create images for any marketing needs.
Generate realistic images, animated images, surreal art, and more. Midjourney is also starting to delve into video generation, which can be a game changer for creating marketing video ads and commercials.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $8/month.
Hootsuite – Social Copy Generation
Hootsuite is a social media management platform, but it also offers a number of free AI-powered tools that can help marketers get ideas for their social copy and captions. Some of the available tools include:
Caption generator
Tweet generator
Video title generator
Video description generator
Hashtag generator
Username generator
Social media bio generator
Content ideas generator
Blog ideas generator
Take advantage of these completely free tools to help you brainstorm more ideas and captions for your social media content. These free tools are also their own example of AI in marketing, as they help promote Hootsuite alongside providing free value.
Pricing: The AI-powered generators are completely free to access. Hootsuite’s suite of social media management tools start at $99/user/month.
Zapier – Marketing Automation
Zapier is an AI-powered marketing automation platform that makes it easy for marketers to set up automated workflows. Zapier works via “zaps” that connect tools together to create an automation that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
For example, automatically add leads to your CRM, automatically add your new blog posts to your social media content calendar, or automatically add new customers to a spreadsheet for tracking.
These are some basic zaps, though. Zapier also offers a number of extensive workflows that incorporate their AI capabilities, helping marketers to automate more complex tasks as well.
Pricing: Free for up to 100 tasks/month. For more usage, paid plans start at $19.99/month.
Tidio – Chatbot
Tidio is a chatbot software that enables businesses to create their own AI-powered chatbots for their customers to interact with. Users can get customer support from your AI bot, chat with your bot about product suggestions, and make appointments all through your Tidio chatbot.
Train the Lyro AI assistant with your business information so they can help customers out, while also escalating more serious concerns or more unique questions directly to a human customer service representative.
Pricing: Plans are flexible based on the number of conversations you expect to have per month. Get access to the tool for free for 50 conversations or less. Plans start at $24.17/month for 100 conversations and go up from there.
FAQs
What are some examples of AI in marketing today?
Chat bots, a form of artificial intelligence, are a common occurrence on business websites. Other examples within marketing include ad targeting, dynamic pricing, and ChatGPT.
How is AI changing the marketing industry?
The greatest impact that AI has had on the marketing industry is in the automation of repetitive tasks. This frees up times for digital marketers to focus on larger-scale projects and higher level strategy.
How to use AI in digital marketing?
Use AI where it actually helps. Automate tedious tasks like reporting, scheduling, and customer service. Use it to speed up content planning and pull insights from your data faster. Let AI handle repetitive tasks so your team can focus on strategy and creative work.
Should you trust AI tools?
AI tools, in and of themselves, are nothing to be feared. There is nothing inherently bad about AI or AI tools. However, you do want to review any work that comes out of them to avoid concerns like plagiarism or inaccuracy.
AI Is the Future of Marketing
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a key part of marketing these days. You can use the tools to help generate content for your marketing campaigns, analyze results, predict upcoming trends, and so much more. To get even more ideas for how to use AI in your marketing efforts, check out our arsenal of AI tools.
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Would you rather have a beautiful website or a website your customers love?
From a business perspective, you shouldn’t choose either. You should want a high-converting website, instead. And this is where landing pages are so important.
A landing page is a key component in any marketing campaign. Whether you’re running a digital ad, sending an email letter, or posting on social media, you need a webpage that you can send interested visitors to that can help generate leads and conversions.
Many people get caught in the trap of creating designs they like without thinking about what their prospective buyers want and need. Unfortunately, this creates a leaky funnel that’s hard to fix.
But if you want to buck that trend and create landing pages that convert, I’m here to help. In this article, we’ve compiled a list of 20 landing page examples you can gather inspiration from.
We’ll go over each one’s strengths and weaknesses, so you’ll be able to walk away knowing what it takes to create a high-converting landing page for your business.
Key Takeaways
A landing page is a webpage created with a singular purpose—to generate a conversion, whether that’s a lead, sale, subscription, etc.
There are five main elements that every successful landing page should have—a bold headline, consistent copy, social proof, one singular offer, and a call to action.
Looking at landing page examples can be a great way to gather inspiration before you start building out your own landing pages.
What Is a Landing Page?
A landing page is a single webpage designed with a single goal in mind. That goal could be:
Selling a product
Signing customers up for a service
Promoting a product feature
Sharing an e-book, report, or white paper
Increasing newsletter subscribers
Potential leads or customers “land on” the webpage, giving it the name “landing page.” It’s a simple page that dives fully into a single offering with the intent of selling the visitor whatever it’s promoting.
5 Elements of an Effective Landing Page
As you scroll through the landing page examples we share below, you might notice that they all appear to follow a similar formula. That’s because you don’t fix what isn’t broken, and the key landing page elements are not broken.
Bold value proposition at the top of the page. The top of the landing page should clearly state what it’s promoting and why the webpage visitor needs it.
Messaging consistent from the ad or post that led to the landing page. Upon clicking to your landing page, viewers should see a consistency in messaging from the ad or social media post that initially led them there. That messaging should clearly communicate what the page is promoting, giving further information than the bold heading at the top.
Social proof, case studies, reviews, testimonials.Social proof is where people tend to lean towards choices that they’ve seen others make, which is why reviews and testimonials can make such a big impact. Include this type of social proof on your landing page to convince people to take action.
One single, hyper-focused offer. You should be focusing your landing page on one single topic or offer, whether you’re promoting a single software feature, a single service, or a single lead magnet.
A clear call to action. What do you want people who visit your landing page to do? Use that as your call to action. Make it clear, bold, bright, and easy to click.
20 Amazing Landing Page Examples
Need some inspiration for your next landing page? Check out these 20 examples that you can get inspiration from.
GetResponse is an email marketing platform. This landing page is highlighting a key feature—email signup forms meant to help businesses build their email lists. Powerful headline, check. Eye-catching image, check. List of current clients, check. List of features, check, You get the idea.
It’s quite long, but that just gives the Get Response team more to convince you to create a free account. And there are plenty of CTAs along the way in case you missed the one at the very top of the page.
Three takeaways from GetResponse’s landing page:
Highlight your copy to make it even more impactful. GetResponse highlights important words and phrases throughout the landing page, drawing your attention to them and making their copy pop.
Use social proof. The landing page includes a slideable widget filled with customer testimonials that mention this specific feature and how well it works.
Use multiple CTAs. Because GetResponse’s landing page is so long, they scatter it with CTAs at the end of every section.
Slack is always on top of its game when it comes to creating some of the best landing pages. They are constantly optimizing for conversions, and that’s the best way to find your winning landing page. This landing page showcases one of its features—voice or video huddles that happen in real time, letting team members essentially call each other to hash something out quickly.
Three takeaways from Slack’s landing page:
Keep your navigation bar bare. Slack only includes the most important elements in the navigation bar on this landing page: letting current user login and prospective users talk to sales.
Show thedifference between free and premium. If you have a popular free version, use your landing page as a chance to show what users are missing out on by not upgrading.
Take advantage of multimedia. The page includes looping animated videos that showcase each of the main features, letting interested users see them in action before signing up.
This landing page for heatmapping software CrazyEgg showcases a specific feature that the software offers. In this case, it’s the ability to create website pop-ups to increase conversions.
The page leads with a demo link and breakdown of the feature, before you see more detailed information on how it works further down on the page.
Three takeaways from CrazyEgg’s landing page:
Provide basic instructions. The landing page includes a basic step-by-step for how users can set up pop-ups using the CrazyEgg tool, showing just how quick and easy it is and further selling them on the software.
Show versatility in applications. The use cases section shows how a variety of different industries can benefit from using this tool.
Use trust badges. CrazyEgg’s landing page is dotted with trust badges from the likes of G2 and Capterra, adding instant credibility to their offering.
Lyft has been growing in the past years, and its website, landing page, and overall online funnel is a driving force, too. They focus on attracting new drivers that want to control their own life.
Once again, we see a giant, attention-grabbing headline that entices users. Now check out the button “Apply to drive.” It implies that it’s not 100 percent sure you’ll be able to get the position — which makes it even more enticing while also stopping candidates from getting carried away.
Three takeaways from Lyft’s landing page:
Make a point with your images. I’d bet Lyft wants to attract female drivers, which is exactly why they’ve chosen the feature image on the landing page.
Customize data requests. Most landing pages ask for an email. But because Lyft is an app, it asks for your phone number instead.
Link off to learn more. You don’t want to overwhelm users with information on a landing page, that’s why linking to other pages (as Lyft has done) can be a useful strategy.
Zoho’s landing page is a great example of a more full-on, but still extremely powerful messaging. They use more text than the average landing page in the industry, but that’s not necessarily bad. It just means users have more information to make a decision. And in a crowded industry like the CRM space, that can be a highly effective thing.
Three takeaways from Zoho’s landing page:
Give your users a why. Don’t let users guess how your software stands out. Show them exactly why they should use your software.
Show how you compare. Comparison tables are a highly effective way to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Talk price. If price is a USP for your brand, then mention it. Zoho shows how much users can save by using them instead of a competitor like Salesforce.
Squarespace is a contender for the shortest landing page ever. Seriously, there’s not much more to it than the screenshot I’ve taken above. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective.
Rather than trying to get you to create an account, all Squarespace wants you to do here is look at the templates. I reckon they know that once you see how good the templates are and how easy the platform is to use, you’ll be hooked.
Three takeaways from Squarespace’s landing page:
Short can be sweet. You don’t have to have a massive landing page to convince users to take action. A couple of enticing benefits may be all you need.
You don’t need much color. Everyone knows color can be used to convey emotion to users. But it’s not essential. And because it’s not on-brand for Squarespace, it’s not used.
The rule of three. Three is a magic number in marketing and Squarespace uses it to get across their core USPs.
If there’s one thing you can’t fault ActiveCampaign’s landing page for, it’s brevity. They get straight to the point with the key benefit of their platform and encourage you to start a trial by entering your email address. Scroll down further and the rest of the page is similarly pared back, only including key information users need to know.
Three takeaways from ActiveCampaign’s landing page:
You don’t need fancy graphics. There are no eye-catching images above the fold and only two in total.
Lean on an authority. Are you highly rated by a trusted authority like G2? If so you can do what Active Campaign has done by showcasing all of your badges.
Show how your platform works. Images are great, but showing how to use your platform can make a huge difference in your conversion rate.
Cost is a big hurdle for any small business looking to purchase a CRM. That’s why HubSpot makes such a big deal of its free offering in this landing page. But just because you get the software for free doesn’t mean it’s limited. That might be your first thought, but HubSpot assuages those fears by showing all of the features you get below.
Three takeaways from HubSpot’s landing page:
Get your point across fast. The first three words users read on this landing page will be exactly what they are looking for: free CRM software. They don’t need to know much more to get started.
Reiterate your USP in your CTA. You can use your CTA to back up your headline by tacking on a short message or reason to take action as HubSpot has done here.
Use white space. HubSpot’s landing page isn’t too busy or crowded. There’s loads of white space, which makes it super easy to read.
Shopify Plus isn’t designed for bootstrapped e-commerce stores or side hustlers. It’s an enterprise product and that shows in this landing page. It talks directly to big businesses, addresses their specific concerns, and shows them the kind of results they can achieve. Best of all, it’s topped off with a piece of ultra-professional video marketing that’s also designed to appeal to the brand’s target audience.
Three takeaways from Shopify Plus’s landing page:
Tailor your CTA. Enterprise customers aren’t going to make a purchase straight away. That’s why Shpoify encourages them to contact their sales team rather than book a demo.
Use statistics. The landing page gives hard data about how much better stores can perform by using Shopify Plus. This is much more powerful than a throwaway comment.
Speak to your customer’s values. Shopify devotes a large chunk to talking about the performance of their platform — something enterprise companies care about deeply.
There’s a reason designers aren’t web developers — most don’t know how to code. That doesn’t stop them from designing great-looking websites, but it does mean they need help. Not if they use Webflow, however. Webflow lets designers design and code powerful websites without having to write any themselves. And because the company knows its target audience, everything on the landing page is designed to appeal to designers — from the images to the testimonials to the copy.
Three takeaways from Webflow’s landing page:
Tailor your landing page to your target audience. This landing page won’t appeal to anyone who can’t design. But that’s the point. Those people won’t use Webflow, designers will.
Double down on social proof. Webflow understands the power of social proof, which is why they highlight their existing customers multiple times on the page.
Show, don’t tell. Webflow ends the landing page by showing designers exactly the kind of sites they can create with the platform.
The goal of the ClickFunnels landing page is to get you to start using its software. They know that once they’ve got you on their platform, you are way more likely to start paying. With that in mind, everything on the page is geared at showing how easy it is to get started and what you can accomplish with the software. There are dozens of testimonials of high-profile salespeople who have made serious bank with the software and copy that challenges any preconceived ideas you have. It’s a masterclass in persuasive landing page design.
Three takeaways from ClickFunnels’s landing page:
Let your customers sell for you. Testimonials are so powerful. If you have them from the right people (the kind your prospective customers want to emulate) then they’ll do most of the hard work for you.
Attack objections early. ClickFunnels does a great job of overcoming common objections (like you need to have good computer skills or your business isn’t a good fit) above the fold.
Use CTAs liberally. There is a CTA banner after every section on this page, giving users every opportunity to convert.
Conversionlab has been using this landing page design for years now. I’ve noticed they split test different button CTAs, like book a call, get a free consult, and many more. Keeping their Founder on the main page of the website builds a long-term relationship many businesses nowadays miss out on. They clearly state their services through their persuasive headline and, even if you’re not ready to book a consultation, a pop-up will appear collecting your email.
Three takeaways from Conversionlab’s landing page:
Put your team front and center. You can build instant relatability with users by putting your team members on your landing page.
Don’t be afraid to give it all away. Conversion Lab’s landing page explains in detail what it’s like to work with them, so every prospect knows exactly what to expect.
Try twice to convert. Following up with an email (collected via pop-up) is a great way to ensure that a high percentage of prospects that land on your website will end up booking a call with you.
Semrush is an SEO platform. Here’s a landing page example for their tool that showed up as an ad in organic search. The button is bright (and on-brand) and makes it clear what your next step would be. The main headline focuses on the benefit — grow your online visibility — and the third line focuses on another key benefit — you only need one platform. That’s appealing to marketers who are juggling a ton of tools.
Three takeaways from Semrush’s landing page:
Know your audience. The landing page’s CTA focuses on a known pain point of digital marketers: that they have to juggle dozens of different tools.
Roll out the big guns for testimonials. Semrush lists some of their biggest customers prominently on the homepage. If these massive companies use the platform, surely you should, too?
Use variety with your CTA buttons. Each of the CTA buttons lead to the signup form, but the copy is different in each one, ensuring they hit the pain point that will get someone to click, no matter where they’re at on the page.
HelloFresh is a meal-kit delivery service, and this landing page is another ad-based page that’s focused entirely on its offering, with no additional navigation.
Like other landing pages, the content is limited. They use a heading, CTA, and images to show how the platform works and some of the user options. However, I suspect that’s on purpose — after all, the premise is relatively simple, it’s more about showing how the service fits into people’s lifestyles.
Three takeaways from HelloFresh’ landing page:
Strategic discounts make a difference. The page is offering a discount, but it’s automatically applied the second someone clicks on the page, creating an enticing offering that requires no additional effort on the customer’s side—they just have to click “Redeem” or “Get Started.”
Use high-quality visuals. HelloFresh prides itself on high-quality, fresh ingredients, and the images here present these front-and-center.
Strategic link placement. The carousel at the bottom is neatly aligned with different dietary needs and preferences, helping move users down the sales funnel.
Doordash probably doesn’t have to worry as much about getting customers as it does about recruiting new drivers to meet demand. That’s the goal of this landing page that shows users what they stand to gain from becoming a Dasher. It’s on-brand, carefully lays out the benefits of becoming your own boss, and shows you how much you could earn. The only thing it’s missing is social proof.
Three takeaways from Doordash’s landing page:
Put the user front and center. Everything on this landing page, from the copy to the images revolves around the user. It’s about what they can achieve and speak directly to them.
Pre-qualify users on your landing page. Doordash clearly lists the requirements drivers have to meet, meaning they’ll need to spend less time vetting candidates in the future.
Don’t rule out the impact of social proof. The lack of testimonials from current Dashers really lets this page down. The experience of current drivers is probably high on a prospective driver’s checklist.
Want to know how much you could rent your property for on Airbnb? That’s exactly what the company’s landing page helps you to understand. This fun and interactive landing page gives users a taste of what they can earn by renting out their property on Airbnb and then shows them how easy the process is.
Three takeaways from Airbnb’s landing page:
Dynamic pages can work a dream. As soon as you land on Airbnb’s landing page it automatically changes the content depending on your location. That creates a highly personalized and interactive experience that’s more likely to convert users.
CTAs don’t have to take center stage. The CTA to create an Airbnb account is tucked away in the right-hand corner of the page. But that doesn’t make it any less prominent or visible.
Make it interactive. Users can play with the slider bar to see how much they could earn by renting out their property for longer. The more you slide, the bigger the number gets, and the more tempting it is to create an account.
Every homeowner wants to know how much their property is worth. It’s that simple desire that Zillow capitalizes on with this landing page, which aims to generate leads for the company’s mortgage business. It’s short, simple and incredibly alluring for both curious homeowners and buyers looking to understand the potential value of a new home.
Three takeaways from Zillow’s landing page:
Eye-catching imagery can play a big role. The biggest element on Zillow’s landing page isn’t the CTA, but the image behind it. It’s doing a lot of legwork creating an aspirational feel to the page.
Clearly contrast copy and images. There’s a danger that the overlay copy on the background image could get lost. But Zillow does a great job of ensuring the contrast is clear and the copy is readable.
Give users more information, but only if they want it. There’s a tendency for the best landing pages to overwhelm users with information. Zillow avoids this by providing FAQs that only appear if users click on them.
Visme is a graphic design tool that offers a number of templates for different types of business-centric designs, like presentations, infographics, e-books, and the like. This landing page is all about the fact that you can create e-books with the tool, highlighting only e-book templates and other features related to e-book creation.
What I like:
Three takeaways from NP Digital’s landing page:
Brand consistency matters. All of the copy and images are related to this singular type of design. This page is perfect for ebook-related ads but also a great SEO play as well.
Showcasing different product. The examples section does a great job showing off the variety of different e-books that this product can make.
CTAs after key features. The page design here places the CTA button after all the different breakdowns of major features, meaning that the user can buy as soon as they see the feature that matters most to them..
Wix is a website builder, and this landing page goes all in on its website design capabilities. It showcases all features related to getting a new website up and off the ground.
Three takeaways from Wix’s landing page:
Don’t neglect the visual factor. As you scroll, you’re met with colorful blocks that each highlight its own feature, making this a visually appealing landing page that keeps users engaged the entire time. Show your work. The examples section here does a great job of showing the full breadth of sites that Wix can help build.
Use FAQs (when it makes sense). FAQs can be very useful for helping go into greater detail about a product without clogging up the page experience. They are great for SEO, too!
Let’s end with one of the best landing page examples from my digital marketing agency, NP Digital. Unlike some of the other examples in this list, the goal of this landing page isn’t to get people to buy a product or sign up to a service. I want users to download a market research report my team and I created.
As you can see, it’s quite a bit shorter than a normal landing page. That’s because it doesn’t need elements like social proof or loads of images. All I want to get across is a snapshot of what you can read in the report and how you can download it.
Three takeaways from NP Digital’s landing page:
Don’t let users enter fake information. I email the document to the address you provide in the form. That means you have to enter your correct email address to get the document and I don’t have to waste time scrubbing fake emails from my database.
Sometimes you can ask for more information. Your opt-in form doesn’t have to be tiny in order to convert. Because I’m giving away a lot of information for free, I can ask for more information in return.
Long landing pages don’t necessarily make the best landing pages. If you don’t want users to waste time scrolling, don’t make them. Only give them the information they need to convert.
7 Tips for Creating Killer Landing Pages
You’ve seen the best of the best. Now you’re ready to create a landing page that drives business growth. These seven tips will help you create the high-converting landing pages you’ve been dreaming of:
Include clear calls to action. Your call to action should be specifically tied to your goal and should be supported by everything else on your page, from the headline and body copy to the images and overall layout. Avoid bland CTAs like “Submit” that don’t explain the next steps.
Keep your landing page forms simple. Only require users to provide the minimum amount of information they need, usually just their name and email. Asking for too much information early on decreases the chances a user will complete the action you want them to take.
Ensure your copy is clear and concise. The best landing page copy should be clear, easy to read, and make a specific point. Use bullet points, headings, and bold font to make content easier to read. Every single sentence and word on your landing page should serve a purpose, and that purpose should be to support your call to action. If it doesn’t do that, cut it.
Include vital information above the fold. That includes a benefit-focused headline and a CTA. Hopefully, at least a small percentage of your visitors will be ready to buy as soon as they arrive on your landing page.
Ensure your landing pages look the same as your campaign ads. If your page is tied to an email or PPC campaign, make sure the landing page echoes the look and feel of the ad or email. The easiest way to do this is to carry over fonts, images, and colors from your campaign to your landing page. This is especially important for paid ads, as it can increase your quality score.
A/B test your landing page. A/B testing means running two different landing pages and changing just one element to see which performs best. For example, you might use two different images and see which one drives the most conversions.
Use fewer images and a large font. Visual clutter detracts from the message and CTAs. Larger font sizes are also a good idea to keep visitors’ eyes focused on what matters and reduce eye strain. Just don’t go overboard and put everything in a headline-size font — no one wants to be yelled at.
In general, a great landing page includes:
A strong heading that includes your main keyword
A subheading that clarifies the heading
Copy that explains the offer
An image, video, or illustration that supports the offer
A form or CTA button where the user can convert
You might also include social proof or trust symbols, such as reviews, testimonials, and logos of previous customers.
Building Out Your Next Landing Page
While there are some consistent elements between all strong landing pages, the exact design will depend on your goals, your business, and your industry.
Let me ask you a couple of questions that will guide you in the right direction.
What do you want to accomplish with your landing page?
The most common landing page goals are:
Getting people to opt-in in exchange for free value on a subject.
Selling a low-ticket product like a book or a mini-course.
Promoting a free trial offer for a monthly service or software.
You’ve got to know exactly what offer you want to present on your landing page before creating it.
Are you committed to this project or are you just trying out an offer?
You might find yourself optimizing a non-profitable landing page for months before it starts generating real returns. If you’re not ready for that, then I recommend you quit before you even start.
Yes, you can get lucky and hit a home run on your first try, but don’t count on it.
Be ready for the long game so you catch the long-term gains that are so much sweeter than a short-term spike in traffic.
What’s your budget?
Before you begin designing your landing page, you need to prepare a solid budget.
You can’t expect everything to go smoothly throughout the process. Problems are going to occur and most times the easiest and fastest way to solve them is to pay someone who is an expert in the field.
That can be a developer, a funnel designer/builder, an ad specialist, or a CRO consultant. Either way, you should be ready to pay someone to do it right so you don’t face the same problems over and over.
In marketing and life, one of the best ways to test the quality of your work is to put it in front of an audience. For landing pages, you can do that by running ads to see if the traffic converts.
If it does, you raise your ad budget and try to scale. If it doesn’t convert at first, then you should let a professional take a look at it.
Even if you already hired someone to build it for you, don’t expect them to help you here. Yes, they could optimize your page, but you’ve got to keep in mind that people have an emotional attachment to their work.
That’s why you need a third party to help you out.
When it comes to optimizing a landing page for conversions, think about hiring an agency.
Big marketing agencies nowadays have had hundreds if not thousands of clients who have been in your exact situation. That’s why hiring a marketing agency to help you increase your conversion is the best bet.
Talking about CRO (conversion rate optimization) there’s no better choice than NP Digital.
I might be biased, but I think it’s the best marketing agency for both SEO and CRO.
If you’re at the stage where you want to optimize your existing landing page but you don’t know exactly how to do it, then book a quick call with a member of my team who can unravel the secret conversion optimization methods your business needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a landing page?
A landing page is a specially designed page intended to encourage users to complete a specific task (i.e., convert.) They work by highlighting key points, using social proof or case studies to build trust, and providing a CTA to encourage conversion.
Who needs a landing page?
Any business with a website should have a landing page of some sort to encourage users to take an action like booking a demo, calling for a quote, or signing up for an email list, etc.
What makes a good landing page?
There are several elements that make a landing page effective. First, a clear and compelling headline that instantly communicates the value proposition is essential. Second, concise and persuasive copy that highlights the benefits of your product or service. Third, it needs a visually appealing design that is easy to navigate and optimized for mobile devices. Fourth, a strong call-to-action that is prominent and directs users to take action. Finally, I recommend trust-building elements such as testimonials or social proof to instill confidence.
Conclusion
I hope these best landing page examples can serve as an inspiration to create a high-converting landing page. To get the most out of your landing page, be sure to:
Find what your best customers struggle the most with and then solve this problem with a short and punchy headline.
Use credibility and videos if possible.
Know your goals — Is it to get their email or phone number? Have them call? Start a free/paid trial or something else?
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I asked ChatGPT: “What are the best resources to learn SEO in 2025?”
The response mentioned Backlinko twice.
Here’s the thing: We don’t rank #1 in Google for “best SEO resources.” (Ads, Reddit, and AI Overviews take up that real estate).
We haven’t even optimized for “best SEO resources,” but we got mentioned anyway.
That’s LLM seeding in action.
Organic traffic is dropping across the board. Large language models (LLMs) are now answering your audience’s questions directly, quietly hijacking the clicks you used to count on.
Maybe you’ve already seen the dip. Maybe you see the writing on the wall.
Either way, it’s time to fight back — with a new kind of visibility strategy.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
What to publish so LLMs actually cite you
Where to seed your content for maximum pickup
And how to track whether your brand is showing up
Get your brand into the conversation now — so you don’t get left behind.
What the Heck Is LLM Seeding?
LLM seeding is the practice of publishing content in the formats and places LLMs are most likely to scrape, summarize, and cite.
Here’s an example of a Backlinko article that encourages scraping with an LLM-friendly format:
In other words: You’re not just optimizing for Google.
You’re optimizing for ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and any other LLMs or AI search engines your audience uses.
Here’s how it works:
You create AI-friendly content, such as comparison posts with tables and FAQ sections.
And publish it in places LLMs look for information. (More on this later.)
When people ask LLMs for information related to your industry, they mention your brand in the answer.
Often, they don’t include a link to your site.
Still, that mention sticks.
Users notice it, remember it, and later search for your brand directly.
Over time, these citations drive more branded searches, direct traffic, and trust in your name.
While LLM seeding is a new strategy, you’re not starting from scratch.
It builds on everything you already know about SEO, content marketing, and PR.
The difference? It requires a fundamental mindset shift.
You’re no longer optimizing for clicks. You’re optimizing for citations.
And instead of trying to rank #1, you’re influencing what AI tools say about your brand.
Adopting this new approach means rethinking how you show up online.
But it’s how you’ll stay visible and influential as search continues to evolve.
3 Big Benefits of LLM Seeding
Still chasing backlinks and rankings?
According to a Semrush study, AI search traffic will surpass traditional search by the end of 2027.
Shift your focus to LLM seeding now to stay competitive.
And prepare for a zero-click, LLM-driven world.
1. Brand Exposure Without Traffic Dependence
Here’s the problem:
Searchers no longer have to click search results to get the information they need.
Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode provide detailed answers to questions and step-by-step instructions.
LLMs allow searchers to bypass Google and other search engines entirely.
They provide product recommendations, summaries, answers … you name it.
For many site owners, this is resulting in a noticeable decline in traffic.
So, what’s the answer?
Becoming the answer.
When LLMs cite your brand, you become part of the conversation.
Which helps your brand stay top of mind, even without the click.
2. Authority by Association
One of the biggest wins of LLM seeding? Instant credibility.
When large language models mention your brand alongside industry leaders, it boosts your authority.
Case in point: I asked ChatGPT to recommend products for dogs with leaky gut.
It suggested Purina and Zesty Paws, two huge brands.
But it also recommended Adored Beast, a much lesser-known pet brand.
That’s the beauty of LLM seeding.
You don’t need a massive budget or a #1 ranking.
You just need to publish content that LLMs want to cite.
3. Leveled Playing Field
In traditional search, the highest-ranking content wins.
But LLMs work differently.
They prioritize the best answers, no matter what page they’re on.
In fact, almost 90% of ChatGPT citations come from positions 21+, according to Semrush’s study.
So, your comparison post on page 4 could get cited more than a competitor ranking in Google’s top 5 — if your content provides better answers.
Sounds good? Now, I’ll cover how to create LLM-friendly content.
What to Publish (So You Get Cited by LLMs)
LLMs are citation machines. But they need content from credible sources.
Here are the formats that consistently get picked up:
Structured “Best Of” Lists
Both readers and LLMs appreciate a “best of” list — especially ones with clear structure and useful comparisons.
For example, I asked Perplexity what the best mattresses are for back pain.
And review site Sleep Advisor was one of its sources.
This site publishes “best of” articles often and has a rigorous testing process, two important components of LLM citations.
But to get cited, your list needs to go beyond the basics.
Start by explaining how you selected the items on your list.
LLMs prioritize content that shows transparent, well-reasoned decision-making. (Just like your readers do.)
This added context also helps LLMs match your content to the questions people are asking.
Sleep Advisor includes details about its testing process upfront in articles so readers (and LLMs) can’t miss it.
Another AI-friendly component of a “best of” list?
Giving each item a “best” rating that matches search behavior:
Best for freelancers on a budget
Best for advanced analytics
Best all-in-one solution for remote teams
If you’ve used LLMs, you know they quote these phrases in responses.
But it also helps users self-identify, which can increase leads and conversions.
For instance, Sleep Advisor awards mattresses with targeted “best” ratings.
Like “best mattress for upper back pain” and “best mattress for stomach sleepers with back pain.”
Now, consider your content’s structure.
This is where semantic chunking comes in.
Semantic chunking means organizing your content into short, clearly labeled sections that focus on a single idea or answer.
Why does it matter?
Chunked content with natural language headers makes it easier for AI to parse, understand, and pull relevant snippets into responses.
Use the same layout for every entry. A repeatable structure signals credibility and makes your content easier to extract and cite.
For example:
Item name + best rating
Quick summary
Key features or standout capabilities
Pros and cons
Pricing
Take it even further by adding scoring systems or ratings.
Sleep Advisor awards a 1-to-5-star rating based on hands-on testing across categories like pressure relief, motion isolation, cooling, and responsiveness.
That kind of structured, criteria-based scoring makes your content more credible … and easier for LLMs to cite.
Overall, anything that makes your content easier to skim and read will also help make it LLM-friendly.
This includes bullet lists, tables, and summary boxes.
First-Person Product Reviews
Authentic, hands-on reviews are another format LLMs tend to favor.
Why?
Because real testing equals real credibility.
LLMs surface these types of reviews because they:
Include measurable outcomes
Follow repeatable testing processes
Use specific, quotable phrasing
Let’s look at Wirecutter’s electric standing desk review, for example.
They have a “Why you should trust us section” that states they’ve tested 40+ adjustable desks since 2013.
This is a clear, measurable signal of expertise.
So, get granular and provide all your testing details:
Explain how many items you tested
Describe who did the testing, what their credentials are, and when it was conducted
Outline your methodology or criteria
This shows LLMs and your audience that your review is authentic.
Short, declarative lines are also important to include because they’re extract-friendly.
Here’s an example from the Wirecutter article:
The Branch Duo Standing Desk is a good option if you have limited space or are over 5-foot-8. But it doesn’t offer nearly as many customizable features as the Uplift, and there’s no option to upgrade to an advanced keypad.
Did you notice it includes both positives and negatives?
Balanced statements show you’re giving a fair, experience-based evaluation, not a sales pitch.
That kind of transparency helps establish trust with users and LLMs.
Comparison Tables (Especially Brand vs. Brand)
Mid-funnel users use AI platforms to help make purchasing decisions.
This is why it’s crucial to create content that compares your product to alternatives.
The key?
Present it in a clean, structured format, such as a table or chart.
Like this Backlinko article that includes a table to help readers choose the best PPC tool for their needs.
To make your comparison tables citation-worthy, focus on three things:
Use-case verdicts: Don’t just compare features. Tell readers which option is better for freelancers, agencies, enterprise teams, and more.
Highlight tradeoffs: Include both strengths and weaknesses for each option to add credibility
Citation-ready phrasing: Make each recommendation easy to cite. Instead of “Tool A is more feature-packed,” write “Tool A is the best choice for teams on a budget that need features like multi-user logins and grammar checking.”
This kind of clarity makes it easy for LLMs to quote your content when users ask: “Which one is better for [my specific use case]?”
FAQ-Style Content
LLMs are trained on Q&A content from platforms like Quora, Reddit, and other public forums.
So, it’s no surprise that FAQ formats perform well. They match the structure LLMs were built to understand.
For this reason, you’ll want to add FAQ-style posts to your content rotation.
You can identify customer questions in the following ways:
Once you’ve chosen your questions, structure them as subheadings in your article.
And write concise responses that start with a direct answer.
Semrush’s SEO FAQ article is a good example of this LLM-friendly format.
It includes questions as clear subheadings, including:
What Is SEO?
How Long Does It Take to Rank on Google?
Why Has My Organic Traffic Dropped?
This is the type of post that probably wouldn’t rank super well in Google.
But is EXACTLY what LLMs use to train on.
Importantly, the content provides clear, direct answers to the questions.
Adding structured data is another smart way to help AI search engines and LLMs better parse and interpret your content.
WordPress plugins like RankMath and Yoast can automatically add FAQPage structured data to help increase your citations.
Opinion‑Led Pieces with Clear Takeaways
Want to increase LLM citations? Come up with a unique take on something in your industry.
This could be a contrarian industry opinion or a surprising prediction — anything works when it’s done well.
The caveat?
You’ll need industry authority, experience, and evidence to support your stance.
But remember — structure matters more than ever before.
Ensure it’s well-structured and easy to summarize.
Otherwise, it’s unlikely to stand out (or get cited).
For example, in a YouTube video (yes, LLMs can pull from video transcripts and descriptions), digital growth marketer Grace Leung challenges outdated content strategies.
She explains why they’re holding brands back and what to do instead.
Her format is viewer- and AI-friendly with defined sections and actionable takeaways.
And she shares a strong opinion throughout the piece that is backed up by her expertise.
Want to do the same?
Include details that help LLMs understand and trust your content:
Author credentials: Briefly explain who you are and why you’re qualified to cover the topic. This adds credibility for both readers and LLMs.
Content overview: State what the piece covers early on (in your blog post intro or video description) so it’s easy to parse and summarize
Internal links: Link to related posts or supporting content to signal depth and strengthen your topical coverage
In Grace’s case, her video’s description includes all of the above (and more): a video summary, quick author bio, newsletter link, and related content.
But it’s also another way to give LLMs more context about your content.
Make your visuals LLM-friendly with these tips:
Write full-sentence captions that explain what’s pictured and why it matters. Think: “Peach cobbler cookie from Good Cakes and Bakes, one of Detroit’s most beloved bakeries,” not just “Cookies on a plate.”
Reference visuals directly in your copy. Instead of skipping over an image, say, “As you can see in the photo, this bakery’s seasonal peach cobbler cookies are a local favorite.”
Add alt text that reflects both the subject and its importance. Try: “Peach cobbler cookie at Good Cakes and Bakes, a popular Detroit bakery known for seasonal desserts.”
Use descriptive file names, like detroit-good-cakes-peach-cookie.jpg, to reinforce meaning for AI crawlers.
Tools, Templates, and Frameworks
Offer valuable resources that solve real problems to get referenced in LLM conversations.
For instance, I asked Perplexity how I can check keyword rankings for free.
Depending on your industry, you might create free templates, frameworks, calculators, or interactive tools.
To make your resource citation-worthy, give it a clear, descriptive title that matches how users search.
Like “Budget Calculator for Freelancers” and “Free Grammar Checker.”
Include an intro that explains who it’s for, what it does, and how to use it.
Then, add supporting content (like examples, FAQs, or use cases) so LLMs understand its context and value.
The more useful and well-structured your resource is, the more likely it is to earn mentions from your target audience and AI platforms.
For example, our free rank checker lets users check rankings in seconds.
The tool’s design is clean and user-friendly.
And the description sums up the tool’s benefits well, which is important for scraping:
Discover who’s linking to you and your competitors to find the latest opportunities and enhance your backlink profile.
Since the tool is both easy to use and genuinely helpful, it’s recommended by third parties in blogs and forums.
These mentions are vital because LLMs pick up on them when deciding what to cite.
Where to Seed Your Content for Maximum LLM Pickup
Publishing great content is only half the battle.
The other half? Getting it in front of the right crawlers.
Publish in places that LLMs trust, crawl frequently, and find easy to parse.
Here’s where to focus your efforts:
Third-Party Platforms
Certain third-party platforms are LLM magnets.
Why?
Their clean layout, clear headings, and consistent quality make them easy for AI to read and cite.
This includes:
Medium: Repurpose your long-form blog content here. Medium’s minimalist layout and semantic structure make it ideal for LLMs. Include section headers, summaries, and internal links for added context.
Substack: A great home for newsletter-style content and thought leadership commentary. Its emphasis on editorial voice and topical depth adds authority and makes your content easier for AI to recognize as expert-driven.
LinkedIn articles: These articles are indexed well and often tied to real profiles (which gives your content a credibility bonus in LLMs)
Trusted Industry Publications
LLMs are more likely to trust and cite content that comes from respected industry sources.
So, create a strategy to share content and quotes in high-impact publications to boost your LLM visibility.
Here’s how:
Create Guest Posts
No, guest posting isn’t dead — it’s just not all about the links anymore.
It’s about visibility.
Choose topics that align with popular LLM prompts (like product comparisons, trends, or how-tos).
And format your content clearly with subheads, summaries, and data points.
Offer Expert Quotes
Reach out to journalists, editors, and bloggers in your niche.
Provide non-promotional, insight-driven quotes to increase your chances of being featured in articles that LLMs frequently reference.
Tools like HARO or Featured.com can help you find opportunities to share your expertise.
Get Featured in Roundups
As you’ve learned, LLMs love “best of,” “top tools,” and “expert tips” formats.
Pitch to writers creating these lists — whether newsletters, LinkedIn posts, videos, or blog posts.
And make it easy to include your brand by providing a concise, structured blurb with supporting context or proof points.
User-Generated Content Hubs
Why do LLMs and AI search engines love user-generated content hubs?
Because they’re full of real people asking real (often long-tail) questions. And subject matter experts providing highly specific, detailed answers.
Ones you often won’t find elsewhere.
That makes these platforms powerful spots to seed your expertise.
Here’s where to focus:
Reddit
LLMs cite Reddit more than any other source, according to Semrush.
So, if Reddit wasn’t on your radar before, it should be now.
Participate in relevant subreddits where you can highlight your expertise and add genuine value.
Answer questions and respond to comments.
And then do it all over again.
Make Reddit a part of your regular rotation to boost your chances of LLM citations.
Quora
Reddit may be the darling of LLMs, but Quora isn’t far behind.
For this reason, you’ll want to add this platform into the mix as well.
Side note: Quora is the most commonly cited website in Google’s AI Overviews, according to Semrush’s AI search study.
Provide comprehensive answers to industry questions.
Include specific examples, comparisons, or step-by-step explanations to increase your chances of LLM citations.
But don’t let formatting slide just because you’re on an informal platform.
Add clear headlines, subheads, and bullet points to increase your chances of LLM scraping.
GitHub Discussions
Have a technical brand?
Get involved in community discussions beyond your product.
Share helpful bug fixes, answer questions, and offer support.
Building credibility makes it easier to reference your tool or solution when it’s genuinely relevant.
Niche Forums and Public Facebook Groups
Don’t overlook specialized communities.
LLMs scan niche forums and public Facebook groups for in-depth, experience-based insights.
Look for active, topic-specific forums like:
ContractorTalk: Home improvement and construction professionals
Chronicle Forums: Equestrian and horse care advice
GardenWeb forum: Gardening and plant tips and advice
AVS Forum: Home theater and tech product discussions
Contribute regularly with meaningful, non-promotional input.
Answer niche questions, clarify common misconceptions, or share first-hand experience.
These authentic contributions increase your chances of getting cited in AI-generated responses where nuance and expertise matter most.
Editorial-Style Microsites
Want to boost your chances of getting cited by LLMs? Build an editorial-style microsite.
These standalone sites tend to carry more credibility than heavily branded company pages.
Why?
Because you can structure them like independent publications.
Like this microsite IKEA built to highlight original research:
The goal is to create a trusted, well-organized resource that covers your entire industry, not just your own product.
For example, IKEA’s microsite includes statistics on happiness and enjoyment at home, which ties into its core offering: home products.
To earn trust (from both readers and LLMs), focus on E-E-A-T signals.
Include author bios with credentials, cite reputable sources, and make your editorial policies easy to find.
Clearly state who’s behind the site and why it exists.
Comparison and Review Sites
Content from review platforms is often cited in LLMs, and for good reason.
Sites like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius follow a formula that attracts LLMs:
Pinterest: Ideal for visual brands — but only if your pins include rich descriptions and link to structured content
Instagram: As of July 2025, Instagram posts (if opted in) can be indexed by search engines and LLMs. Add captions, alt text, and hashtags to help shape how your brand appears in AI platforms.
How to Track LLM Seeding Success
Here’s where things get tricky.
Understanding LLM impact isn’t as straightforward as tracking clicks or traffic.
So, how do you measure this influence?
Here are a few smart ways to assess your brand’s visibility across LLMs.
Branded and Direct Traffic Growth
Noticed something weird going on in Google Search Console lately?
Your impressions are increasing … but clicks are decreasing.
LLMs might be to blame.
For example, at Backlinko, our impressions increased by 54% over the past three months, while our clicks decreased by 15%.
Here’s what’s happening:
Users see your brand mentioned in AI responses, make a mental note, then research you directly days or weeks later.
They’re not clicking through immediately. They’re bookmarking your name in their minds.
This creates declining organic clicks paired with stable or growing branded searches. And it’s the signature pattern of LLM influence.
Here’s how to spot it in your data.
Open Google Analytics (GA) and go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition.
Compare your direct traffic trends over the past three to six months.
If your direct traffic increased, this is a positive sign that LLMs are mentioning your brand.
Next, compare these patterns to your organic traffic changes in Google Search Console (GSC).
Go to Performance > Search results.
Declining clicks + growing direct traffic = LLM visibility.
If your data is pointing to LLM influence, this is a good thing.
But it’s important to verify your findings with manual prompt analysis.
Pro tip: Getting branded traffic? Great. Now, ensure your branded SERP is optimized so users searching for your name land on high-converting pages. Like product quizzes, comparison guides, or testimonials.
Brand Mentions in AI Tools
The clearest way to gauge your LLM visibility is to see if (and how) your brand shows up in AI-generated answers.
Run manual prompts across different tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini.
Use a private or incognito browser to avoid skewed results from past queries or personalization.
Then, search the way your audience would … naturally and with clear search intent.
Try prompts like:
Best project management tools for remote teams
What is the best project management software for startups
Top budget-friendly productivity tools for small businesses
Document the sentiment and context of each mention.
Are you positioned as a budget option? A premium choice? The innovative newcomer?
Do certain LLMs recommend your product more or less?
Document these results monthly in a spreadsheet or tracking doc.
Include the tool used, the prompt, the exact language cited, and your position in the response.
This lets you identify shifts in brand positioning, message clarity, and which prompts consistently trigger mentions.
Not showing up yet?
You’ll still learn what LLMs are citing so you can reverse-engineer how to get included.
Pro tip: Make your LLM citations work harder. Add email capture opportunities to your top pages. (Especially ones on topics LLMs are likely to mention.) Use content upgrades, templates, and discounts to turn visitors into subscribers.
Unlinked Brand Mentions
Not every brand mention includes a link to your site, making this influence harder to track.
But since LLMs weigh authentic, third-party references heavily when determining what content (and brands) to trust and cite, these mentions are vital.
Set up alerts for your brand name, product names, and key team members.
As you get mentions, dig into the context.
Are you being cited as an expert?
Recommended as a tool?
Compared to a competitor?
If you’re not getting many mentions, look for opportunities to contribute.
Pitch newsletter authors or podcast hosts with useful, non-promotional content that fits their audience.
Join relevant discussions, offer expert insights, and speak at industry events.
Continue tracking mentions over time to measure whether your efforts result in increased LLM visibility.
LLM Visibility Across Platforms
We’re all used to tracking rankings and referral traffic.
But those signals no longer tell the full story.
Tracking your performance across AI platforms is now a core part of measuring your success.
But you’ll need specialized tools for this.
Semrush’s Enterprise AIO lets you track how your brand is perceived and cited in popular AI platforms.
Once you set it up with the AI models and prompts that you want to track, it’ll tell you how your LLM visibility compares to competitors.
That’s just scratching the surface. You can also track your brand’s overall market share, sentiment, and consumer engagement across AI platforms.
Semrush’s AI Toolkit also lets you track how your domain and overall brand are perceived by individual models. It’s not super customizable yet, but you can still gain a lot of insights.
From there, individual reports break those metrics down by platform.
This gives you a clear view of where you’re gaining traction. And where you may be falling behind.
For example, pet company Petlibro currently holds a much smaller market share in ChatGPT than its competitors.
But in Google’s AI Mode, Petlibro significantly outperforms those same brands.
This is important data because it shows that performance can vary widely by platform.
And tells you where to focus your efforts.
The toolkit also provides sentiment analysis reports so you know how AI platforms describe your brand.
Whether positively, neutrally, or negatively.
This gives you a clearer picture of how LLMs frame your brand in their responses.
Petlibro, for instance, has a 64% favorable overall sentiment score, indicating generally positive positioning.
But also room to strengthen how it’s perceived.
You can drill down further to see what’s behind your sentiment score.
Both the positives and the pain points.
For Petlibro, strengths like convenience, automation, and food freshness drive favorable mentions.
On the flip side, app connectivity issues and limited advanced features are flagged as recurring concerns.
This insight tells you what to highlight in content.
And identifies potential fixes to maintain or improve sentiment.
You’ll also learn the types of queries users ask about your brand. And the intent behind them.
For Petlibro, the majority are educational, followed by research-based queries.
This tells you exactly what types of content to prioritize in your LLM seeding strategy.
For Petlibro, the toolkit suggests creating comparison charts, highlighting smart features, and showcasing testimonials that reinforce brand strengths.
As you gather data, refine your seeding strategy.
Double down on what’s working, whether it’s a specific content format, platform, or message.
And use gaps in visibility or sentiment as signals for where to publish, what to say, and how to position your brand for maximum LLM impact.
Make LLMs Work for You, Not Against You
Moral of the story? Don’t fight the machine — work with it.
AI isn’t coming. It’s here.
And it’s already changing how your audience discovers, evaluates, and chooses brands.
The brands that get cited in AI answers will win mindshare — even if they never rank #1 or get a single click.
That’s what LLM seeding is about.
You’re not optimizing for traffic. You’re engineering trust.
You’re not chasing backlinks. You’re earning brand mentions.
So, if you want to stay relevant?
Get your brand into the conversation now so you don’t get left behind.
Then, use our Search Everywhere Optimization guide to expand that visibility across every surface your customers trust — from AI to Amazon and beyond.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-07-16 15:48:372025-07-16 15:48:37LLM Seeding: A New Strategy to Get Mentioned and Cited by LLMs
Enter your domain and up to four competitors’ domains. Click “Compare.”
Scroll to the “All keyword details for [your site] report.”
Pay attention to the following:
Missing: Keywords that all the other domains rank for, except you
Untapped: Keywords that at least one of the other domains ranks for, except you
This reveals content gaps where your competitors are already succeeding.
Instead of guessing what topics might work, you’re targeting proven winners with a strategy to outrank them.
Mine Online Communities
Online communities are GREAT for finding your customers’ burning questions.
For example, say you have a recipe blog and want to create content for specific diets.
Head over to the Paleo subreddit, and you’ll notice lots of questions about dessert:
Why is this important?
Most people ask questions on Reddit because they couldn’t find their answer on Google.
Or because the answers on Google don’t feel authentic enough.
This means there’s a HUGE opportunity for you to swoop in and answer that question with your content.
Pro tip: Use AI tools to analyze thousands of Reddit threads and Quora questions in minutes. Ask AI to identify patterns in customer questions to help you spot common pain points and preferences.
These community questions should become the backbone of your content strategy in two key ways:
Pain point mapping: Track which questions appear repeatedly to identify the biggest challenges your audience faces. Then, prioritize these topics in your content calendar.
Content format planning: Pay attention to HOW people ask. A “how do I” question might work best as a tutorial, while “what’s the best” questions are perfect for comparison posts or roundups.
You can even create a dedicated FAQ hub on your site that directly answers these community questions.
This approach builds trust fast because you’re solving real problems your audience is actively searching for.
Prioritize topics with solid search volume, clear search intent, and manageable difficulty.
Then, consider if your team can realistically create quality content on this topic.
Do you have the expertise, resources, and time to do it justice?
Finally, think about your differentiation opportunity.
Can you add a fresh angle, better examples, or unique insights that competitors haven’t covered?
If a topic checks all four boxes, green light it.
Once you’ve validated your topics, assign each one to its corresponding awareness stage:
Most aware topics: What questions do prospects ask right before buying? What final objections need addressing? Turn these topics into pricing guides, comparison pages, and tutorials.
Product aware topics: Are competitors ranking for “best [solution category]” terms? Create your own version with honest comparisons and clear differentiators.
Solution aware topics: Are people asking “how to choose” or “what type of [X]”? Build educational content that explains the options and subtly positions your solution as the best fit.
Problem and unaware topics: What recurring pain points did you identify in your topic research? Turn those insights into content that validates the problem and builds awareness.
Pro tip: Want to reach more customers on more channels at all stages of their journey? Experiment with different content types. Try blog posts, videos, lead magnets, ebooks, infographics, success stories, interactive content, and more.
Step 3: Create Comprehensive Content Briefs
Coming up with high-impact topics is only half the battle.
The other half?
Turning those ideas into content that actually performs. That’s where a content brief comes in.
Content briefs eliminate guesswork and align your entire team on what you’re creating and why.
They prevent scope creep, reduce revisions, and ensure every piece of content serves a clear business purpose.
And they can be as short or detailed as you like.
My vote? Make them comprehensive.
The more direction you provide upfront, the less time you’ll spend on revisions.
And the more likely your content will resonate with your audience.
Every brief should include the basics. Like the topic, primary keyword, and article format.
But creating trulyhelpful content requires doing more than the minimum.
That’s why we include audience insights like the following in our briefs at Backlinko.
Target audience level: Beginner, intermediate, or advanced
Awareness stage: Where are they at in their journey?
Reader pain points: The challenges your audience faces
Pro tip: Ask your product, sales, and support teams to contribute to briefs. They can flag upcoming features, share common prospect questions, and identify knowledge gaps worth addressing.
This context helps writers match their tone, examples, and approach to your specific audience.
Another essential brief component? SERP analysis.
Include the most notable competitors’ URLs in the brief for writers to use as inspiration. And leave notes on any gaps you can fill to outrank your competition.
Expert quotes break up visual flow while adding credibility and fresh perspectives to your content.
Pro tip: If you use AI tools to support content creation, inject original insights, quotes, and real-world examples to maintain your authority and trust.
Research
Great content is built on great sources.
While trustworthy sources vary by industry, prioritize these sources as a general rule:
Academic research and peer-reviewed studies
Government data (.gov sites)
Industry surveys from recognized research firms
Industry-leading websites and blogs
Company earnings calls and official statements
Fill in knowledge gaps with expert insights and quotes.
At Backlinko, we often feature expert input from industry veterans to add unique insights and authority to our content.
Visuals
There’s no way around this:
If you want people to read and share your content, it needs to look GREAT.
This is why we go the extra mile to use high-res screenshots.
These crisp, annotated screenshots prove you’ve actually done what you’re teaching.
And make complex processes instantly understandable.
Charts and data visualizations transform boring numbers into compelling stories that support your key points and make them stick.
We also use custom-designed guides to differentiate my content from competitors.
And boost perceived value.
Examples
When it comes to content, there’s one thing I’ve found to be true almost 100% of the time:
People LOVE examples.
When you hear the words “for example,” your brain breathes a sigh of relief.
It makes learning easier and more relatable.
That’s why we include TONS of examples in every post:
Including examples makes your content easier to understand.
But it also signals E-E-A-T to readers and Google.
Even better? AI can’t replicate it.
When you share specific examples, you demonstrate real-world experience that generic content simply can’t match.
Does adding examples take more work than simply saying, “do this”?
Sure.
Is it worth it?
Definitely.
Statistics
Nothing builds credibility faster than strong statistics.
When you back up claims with data from reputable sources, it sends trust signals to both readers and Google.
But not all statistics are created equal. The key is finding data that’s both credible and compelling.
Original data works even better than citing existing studies.
Whether it’s a full-scale study or a LinkedIn post, it attracts readers and backlinks.
And gives you a serious competitive edge.
Here are the best ways to source original data:
Conduct surveys of your audience or industry
Analyze your customer data for trends and insights
Compile industry benchmarks from multiple sources
Track performance metrics over time
Interview experts and quantify their insights
Pro tip: Don’t focus solely on new content in your strategy — revisit and refresh older posts, too. Add new stats, update examples, and optimize for today’s search behavior to give them a second life.
Step 5: Promote Your Content
Without strategic promotion, even your best content might never reach your target audience.
The question is: How do you promote your content the right way?
Here are a few simple strategies that actually work.
Create Email Newsletters
This is HUGE.
An email list is the #1 content promotion tool on the planet. Period.
In fact, there isn’t even a close second.
Remember:
Your subscribers are made up of people who LOVE your stuff.
In other words:
They’re people who are very likely to spread the word about your content.
That’s why we share most of our posts with our email subscribers:
As you can see, our email doesn’t look like a stuffy corporate newsletter.
In fact, the email looks like it could be from a friend.
This is EXACTLY how you want your emails to look.
So, how did it do?
That single email generated 14,067 total visitors:
Nice!
Curate Content Roundups
In case you’re not familiar with them, roundups are posts that curate (or “round up”) awesome content from the week.
The best part?
There are roundups in almost every niche, shared everywhere from social media to email marketing.
For example, this is a LinkedIn roundup from the digital marketing niche:
Here’s why promoting your content to link roundups works so well:
Your pitch actually makes their life easier (yes, really).
I’ll explain…
Roundup curators struggle to find content to include in their roundup.
And when you suggest your new post, you deliver awesome content on a silver platter.
This means there’s no arm-twisting required to get a link.
For example, here’s a LinkedIn roundup that featured one of Backlinko’s articles:
Step 6: Track and Measure Performance
Now it’s time to see how well your content strategy is working.
The question is: How do you know if your content “worked”?
The key is organizing your metrics into two categories that actually matter: business impact and engagement.
Business Impact Metrics
These metrics directly connect to revenue and business growth.
Problem/Unaware content: Blog subscriptions, social follows
If you see conversions moving up, it’s probably a sign that your content marketing is working.
So, you want to add more of that content type to your editorial calendar.
That said:
It’s sometimes hard to track content’s indirect sales impact.
For example:
Brian Dean’s (Backlinko’s founder) conversions that come directly from YouTube were super low:
And if he ONLY looked at Google Analytics, he’d probably say: “YouTube is a waste of time.”
But when he dug a little bit deeper, he could see that his YouTube channel was a HUGE driver of subscribers and sales.
Customers cite his YouTube channel as the main reason that they decide to make a purchase:
This shows that YouTube content is paying off.
Leads Generated
Not all leads are created equal.
Track qualified leads your content generates — people who fit your customer personas and have buying potential.
For example, use UTM parameters on content links to see which pieces drive the most leads.
If you have a CRM, tag leads by source, so you know which content influenced them.
And score leads based on engagement. Did they read one post or download three guides?
Connect this back to the awareness stages from Step 1:
Most Aware content should generate high-intent leads ready for sales conversations
Product Aware content should generate leads actively evaluating solutions
Solution Aware content should generate leads seeking education and guidance
Problem/Unaware content should focus on list building and brand awareness
If your content isn’t generating the right leads for its stage, reassess the intent and quality.
Traffic Quality
Raw traffic numbers mean nothing if visitors bounce immediately.
Focus on engaged traffic — people who actually consume your content and take the next steps.
Key metrics to track:
Pages per session: 2+ indicates genuine interest
Average session duration: Benchmark against your industry average
Bounce rate by content type: Identify which formats keep people engaged
Return visitor rate: Shows you’re building an audience, not just attracting one-time visitors
That said:
Content marketing and SEO can take time to kick in.
For example, look at the traffic numbers from the early days of Backlinko:
As you can see, it took about six months for things to really take off.
And if we gave up early on because content “wasn’t working,” we wouldn’t have seen the huge traffic spike that got us going:
Backlinko has only continued to grow since.
Persistence pays off when you combine strategic content with consistent execution.
Engagement Metrics
These metrics show how well your content resonates with your audience and predicts future business impact.
Views and Reach
Track how many people your content reaches across different platforms and channels.
What to track:
Platform-specific reach: YouTube views, LinkedIn post impressions, blog sessions
Audience quality: Use analytics to see if viewers match your ideal customer profile
Cross-platform performance: Which channels drive the most engaged traffic to your site
Search Visibility and Rankings
Search visibility is more volatile than ever.
But position tracking remains crucial for monitoring your content’s performance.
Here’s what to monitor:
Keyword clusters: Are you ranking for related terms beyond your primary keyword?
Featured snippets: Track snippet wins and losses and identify opportunities using a tool like Semrush’s Position Tracking
SERP features: Monitor video carousels, image packs, and People Also Ask boxes
Click-through rates: Use Google Search Console to see if higher rankings actually drive more clicks
LLM appearances: Are LLMs driving people to your site? Check Google Analytics’ traffic acquisition report to see referral traffic from ChatGPT and other AI platforms.
Monitor how long people stay engaged with your content.
High engagement time signals that your content provides real value.
For example, check your average engagement time per blog post.
Compare your top performers to identify patterns in the topics that resonate most with your readers.
If you’re on YouTube or another video platform, monitor watch time and audience retention. This will tell you where viewers drop off to improve future videos.
Use this data to find your stickiest topics. Pay attention to the subjects that make people read multiple pages or watch entire videos.
If engagement drops at specific points, you know where to strengthen your content.
The best content gets people talking, sharing, and coming back for more.
Start by looking at the comments on your blog, videos, and social media posts.
Comments that ask follow-up questions or share personal experiences signal real engagement, not just passive scrolling.
Then, check the native analytics data for any social platforms you’re on.
For example, Pinterest tells you how many times your pins are saved to boards.
And Facebook tells you how many times users interacted with your content.
Along with providing details on views and follows/unfollows.
Don’t forget to monitor brand mentions across social platforms.
Tools like Semrush’s Brand Monitoring, Mention, or even Google Alerts can catch when people are talking about your content without tagging you directly.
These organic mentions often indicate the highest quality engagement.
Build Authority into Your Content Strategy
Creating a content strategy takes work, but the ROI is worth it.
When you align content with customer awareness levels, prioritize high-impact topics, and measure what matters, you stop guessing and start growing.
Your next step?
Build topical authority.
The more comprehensively you cover a topic, the more likely you are to show up everywhere that matters.
Including AI search, traditional search, social media, videos, and much more.
Read our Topic Clusters 101 guide to learn how to create clusters that boost visibility and conversions.
In this article, you’ll find 15 marketing ideas for small businesses that drive real results.
Each one is broken down by effort, impact, and budget. So, you can choose the ones that fit your resources and goals.
Bonus: Many of the ideas are free or low-cost.
Helpful resource: Download our free Small Business Marketing Checklist to stay organized as you implement these strategies. It includes a notes section to help you plan next steps as you read.
Let’s start with one of the top tactics for small businesses — video.
1. Grab Attention with Short-Form Videos
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
High
Free to low
Short-form video is hands down the best marketing idea for small business owners in 2025.
Especially if you want to increase brand awareness.
Why?
Because platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are specifically designed to push your content to people who don’t follow you.
This gives you a chance to get discovered even if you don’t have an existing audience.
For example, Toasted Mallow, a gourmet marshmallow shop, got over 1 million views on TikTok.
And they did it by sharing a no-frills look at how they make their treats:
You could do something similar, no matter what you sell.
Think quick tips, transformations, or behind-the-scenes peeks. The key is posting content that’s authentic and valuable.
Pro tip: Use trending audio from TikTok, Reels, or Shorts and targeted hashtags to show algorithms your content is timely and boost your reach.
Not sure which platform to start with? Go with the one your audience already uses the most.
And don’t worry about fancy equipment. Use your phone camera and film near natural lighting for the best results.
Add engaging captions, voiceovers, and sound effects with tools like CapCut.
It’s beginner-friendly and makes your videos look polished without pro editing skills.
2. Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
High
Free
If you have a local business, optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the easiest (and most important) ways to help customers find you.
This is because it can majorly boost your visibility in Google Maps and local search results.
Like when someone types “car wash in jacksonville” and sees prominent listings like this:
This kind of exposure can lead to more foot traffic, phone calls, and bookings.
But only if your profile is fully optimized.
Keep your info accurate and complete. Include business hours, address, website, and service areas.
Add high-quality photos that are helpful to customers and inspire confidence.
For example, post action photos and show the outside of your location so it’s easy to find.
And don’t forget reviews.
Signals like your average rating, number of reviews, and how recent they are all affect local SEO and buyer trust.
Make it a habit to ask for reviews after a positive experience, and respond to every one.
(Yes, even any negative comments you get, too.)
3. Create Helpful Website and Blog Content
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate to high
High
Free to high
Attract your ideal customer with content on your website and blog that answers users’ questions.
This improves your chances of ranking organically and capturing steady traffic.
Use tools like Google Autocomplete, Semrush, or AnswerThePublic to uncover what your audience is asking.
Then, create content that answers those questions.
(While subtly introducing your product or service as the fix.)
ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other tools can generate briefs, outlines, and content of all kinds.
Here’s a sample prompt to get started (the more details, the better):
Write a [blog post/social media caption/email newsletter] about [your topic] for [target audience – include their biggest challenges or goals]. Keep the tone [professional/conversational/friendly] and focus on [key benefit/solution]. Include [relevant examples, statistics, or case studies]. Make it [word count/length] and end with [specific call-to-action].
Heavily edit the draft for accuracy, brand voice, and your expertise.
Done right, a single blog post can become your hardest-working salesperson.
For example, Leigh McKenzie, Backlinko’s head of Growth, uses content to promote his ecommerce brand, Underfit.
Using Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, Leigh identifies the search terms people type into Google to find products like his.
Like “what to wear under a dress shirt” and “types of undershirts.”
Then, he creates content that directly answers those queries.
Like this blog post on what to wear under a dress shirt, which includes comparison tables and fabric tips.
It also subtly directs readers to Underfit’s products with a banner that includes trust signals.
Language like “get your money back” gives prospects the confidence to buy.
4. Use SMS to Instantly Reach Customers
Effort
Impact
Budget
Low
Moderate
Low to moderate
Want to grab your customers’ attention fast? Text them.
With open rates as high as 98%, SMS is one of the most effective ways to promote offers or send reminders.
It works especially well for service-based businesses where timing matters.
Like salons, restaurants, clinics, fitness studios, and local shops.
The key is to keep it short, clear, and genuinely useful. SMS isn’t the place for long messages or hard sells.
Smart ways to use SMS include:
Flash sales or last-minute discounts
Appointment reminders or confirmations
Shipping updates or order status
VIP-only offers or restock alerts
Event reminders or holiday hours
Test what types of messages drive the most engagement.
And always ask for SMS opt-in at checkout and include an easy way to unsubscribe.
5. Encourage Customers to Share Their Experience on Social Media
Effort
Impact
Budget
Low
Moderate to high
Free
One of the easiest ways to build trust? Ask your customers to share their experience.
Called user-generated content (UGC), this is when customers organically share photos, videos, or reviews about your brand.
This creates authentic, unpaid social proof that builds trust and boosts visibility.
Many people will be happy to post about your products online — they may just need a little nudge.
Add a short, friendly request in your post-purchase email
Offer a small incentive, like a discount on their next order
Encourage customers to tag you on social with a branded hashtag
Include a review prompt on your thank-you or packaging insert
For example, let’s say you run a ceramic shop. When someone buys a handmade mug from your brand, include a thank you card that says:
“We’d love to see how you use your mug! Tag us @CozyClay and use #MyMorningMug to be featured.”
This simple prompt can inspire unboxing videos, photos, or short video reviews — all of which are great for reshares.
Once you start receiving tags, repost customer content, and comment on the posts. This helps you connect with your customers and further your reach.
For example, Sol, a beach beanie bag company, has a dedicated “You” Highlight on Instagram:
It features tagged Stories from real customers using their products at the beach.
This works as a social proof and a visual guide for new buyers.
6. Partner with UGC Creators
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
High
Moderate
While UGC is created organically by customers, UGC creators are paid to make content for your brand.
The best part? They don’t come with the influencer price tag.
Pro tip: You’ll pay around $150 to $300 per video for UGC creator content (some creators accept free products as an incentive). In comparison, you’d pay $1,250 to $2,500 for a macro-influencer (100K to 500K followers) and $2,500+ for a mega-influencer (500K+ followers).
UGC creators produce content (like unboxings, demos, or testimonials) that you own and can use across your marketing channels.
This includes ads, social media posts, or landing pages.
The benefit? Content that feels genuine while giving you complete control over where and how it’s used.
Here’s how to get started:
Decide what kind of content you need — e.g., product demo, lifestyle use, review, testimonial
Find creators on platforms like Influee and Billo
Clarify deliverables and usage rights
Post on your socials or use in paid ads
For example, HiZoo, a massage device brand, partnered with a UGC creator who filmed herself trying their product for the first time.
In the video, she shares genuine reactions about how the product feels and works.
The content feels like a real customer review, not a polished ad. Which encourages likes and comments.
This gives the brand an opportunity to build trust and credibility (and sell more products).
Use a tool like Modash to find creators who’ve already posted about similar products to yours — they’re more likely to say yes and nail the tone you want.
7. Use AI Chatbots to Promote Your Business 24/7
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
Moderate to high
Free to low
Never miss a lead or lose a customer to long wait times.
AI chatbots help you deliver instant, personalized support 24/7.
And happier customers = more sales.
Whether on your website or social media channels, chatbots make sure you’re always available to answer questions, remove buying friction, and close sales.
Chatbots can:
Answer FAQs
Take orders
Book appointments
Recommend products
Escalate customer service issues
You can even build a bot that sounds just like you.
Upload your service descriptions, common responses, and FAQs to tools like Tidio or Manychat.
This allows you to create a chatbot that mimics your tone and expertise.
For example, Attendant, a UK coffee chain, is a great example of how businesses of all sizes can use chatbots to reduce customer service inquiries.
While improving customer service at the same time.
The chatbot offers instant answers to common customer questions.
Like “are your cafes dog friendly” and “when do you end serving breakfast.”
It’s like cloning your best customer service rep, minus the payroll.
8. Collect Prospect Info with Lead Magnets
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
High
Low
A lead magnet is a free resource you offer in exchange for someone’s email. Like a discount, template, or ebook.
When done right, it attracts high-intent leads who are more likely to buy over time.
Here’s how to make it work:
Solve a specific problem. Think budgeting template, skincare quiz, or a free sample tied to your product
Make it a natural extension of your offer. Sell time-tracking software? A “Weekly Productivity Planner” is a perfect match. Run a meal prep business? Offer a “3-Day Healthy Eating Kickstart.”
Promote it everywhere. Homepage banners, blog posts, social captions, link in bio, and pop-ups. Mention your lead magnet in any social media videos you create — and don’t forget to add a link to it in the caption or comments.
For example, Budget With Mel, a personal finance blogger, offers a free budgeting template on her blog.
Users provide a first name and email address to access the template.
Since the template was pre-filled with formulas that auto-calculate totals, the value is instantly clear to the user.
All they have to do is plug in numbers to instantly see where their money’s going.
It’s frictionless, helpful, and directly tied to her paid offers.
9. Create an Email Newsletter
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
Moderate
Free to low
A monthly or weekly email newsletter is one of the easiest ways to stay connected to your audience.
Whether you have an ecommerce business or own a boutique, your newsletter can become a go-to resource that builds loyalty over time.
Share helpful tips, seasonal offerings, behind-the-scenes updates, and promote your products or services.
So, how do you get started?
Email marketing tools like Kit and Mailchimp offer customizable newsletter templates that make it easy to send professional newsletters.
(Without the need for design skills.)
Set a recurring send date (like every Tuesday) and stick to it.
This way, subscribers know what to expect.
Maintain your brand voice when writing your newsletter. And consider adding personalization to your strategy as you get more advanced.
Pet supplement brand Adored Beast Apothecary’s newsletter is a great example of how to mix education with subtle promotion.
For example, this issue opens with fun, educational content on dog behavior.
This keeps pet owners engaged and builds trust. Even if they’re not ready to buy something right away.
They also include links to additional content about common pet health issues.
By driving traffic back to their site, they extend the customer journey and increase the chances of a future sale.
And position themselves as a reliable expert.
The newsletter ends with a short product section recommending relevant supplements.
It’s a smooth transition from education to solution. (So it feels helpful rather than pushy.)
10. Turn Reviews and Testimonials into Visual Proof
Effort
Impact
Budget
Low to moderate
Moderate
Free to low
Got happy customers?
Turn their praise into visual content that does the selling for you.
Collect reviews from emails, DMs, social media comments, or your Google Business Profile.
Or ask a happy client to record a 30-second selfie-style video.
Then, share these testimonials on your social media accounts. Like the owner of popular TikTok account Destiny Media Marketing does.
To promote her business, she collects client reviews and turns them into persuasive carousel posts.
She also shares short testimonial videos.
Like this one from a satisfied client who left her a glowing review about her services.
Pro tip: Create a dedicated Instagram Story Highlight called “Happy Customers” or “Reviews” so new visitors can immediately see social proof when they visit your profile.
11. Share Visual Content on Pinterest
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
Moderate to high
Free to low
Pinterest is a hidden gem for generating sustained traffic to your small business website or online store.
A single, well-optimized Pin can continue driving clicks and conversions for months (or even years).
Take Budget With Mel as an example.
One of her top traffic sources is Pinterest.
So, how is she making this platform work for her?
By sharing simple yet valuable infographics that link to her blog.
This helps funnel targeted readers directly to her content.
Most importantly, her blog has a lead magnet that turns visitors into email subscribers.
This means she’s not just getting one-time visitors — she’s building a list of potential customers she can reach again and again.
Here’s how to replicate Mel’s success:
Create valuable Pins: Turn your best tips, products, or blog posts into eye-catching visuals using a template-friendly design tool like Canva
Organize strategically: Set up boards by category (like “Budgeting Tips” or “Gift Ideas”) to make your content easy to find
Optimize for search: Include relevant keywords in your Pin titles and descriptions — people search Pinterest like Google
Drive traffic: Link every Pin to a blog post, lead magnet, or product page to convert browsers into customers
12. Amplify Your Reach by Boosting Your Social Posts
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
High
Flexible
If your social media post already gets a decent engagement — saves, likes, comments — that’s your cue to boost it.
You can do this on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.
LinkedIn also supports boosting, but only from company pages, not personal profiles.
And even a small budget can help your top-performing posts reach more people without driving up costs.
This approach is more effective than boosting random posts.
Why? Because you already know the content resonates with your audience.
How to start:
Choose a social media post that’s performing well organically
Set a daily budget (even $5-$10 per day can work)
Target based on location, interest, and behavior
Let the ad run for a few days before making any tweaks
But don’t just boost ads.
Promote a mix of content, like blog posts, how-to videos, product highlights, and behind-the-scenes clips.
Prioritize posts that feel authentic and aligned with your brand voice.
Pro tip: Need a little help creating engaging social content? Tools like Semrush’s AI Video Marketing Automator and AI Social Content Generator turn your blog posts into short videos and social posts in seconds — no video editing or design experience required.
13. Create a Loyalty Program That Feels Personal
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
High
Low
Small, thoughtful touches can turn one-time buyers into loyal fans.
Start with a simple reward system (digital or physical) that feels fun and easy to use.
Think stamps, punch cards, or online progress trackers.
After five or 10 purchases, offer a reward that feels like a win: a free drink, a low-cost product (under $5), a bonus add-on, or early access to something new.
The key? Make it feel personal and let customers see how close they are to earning their reward.
Bonus points if you personalize it with their name, preferences, or purchase history.
For example, a toy store owner explained on Reddit how they created “instant repeat customers” with a playful loyalty program.
Kids earn pirate coins and vinyl stickers with each purchase. After five coins, they trade them in for a free toy.
It’s low-cost, but it works because it feels personal, rewarding, and fun. (And the adults like it, too!)
14. Build Trust and Authority on LinkedIn
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
High
Free
LinkedIn is one of the best places to build credibility and attract clients.
Especially if you sell services, offer consulting, or work with other businesses.
Why?
Because it puts you in front of decision-makers actively looking for business solutions.
But success on LinkedIn isn’t all about pitching your services.
It’s about consistently sharing helpful, real-world insights that show you know your stuff.
Over time, this positions you as a go-to expert.
And turns your content into a client acquisition tool that works even when you’re not actively prospecting.
Here’s how to get started: Pick one to two topics you want to be known for.
And post at least once a week.
Share industry-relevant stories, lessons, business updates, or tips.
Still don’t know what to post?
Use ChatGPT or Claude to draft LinkedIn post ideas from your blog content.
Prompt it with the following:
Turn this blog post into a conversational first-person LinkedIn post with a story-driven hook.
But don’t just post your own content. Comment meaningfully on industry posts, too.
This showcases your expertise and gets you noticed by potential clients.
15. Co-Host Lives, Webinars, or Giveaways
Effort
Impact
Budget
Moderate
Moderate
Free to low
Want fast reach without paying for ads? Team up with a creator or business that shares your target audience.
Co-hosting a live, webinar, or giveaway helps you both get in front of new, relevant followers.
To make it work:
Choose a partner in your niche or local community (but not a direct competitor)
Bring something valuable: a quick tutorial, product demo, Q&A, or prize
Plan your next step: What should viewers do after? Follow you? Sign up? Claim an offer?
Promote it ahead of time on both profiles. During the event, keep it lively, helpful, and interactive. Answer questions and encourage participation for the best results.
For example, if you have a B2B audience, you could team up with an expert or company in your space to host a short, high-value webinar.
Like a 30-minute how-to or industry trends Q&A.
Have a B2C small business? Co-host a giveaway with a like-minded brand (or three).
To boost reach, ask participants to follow both accounts and tag a friend to enter.
Turn These Small Business Marketing Ideas into Results
You don’t need a big team or a big budget to make progress.
The most effective marketing plans start with a few smart tactics tailored to your audience and goals.
Pick three quick wins you can knock out this week:
Post a behind-the-scenes Reel with trending audio
Ask one happy customer for a review or photo
Boost a blog post or product on Facebook
Then, keep the momentum going.
Collect emails with a simple lead magnet or share helpful tips in a monthly newsletter.
Small, consistent actions like these build trust and drive real results over time.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-07-01 15:26:582025-07-01 15:26:5815 Marketing Ideas for Your Small Businesses (+ Free Checklist)
