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Is it better to have a business or personal TikTok account? If you’re a brand or influencer making the leap to TikTok, you want to set up your account for success.

Like many, I believe that creators and influencers are business owners, which adds to the confusion about which to use. Both TikTok account types are free, so which is best?

I’ll answer all these questions and more with my definitive guide to TikTok Business vs. Personal.

TikTok for Business vs. Your Personal TikTok

What is a TikTok Business Account?

Advantages of a TikTok Business Account

Disadvantages of a TikTok Business Account

What is a TikTok Personal [aka Creator] Account?

Advantages of a TikTok Personal Account

Disadvantages of a TikTok Personal Account

TikTok for Business vs. Your Personal TikTok

First, let’s start with what makes TikTok great for engagement and the similarities between business and personal TikTok accounts.

There’s a corner for every kind of content on TikTok, whether that’s ParentTok, FashionTok, PrankTok, or BookTok. I come to TikTok to laugh, learn, and discover, making it a plentiful space for creators and brands alike.

All TikTok users can engage followers through short-form video posts, stories, and going LIVE. Both business and personal accounts allow you to get verified, promote posts, and use the Branded Content Toggle.

That’s about where the similarities end.

TikTok business is designed for brands to launch campaigns and engage with audiences at scale, while TikTok personal is created with individual users and creators in mind.

Here is a breakdown of the feature differences between business and personal accounts, plus a deep dive into the benefits and limitations of each one:

What is a TikTok Business Account?

A TikTok business account enables brands to share content, build and engage an audience, and sell online. TikTok business accounts come with additional tools for team access and collaboration, like Business Center and Ads Manager.

Advantages of a TikTok Business Account

What makes this mode great? TikTok designed business accounts for teams wanting to reach audiences and run campaigns on TikTok strategically. Here’s what you can do with a business account.

1. Personalize your profile.

A business account lets you add much more detail to your profile, including a website, industry, support email, and custom action buttons like “Sign up.”

Melissa Laurie, Founder of social media agency Oysterly, claims this is one of the features she loves the most for her business.

2. Run ad campaigns.

While personal accounts can promote posts, there’s no way to run strategic campaigns in that mode.

With a business account, you have access to TikTok Ad Manager, a command center for running video campaigns and analyzing your campaign performance.

You can draw inspiration from Business Creative Hub to create timely, engaging content.

3. Engage customers.

Business accounts let you run your business and communicate with customers in ways you are used to engaging as a brand on Facebook and Instagram.

For one, you have unlimited abilities to message any user on TikTok, which isn’t available in personal mode.

You can collect leads in videos and other content, making it a valuable sales tool and easier to organize for follow-up. You can also set up auto-messaging for when you aren’t online.

4. Collaborate across teams.

If you have more than one person planning or posting content, you likely need a business account. TikTok Business Center lets you manage team and agency access and collaborate with creators.

Here’s a very important distinction: TikTok business is also the only account type you can integrate with third-party social media management apps.

So, if you’re used to using Hootsuite, Buffer, HubSpot, or any other app to schedule and manage your content, you can’t do it on a personal account. As a former corporate social media manager, this would be a dealbreaker for me.

5. Sell online.

Did you know 70% of TikTok users discover new brands and products on TikTok, and three-quarters of users are likely to buy something while using the app?

Shoppable commerce is already huge in Asia and will be the next big thing in the rest of the world. With a business account, you can set up your own TikTok Shop for users to buy without ever leaving the app.

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Kate Ross, hair and beauty specialist for beauty brand Irresistible Me, notes that a business account is best for brands.

“It’s packed with features for businesses like putting your website link right on your profile, using TikTok’s ad tools, and choosing music you’re allowed to use without worrying about copyright issues,” Ross says. You also get amazing tools for understanding who’s watching and interacting with your content.”

Disadvantages of a TikTok Business Account

While TikTok business accounts are beneficial for brands, they have a few glaring cons. Let’s get them out in the open.

1. Limited Sound and Music Options

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What would TikTok videos be without the music?

Since TikTok considers business accounts to be using music for commercial use, a major downside is that you can’t use trending songs in your content.

Instead, you have to use royalty-free (aka stock) songs from their Commercial Music Library. You also can’t use stitch or duet options for music.

While they’ve worked to improve the music available in the library, it just isn’t the same as being able to hop on any music trend that comes your way. On the upside, though, you don’t have to worry about any copyright infringement.

2. No Ability to Monetize Content

While you can make money from the products and services you sell through TikTok engagement, there’s no way to monetize the content itself from a business account.

That means that you can’t participate in programs like Creator Fund, LIVE gifts and Diamonds, or Tips. You need a personal account to make money on TikTok.

What is a TikTok Personal [aka Creator] Account?

That brings us to a TikTok personal account, previously known as a creator account. A creator account is an account for individual users and creators.

If you are an individual user wanting to use TikTok for simply personal use, this is where you should be. Personal accounts also offer many tools and ways for you to monetize your content as a creator.

Advantages of a TikTok Personal Account

TikTok personal accounts are the top choice for musicians, artists, and influencers. Here’s why.

1. Use trending music.

With a creator account, you have access to TikTok’s full library of music and sounds, letting you jump on the latest music video trends.

2. Keep your profile private.

If you want to use TikTok for individual use and only post content for friends or select groups, you need a personal account. Business accounts don’t have a private mode — for privacy, personal is best.

2. Make money on TikTok.

As a creator, the absolute best benefit of a personal account is the ability to make money from your content. Many creators have successfully built a business this way.

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Here’s how it works: Creators make videos that they hope will go viral. When videos do well, creators earn money in a few ways:

1. Earn Tips of up to $100 from fans.
2. Receive LIVE gifts and diamonds directly from fans, which can be converted to cash rewards.
3. Participate in the Creator Fund or Creativity Program Beta, which pay you out of a general fund based on the performance of your content (don’t miss our breakdown between the two).
4. Set up Series, a service where users pay a subscription for premium content.

3. Collaborate with brands.

As a creator, you connect with brands and run influencer campaigns with brands through the Creator Marketplace. When you share products you love, you can also earn affiliate compensation from attributed sales on TikTok Shop.

Disadvantages of a TikTok Personal Account

While TikTok personal offers great incentives, there are a few frustrating limitations.

1. Limited Analytics

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With a personal account, your analytics are more basic than a business account. You can view key video metrics like post views, profile views, comments, and more.

There is also follower analytics showing you your viewers’ average age, gender, and geography.

While these metrics are available in-app, you can’t download them or run your own analytics through a social media management platform from a personal account.

2. Limited Commerce Abilities

As a creator, your ability to sell directly and drive viewers to websites outside of TikTok is severely limited. You can’t include a link in your profile until you have over 1,000 followers, for instance.

You also can’t set up custom call-to-action buttons in your videos.

As a creator, you can use TikTok Shop to promote shoppable videos and earn as an affiliate, but you can’t set up a shop for your own merchandise, for example, without a business account.

So, what’s best?

Is it better to have a business or personal TikTok account? I’ve got a definitive answer for you.

First, you need to decide your goal on TikTok: making money within the platform or building an audience for a business outside of it.

If your goal is to monetize content, a personal account is the absolute best choice. Artists and individual content creators benefit from TikTok’s tools to help them build a personal brand and content business.

Plus, you can’t beat the authenticity that comes with a personal account over a faceless brand.

“If you’re an influencer on TikTok, stick with a creator (now called personal) account,” advises Ross. “It lets you use all the trendy songs and sounds, plus you can interact with other videos through duets or stitches.”

Beyond that, Ross notes that you get to see how well your videos are doing with analytics. You can push certain videos more with promotions and even earn money through the TikTok Creator Fund.

But, for businesses with ad budgets and teams, where TikTok is just one part of a multichannel marketing strategy, you need a business account.

“A business account is the way to go if you’re a TikTok brand,” explains Diana Zheng, head of marketing at Stallion Express. “A business account allows you to take advantage of TikTok’s full marketing capabilities.”

Zheng notes that you’ll get access to powerful analytics enabling you to tailor your content strategy and track your performance.

“Plus, with features such as TikTok Ads Manager, you can target ads and promote your brand in a way that drives engagement and conversions,” Zheng says.

Fortunately, it’s easy to switch back and forth between TikTok business and personal modes, so you aren’t locked into your decision forever.

If you make a mistake or scale your business to the point where you need to switch from personal to business — you can switch with a single tap.

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Simplify growth with an all-in-one platform. Powerful marketing, sales, and support automation. Integrated CMS. Scalable software. Crafted for customer experience.

Every marketing team is challenged to do more with less — especially nonprofit organizations. Often, resources are tight, and teams are small. Sound like your organization?

We want to help. That’s why we created this nonprofit marketing guide. Your organization might not operate for profit, but it can still get value from the traffic, funds, and awareness marketing brings in.

Bookmark this guide for later and use the chapter links below to jump around to sections of interest.

Inbound Marketing for Nonprofits

Your nonprofit organization likely takes up all of your time, and building a marketing plan might seem like an added responsibility that’s just not worth it.

We’re here to convince you otherwise. Inbound marketing is all about creating valuable experiences that positively impact people and your business.

Inbound marketing for nonprofits can help you attract new supporters for your cause, connect to valuable donors, engage your constituents, and inspire your community.

Boost your organization’s awareness and compel action. See firsthand how HubSpot can transform your nonprofit organization.

Here’s how else nonprofit marketing can help.

Nonprofit marketing raises awareness.

Your nonprofit organization is a brand. Therefore you need to raise awareness just like any other business or company. Marketing raises awareness, and brand awareness spreads the word about your organization and your overall cause.

Nonprofit marketing raises funds.

Nonprofit marketing and nonprofit fundraising go hand-in-hand. The more people know about your organization, the more potential funding you can bring in.

Nonprofit marketing drives donor memberships and recurring donations.

Many nonprofit organizations offer donation memberships and monthly giving programs, like this one from charity: Water. These programs are valuable because your organization doesn’t have to fundraise so actively and often. Also, they can actually help you raise more money — the average monthly online donation is $52 ($624 per year) compared to the average one-time gift of $128.

Marketing your nonprofit gets your cause in front of fresh eyes and informs your donors about how they can consistently contribute.

Nonprofit marketing recruits volunteers.

Nonprofit marketing isn’t just for funding. It also drives manpower (and woman-power!) to your organization. Regardless of industry or size, all nonprofits benefit from volunteers, and marketing your organization can help bring in new hands.

Moreover, volunteers are twice as likely to donate as non-volunteers.

Nonprofit marketing promotes your services.

Awareness, funding, and volunteers are integral to your nonprofit, but what about the purpose of your organization? What about the people, animals, or cause you’re helping? Marketing can help with that, too.

The more people who know about your nonprofit organization, the more people you can help.

These are just a handful of reasons you should invest in your nonprofit’s marketing strategy (particularly inbound marketing). Now, let’s discuss how to build a nonprofit marketing plan so you can start bringing in new funds, volunteers, and constituents.

Nonprofit Marketing Plan Template

Download your free nonprofit marketing plan template.

Hubspot’s nonprofit marketing plan template can help you organize your nonprofit’s budget, team structure, and channels of choice to create your marketing strategy.

The nonprofit marketing plan template includes sections for developing your nonprofit’s summary, business initiatives, target market, marketing strategy, budget, marketing channels, and marketing technology.

Our nonprofit marketing plan template can help you:

• Complete a SWOT analysis for your organization.
• Develop a marketing strategy.
• Determine the industries and personas of your target donors.

Crafting a nonprofit marketing plan might not be too different from a for-profit marketing plan, but debatably, it’s more important. Increasing awareness and constituent engagement without exhausting your hardworking team requires approaching your marketing systematically.

That’s where a nonprofit marketing plan comes into play. Putting systems in place to produce and distribute your marketing content allows you to focus on operating and scaling your nonprofit.

Here’s how to create a successful nonprofit marketing plan.

1. Define your marketing goals.

Your nonprofit marketing plan exists to transform your organization’s mission and big-picture objectives into strategic, actionable goals.

For example, let’s say one of your objectives was to protect the welfare of animals in your community (like one of my favorite local rescues, ALIVE Rescue). I’d ask you to brainstorm three to five marketing ideas to advance that objective.

Some ways you could use marketing to advance that objective include:

• Creating and publishing content that educates your community on the state of animal welfare.
• Posting on social media about your organization and the animals you have for adoption.
• Sending a weekly email newsletter sharing your content, adoptable animals, and volunteer needs.
• Hosting a quarterly event with educational resources, foster training, and adoption opportunities.

Next, I’d ask you to turn these ideas into SMART goals. Let’s use idea number one as an example:

SMART Goal: By the start of next month, our blog will see a 15% boost in traffic by increasing our content production from two posts per month to one post per week. This increase will boost awareness of our organization, educate the community, and alert more people of our adoption opportunities — thus, saving more animals and bringing in more funding.

See how I turned the organizational mission into a marketing objective and a SMART goal? SMART goals are especially important when it comes time to analyze and measure your marketing performance (which we will talk about later), so be sure to finish this step before moving forward in your nonprofit marketing plan.

2. Understand your audiences.

Nonprofit marketing is different from other types of marketing because your organization is likely targeting multiple groups: constituents, customers, volunteers, and donors.

It’s imperative to define and understand each of these audiences (a.k.a. buyer personas) because your marketing will differ based on who you’re talking to. (We’ll get into key messaging next.)

For example, following our animal shelter example from above, an email targeting donors will have different messaging than an email calling for volunteers.

One easy way to organize your different audiences is using a CRM to segment the different groups. By separating contacts with tags and lists, you can easily send marketing messages to the appropriate groups.

3. Craft Your Key Messages

Key messages encompass the information you want your audiences to hear, remember, and share about your nonprofit organization. Crafting these before you employ your marketing is important for a few reasons:

• Key messages keep your organization aligned. No matter who’s doing the marketing, you can be confident the same thing is being said and promoted.
• Key messages simplify your marketing. With these created ahead of time, you already know what you will say in your marketing messaging.
• Key messages help organize your different audiences (as discussed above). As a nonprofit organization, you’re likely talking to donors, volunteers, constituents, and your community — more personas than a typical for-profit business. Developing key messages for each audience informs your team and your marketing to make sure you’re targeting the right groups.

Continuing with our animal shelter example, here’s a look at how you can craft a key message for different audiences.

Key message: We protect the welfare of animals in our community through education, adoption and fostering, and animal advocacy.

• For adoption customers/constituents: By adopting or fostering, or by alerting us of animals in need, you can help us protect the welfare of animals in our community.
• For volunteers: We protect the welfare of animals through round-the-clock animal care and advocacy.
• For donors: You can help us protect the welfare of animals by donating to support animal care, advocacy, and adoption promotion.

All of these key messages have the same purpose and undertone, but they vary slightly depending on your audience. Together with your nonprofit organization’s mission, vision, and goals, these messages will help effectively communicate and market your organization’s needs and purpose.

4. Choose, plan, and create your marketing strategies.

Many marketers jump right to this step — creating and publishing various marketing tactics. Marketing encompasses much more than an advertisement, blog post, or event. To execute successfully, you must complete all the steps before this.

Now that you’ve established your goals (what you want), your key messages (what you’re going to say), and your audience (who you’re going to say it to), you can determine your marketing tactics (how you’re going to say it).

Marketing tactics refer to channels like email marketing, social media, events, and more. We’ve dedicated an entire section to these marketing strategies. Read about them in detail below.

Regardless of which tactic you choose, be sure to conduct thorough planning before and as you execute it. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you prepare:

• What will you do with this marketing tactic?
• When will these marketing activities take place?
• Why is this tactic important?
• Who will be responsible for these activities?
• How much do we plan to spend?
• How does this tie to our organization’s marketing goals?

Tactical planning is an integral part of your overall nonprofit marketing plan. How you approach your marketing strategies and how they impact your organization is just as important as how you execute them.

Before you hit the ground running on any of these strategies, be sure your team has a solid game plan and a full understanding of it.

Featured Resource: Free Marketing Plan Template

Download for Free

5. Analyze your marketing performance.

Your marketing probably won’t perform perfectly from the get-go. That’s OK. Routine reporting and analysis help you figure out what’s working and what you need to change.

As you choose and establish your marketing channels, pay attention to their measurable performance indicators. Here’s a list of examples from our list of marketing strategies below:

Remember the goals you defined in step one? Measuring your marketing performance is essential to stay aligned with those goals.

You can track these performance indicators using tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, and the analytics tools built into Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.

If you know what you want to measure before you start marketing your nonprofit, you’ll know exactly what to look for — and how to determine success and impact — when your marketing is in play.

You’ve created your nonprofit marketing plan. Now, let’s talk about executing that plan with actionable marketing strategies.

Many of these nonprofit marketing strategies will overlap, like sharing your blog content on social media or releasing an event invite over email. These methods can and should be used in tandem, but we recommend introducing each strategy slowly, so your team doesn’t overwhelm itself.

In fact, we recognize that your nonprofit is likely operating with a small (but agile) marketing team. For this reason, throughout these sections, we’ll recommend tips for doing more with less. Ultimately, though, don’t hesitate to outsource your nonprofit marketing where needed.

Nonprofit Email Marketing

You might be using email sporadically to call for volunteers or confirm an online donation, but that’s not enough. Email marketing for nonprofits is a highly effective marketing resource. Why? It’s personal and powerful.

Here are a few ways to leverage email marketing to reach all of your audiences:

• Send a weekly newsletter with your newest content, updates about your organization, industry data, and volunteer needs.
• Send monthly emails with donation needs and opportunities.
• Set up an email sequence for new subscribers, thanking them for joining and educating them on your organization.
• Set up an email sequence for new donors, thanking them for their contribution and sharing how else they can support your organization.

Also, don’t forget to put information on your website about how to subscribe to your email list. Nonprofit organization, Acumen, does a great job of this by putting subscription opportunities on its homepage and in its main menu.

👉🏼Nonprofit marketing tip: Automate as much as possible. Email marketing automation (like HubSpot) saves precious time and energy for your team and can be the key to growing your email list, donations, and memberships. You can also automate an email sequence triggered by website visitor behavior indicating a high level of interest, such as downloading educational content.

Nonprofit Event Marketing

Event marketing is one of the most effective (and enjoyable) ways to grow awareness of your organization, connect with your community, raise funds, and garner support for your cause.

PAWS, which stands for Pets Are Worth Saving, is another local animal rescue I’m a fan of. They hold a PAWS 5K race every summer to raise awareness and funding for the organization.

This type of event is impactful for multiple reasons:

1. It inspires competition and physical activity. Runners raise money for the organization and participate in the run.
2. It brings people in the community together to celebrate the organization and bring awareness to the PAWS cause.
3. It provides PAWS a channel to promote their services and adoptable pets.
4. It’s fun to attend and be a part of! Many people go to the event to support runners, play with dogs, and simply be a part of the fun, all while supporting and sharing PAWS.

From fundraisers to auctions to competitions, you can organize many different kinds of events to market your nonprofit organization.

Nonprofit Video Marketing

Whether they’re consuming content for work, school, or fun, people prefer video content. As a nonprofit organization, video marketing is a surefire way to garner interest and support from all of your audiences.

Here are a few reasons video can help you market your nonprofit:

1. Video is visual. We process visual content 60,000 times faster than written content. We also remember more content longer.
2. Video is personal. It inspires empathy and emotions, which can’t be said about other types of marketing.
3. Video is educational. Many organizations need to educate their communities on their causes in order to garner attention and funding. Video can help you do that.
4. Video is shareable. 92% of consumers on mobile will share videos with others. Consumers love sharing videos, especially those that inspire and resonate with them.
5. Video is interesting. 60% of people report that video is a media they consume thoroughly. Keep your visitors, followers, and supporters engaged and interested using video.

The Girl Effect, a nonprofit that works to empower girls worldwide, is a great example of video marketing. The organization’s homepage is a video that captures visitors’ attention right away. Moreover, when you click “See more,” the site opens an informative video telling you all about The Girl Effect.

Nonprofit Social Media Marketing

Social media is a highly popular marketing strategy among nonprofits. Not only is it free, but it also provides an avenue for organizations to show their brand personalities and engage with their followers and supporters.

Here are some ways to use social media for your nonprofit marketing, as inspired by a HubSpot study of 9,000 nonprofits:

• Share news about your organization and cause
• Boost brand awareness and recognition
• Fundraise
• Recruit volunteers and employees
• Recognize donors, employees, and volunteers

Don’t forget to use the key messaging you crafted in your nonprofit marketing plan to keep your social media posts consistent and targeted. Also, make the most of each platform to promote your organization, such as the Donate button on Facebook.

HubSpot customer, FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a nonprofit organization that works to advance STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education among children.

FIRST makes use of social media in many different ways, such as using Facebook to post videos, news, fundraisers, and reviews, as well as making use of the Donate button. The organization has amassed almost 100,000 followers.

👉🏼Nonprofit marketing tip: Curate content from volunteers, customers, supporters, event attendees, and donors. Implementing a user-generated content (UGC) campaign lessens your workload and acts as strong social proof. To enact your UGC campaign, put out a call for constituent stories, images, and videos. Create a hashtag that people can use to alert you of new UGC.

Also, let curation tools work for you. Use Google Alerts and social monitoring tools to alert you when your organization, hashtags, or relevant topics or keywords are mentioned. This provides opportunities to source UGC, get inspiration for new topic ideas, and participate in relevant conversations.

Nonprofit Website

Every nonprofit organization should have a website, which can be created on a CMS such as Content Hub or WordPress. A website serves as a digital home base for your organization and includes critical information — what you stand for and how visitors can participate and help.

Your website also houses important assets like your blog, social media streams, event information, videos, and the rest of your marketing strategies. Lastly, your website serves as a way to intrigue, inspire, and engage your audiences.

Nonprofit organization (and HubSpot customer), American Nursing Association (ANA), is an example of an organization with an outstanding nonprofit website. The site clarifies the ANA mission, shares news and educational content, and informs visitors how to get involved through memberships, events, certifications, or donations.

Nonprofit Public Speaking

People buy into other people, not products. The same can be said about nonprofit organizations. If consumers believe in the people behind your organization, they’re likely to buy into your cause and donate money or time.

Public speaking is one of the best ways for consumers to get to know your leadership team, not to mention spread the word about your cause and organization. Whether you speak at a local event of 100 people or a multi-day conference with thousands, the impact is the same: telling a powerful story to real people who may not yet know about your cause.

Scott Harrison, the founder of charity: water, spoke at INBOUND. While he shared information about the conception and organization of the nonprofit, he mostly talked about the people that his organization helps and how the audience can support the mission. Harrison not only moved an audience of thousands but also effectively marketed the charity: water purpose and brand.

Nonprofit Content Marketing

Content marketing and blogging are valuable marketing assets for any nonprofit organization. Here’s why:

• Content educates your audiences about your mission, cause, and industry news and trends.
• Content (and SEO) bring in new visitors, subscribers, donors, and leads.
• Content is shareable and serves as free PR among your audiences.
• Content can be repurposed and made into different types of media, saving your marketing team precious time and energy.

Creating a nonprofit marketing blog isn’t always easy. Teams are short-staffed, budgets are low, and time is precious. Thankfully, there are many ways around those blogging challenges, such as sourcing story ideas from volunteers, donors, and customers and implementing an editorial calendar so you can plan ahead.

One of my very favorite nonprofit organizations is called Blurt Foundation. This UK-based organization exists to increase awareness and understanding of depression and support those who struggle with it. There are many misconceptions and misunderstandings about depression, so Blurt Foundation uses its blog content and other content resources to educate constituents and supporters. It also incorporates these content assets into its emails, social media posts, and online store.

👉🏼Nonprofit marketing tip: Save time and resources by repurposing your content. It’s an appreciating asset you can reuse and re-promote repeatedly. Repurposing content to create new marketing assets costs far less than creating entirely new content.

Outline all the ways you could repurpose the content you produce. For example, you could create the following list for your blog content:

• Short versions of posts for use in emails or newsletters with links back to full posts.
• Groups of related posts for report
• Two to three visuals images to share on social
• Infographics with post information
• Reaction pieces to the original post

Since you’re not going to promote and distribute each piece of repurposed content immediately, your content pipeline is never empty.

Check out HubSpot’s free nonprofit content today.

Nonprofit Digital Marketing

You can market your nonprofit using search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM). SEO is the process of optimizing your nonprofit’s content to get traffic from organic search results. On the other hand, SEM is the process of getting traffic and visibility from both organic and paid search.

Nonprofits can use keywords in their blogs, videos, podcasts, and other digital content to improve their search engine rankings.

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The American Red Cross uses many forms of digital content in its marketing, including YouTube videos. The organization uses keywords to help search engines rank the content for SEO and help their audience find their content through organic search. For example, the above video uses the keywords “red cross” and “disaster” in its description to rank in search engine results.

Nonprofits can leverage search engine marketing to increase their contributions through search engine ads.

Google’s Ad Grants program gives nonprofits grants of up to $10,000 per month to advertise their organizations. Many nonprofits — including DonorsChoose.org, We Care Animal Rescue, and SOS Children’s Villages — use Google Ad Grants to attract donations, drive awareness, and recruit volunteers.

Strengthen Your Marketing, Promote Your Cause

Raise your hand if your organization has to constantly do more with less. 👋🏼

If that sounds like your organization, we recommend you use this guide to build a nonprofit marketing plan ASAP. Your organization might not operate for profit, but it can still gain value from the traffic, funds, and awareness that systematic marketing brings in.

These activities and strategies will help promote your organization and take a valuable load off your team’s and volunteers’ backs, freeing them to dedicate more time to your cause and constituents.

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

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Simplify growth with an all-in-one platform. Powerful marketing, sales, and support automation. Integrated CMS. Scalable software. Crafted for customer experience.

Have you ever noticed that telemarketers have a way of calling at the worst possible time? Say, right when you’re about to sit down and enjoy dinner? I used to get these pesky dinnertime calls all the time.

Not only were they frustrating, but they never seemed successful for the companies trying to drum up leads (at least at my house).

Well, I’m here to tell you that the days of these dinnertime cold calls are long over.

In this post, we’ll talk best practices for inbound lead generation that are effective, strategic, and don’t ruin anyone’s dinner.

First, we’ll start with defining a lead, and then we’ll cover what online lead generation is, and why you need it. Next, we’ll go into how to qualify someone as a lead, how to label lead types, how you generate leads, and why inbound lead generation is much more effective than simply buying leads.

What is a lead?

A lead is any person who indicates interest in a company’s product or service.

Leads typically hear from a business or organization after opening communication (by submitting personal information for an offer, trial, or subscription), instead of getting a random cold call from someone who purchased their contact information.

Let’s say you take an online survey to learn more about how to take care of your car. A day or so later, you receive an email from the auto company that created the survey. This process is far less intrusive than if they’d just called you out of the blue.

From a business perspective, the information the auto company collects about you from your survey responses helps them personalize that opening communication to address your existing problems.

Leads are part of the lifecycle of transitioning visitors to customers. Not all leads are the same. There are different types of leads based on how they are qualified and what lifecycle stage they’re in.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

Marketing qualified leads are contacts who have engaged with your marketing team’s efforts but aren’t ready to receive a sales call. An example of an MQL is a contact who fills out a landing page form for an offer.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

Sales qualified leads are contacts who’ve taken actions that expressly indicate their interest in becoming paying customers. An example of an SQL is a contact who fills out a form to ask a question about your product or service.

Product Qualified Lead (PQL)

Product qualified leads are contacts who’ve used your product and taken actions that indicate interest in becoming a paying customer. PQLs typically exist for companies who offer a product trial or a free or limited version of their product with options to upgrade.

An example of a PQL is a customer who uses your free version but asks about paid features.

Service Qualified Lead

Service qualified leads are contacts or customers who’ve indicated to your service team that they’re interested in becoming paying customers.

For example, a customer could tell their customer service representative that they’d like to upgrade their product subscription. At this time, the customer service representative would up-level this customer to the appropriate sales team or representative.

These lead generators are just a few examples of lead generation strategies you can use to attract potential customers and guide them toward your offers.

Whenever someone outside the marketing world asks me what I do, I can’t simply say, “I create content for lead generation.” I’d get some really confused looks.

So instead, I say, “I work on finding unique ways to attract people to my business. I want to provide them with enough goodies to get them interested in my company so they eventually warm up to the brand and want to hear from us!”

That usually resonates better, and that’s exactly what lead generation is: It’s a way of warming up potential customers to your business. This gets them on the path to eventually making a purchase.

Why do you need lead generation?

When someone shows an organic interest in your business, the transition from stranger to customer is much more natural. You enhance this transition through inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is a methodology to attract loyal customers to your business by aligning with your target audience’s needs.

Creating tailored marketing experiences through valuable content is the core of an inbound marketing strategy that helps you drive customer engagement and growth.

Lead generation falls within the second stage of the inbound marketing methodology. It occurs after you’ve attracted an audience and are ready to convert those visitors into leads for your sales team.

As you can see in the diagram below, generating leads is a fundamental starting point in an individual’s journey to becoming a delighted customer.

The Lead Generation Process

Now that we understand how lead generation fits into the inbound marketing methodology, let’s walk through the steps of the lead generation process.

1. First, a visitor discovers your business through one of your marketing channels, such as your website, blog, or social media.
2. That visitor then clicks on your call-to-action (CTA) — an image, button, or message that encourages website visitors to take some sort of action.
3. That CTA takes your visitor to a landing page, which is a web page designed to capture lead information in exchange for an offer.
4. Once on the landing page, your visitor fills out a form in exchange for the offer. Voila! You have a new lead. That is, as long as you follow lead-capture best practices.

Note: An offer is the content or resource that’s being promoted on the landing page, like an ebook, a course, or a template. The offer must have enough value for a visitor to provide their personal information in exchange for access to it.

See how everything fits together?

To sum it up: A visitor clicks a CTA that takes them to a landing page where they fill out a form to get an offer, at which point they become a lead.

By the way, you should check out our free lead generation tool. It helps you create lead capture forms directly on your website. Plus, it’s easy to set up.

How to Generate Leads

Once you put all of these elements together, you can use your various promotional channels to drive traffic to your landing page to start generating leads.

But what channels should you use to promote your landing page? Let’s talk about the front end of lead generation — lead gen marketing.

If you’re wondering how to generate leads in digital marketing specifically, it’s time to analyze your existing online channels and identify opportunities for conversion. This can include everything from your website to your organic and paid social media presence.

If you’re a visual learner, this chart shows the flow from promotional marketing channels to a generated lead. There are even more channels you can use to get visitors to become leads. We’ll discuss the most impactful below.

1. Create compelling content.

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Content — and its trusty companion, SEO — are often the go-to methods businesses use to generate leads. And for good reason, too! According to HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing Report, 16% of marketers say that the content-and-SEO combo resulted in the best ROI this year.

Ryan Robinson, the founder and CEO of RightBlogger explains that content marketing and SEO “allow you to attract leads who are already interested in what you offer, rather than interrupting people with disruptive ads and promotions.”

Content is a great way to guide users to a landing page. Typically, you create content to provide visitors with useful, free information. You can include CTAs anywhere in your content — inline, at the bottom of the post, in the hero section, or even on the side panel.

Robinson shared an anecdote with me to illustrate just how powerful content and SEO can be for generating leads.

“I vividly remember one client who initially found us after reading a blog post … That post showed him how AI writing assistants could streamline his process while still allowing for human oversight and quality control. A few weeks later, he signed up for one of our AI writing packages,” Robinson recalls.

In other words, the more delighted visitors are with your content, the more likely they are to click your CTA and move onto your landing page.

Featured Resource: HubSpot Ebook Templates

2. Send regular emails.

Email is a great place to reach people who already know your brand, product, or service. It’s much easier to ask them to take action since they’ve previously subscribed to your list.

Noel Griffith, the CMO at SupplyGem, knows all about using email marketing for lead generation. Griffith explains that within a few months of launching a new email newsletter, “it became the top source of new leads for our business.”

He says that “by consistently providing helpful information for free, we were able to build strong relationships… When the time came for them to make a purchase or renewal decision, we were the first ones they thought of.”

Pro tip: When writing emails, use CTAs with compelling copy and an eye-catching design to grab your subscriber’s attention.

Featured resource: The Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing

3. Use social media.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (previously Twitter), and LinkedIn are powerful tools for reaching potential leads directly.

These platforms make it easy to guide your followers to take action, from the swipe-up option on Instagram stories to Facebook bio links to URLs on X.

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You can also promote your offerings on social media and include a CTA in your caption. Learn more about social media campaigns in this post.

While you can organically build an audience on social media, these platforms also allow you to run paid ads that help you build brand awareness and generate leads in a shorter period of time.

Jason Hunt, the co-founder and CMO at Merged Media, shares that “the real power of social media advertising lies in its ability to segment audiences very precisely and test different messages to see which performs best. This approach … ensures that the message is being seen by a highly relevant audience, increasing the chances of turning those individuals into leads.”

Pro tip: If you want people who see your ads to convert, be sure that your landing page and offer match exactly what is promised in the ad and that the action you want users to take is crystal clear.

If you need help with your email and ad campaigns, check out HubSpot’s Campaign Assistant, a free AI-powered tool that can help you create landing page copy, email copy, and paid ads copy for your marketing campaigns.

4. Write informative blog posts.

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The great thing about using your blog posts to promote an offer is that you can tailor the entire piece to the end goal.

Suppose your offer is an instructional video on setting up Google Search Console. In that case, you can write a blog post about selecting your marketing metrics, making your CTA highly relevant and easy to click.

For a quick overview, check out our video guide.

Not sure what to write about? Use HubSpot’s Blog Idea Generator to brainstorm blog post ideas, create a blog outline, write your first draft, and publish to your website.

Featured resource: 6 Free Blog Post Templates

5. Offer product trials.

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You can break down many sales barriers by offering trials of your product or service. Once a prospect uses your product, you can entice them with additional offers or resources to encourage them to buy.

Another best practice is to include your branding in your free versions so you can capture other potential customers, too.

6. Ask for referrals.

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Referral, or word-of-mouth marketing, is helpful for lead generation in a different way. It gets your brand in front of more people, increasing your chances of generating more leads.

According to Daniel Nyquist, the CMO at Crosslist, referral marketing is effective because you’re asking satisfied customers to refer you to their network.

Nyquist says that once he implemented a referral program to reward existing clients, “within 6 months, referrals accounted for over 40% of new business.” Nyquist says that, “The key is building genuine relationships and delivering exceptional value so people are eager to tell others about you.”

Whatever channel you use to generate leads, you’ll want to guide users to your landing page. As long as you’ve built a landing page that converts, the rest will handle itself.

7. Organize industry events.

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Industry events are a great way to get face-to-face with members of your target audience. Through networking at events, you can nurture new contacts into qualified leads.

If you have the marketing budget, you can take this further and exhibit at events.

Exhibitions make qualifying new leads from your booth easier with a personalized demo or consultation.

8. Collaborate with other businesses and creators.

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Business partnerships are often a source of huge untapped potential for lead generation. Your target audiences are usually closely aligned, even if your products and services differ.

Partner marketing can be as simple as a logo placement on your partner’s website. But you can take it further with joint content strategies, promotional materials, and more. This way, you both get your respective brands in front of each other’s customer bases in a mutually beneficial way.

Another way to explore this is through partnerships with influencers that align well with your brand and objectives. Mike Falahee, the owner of Marygrove Awnings, has experienced a lot of success by collaborating with micro-influencers.

He shares, “You can generate leads by working with micro-influencers whose followership is highly engaged and who fit your target demographic and brand values.”

9. Build a community.

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Communities are ideal for turning visitors into leads. They’re also a great way to nurture and qualify existing leads.

For example, let’s say you’ve got a new free trial user. They have a question about the product, so they head to your knowledge hub only to find a forum of engaged promoters discussing your product and providing guidance on how to use it.

Seeing how others use your product and the extent of your existing customer base can make the difference between a user who chooses to upgrade and one who simply walks away.

Why not just buy leads?

Marketers and salespeople alike want to fill their sales funnel — and they want to fill it quickly. Enter: The temptation to buy leads.

Buying leads, as opposed to organically generating them, is much easier and takes far less time and effort, despite being more expensive. But you might be paying for advertising anyway, so why not just buy leads?

First and foremost, any leads you’ve purchased don’t know you. Typically, they’ve “opted in” at some other site when signing up for something and didn’t opt into receiving anything from your company.

The messages you send them are unwanted messages. Sending unwanted messages is intrusive. If the prospect has never been to your website and indicated an interest in your products or services, then you’re interrupting them, plain and simple.

And if they never opted in to receive messages specifically from you, then there’s a high chance they could flag your messages as spam, which is dangerous.

Once enough people flag your messages as spam, your email address will be flagged and shared with other email providers. Once you get flagged, it’s really, really hard to become credible again. In addition, your email deliverability and IP reputation will likely be harmed.

It’s always better to generate leads organically rather than buy them. Learn how to grow an opt-in email list instead of buying one.

How to Qualify a Lead

As we covered in the first section, a lead is a person who has indicated interest in your company’s product or service. Now, let’s talk about how someone can actually show that interest.

Essentially, a sales lead is generated through information collection.

This could result from a job seeker applying for an open role, a shopper sharing contact information in exchange for a coupon, or a person filling out a form to download an educational piece of content.

Gauging a Lead’s Level of Interest

Below are a few ways you could qualify someone as a lead. Each of these examples shows that the amount of collected information used to qualify a lead, as well as their level of interest, can vary.

Let’s assess each scenario:

• Job Application. A candidate shares personal information because they want to be considered for a position. That application shows their interest in the job, qualifying the person as a lead for the company’s recruiting team — not marketing or sales.
• Coupon. If a shopper finds a valuable coupon, they may be willing to provide their name and email address in exchange for a deal. Although it’s not a lot of information, it’s enough for a business to know that someone has an interest in their company.
• Content. While the download of a coupon shows an individual has a direct interest in your product, content (like an ebook or webinar) does not. To understand the nature of the person’s interest, you’ll probably need to collect more information.

These three general examples highlight how lead generation differs from company to company and from person to person.

You’ll need to collect enough information to gauge whether someone has a genuine interest in your product or service — how much information is enough will vary depending on your business.

Here’s a great example of what to ask for in a lead gen form:

• Full Name. This is the most fundamental information needed to personalize your communication with each lead.
• Email. This serves as a unique identifier and is how you will contact your lead.
• Company. This will allow you to research your lead’s industry and company and how the lead might benefit from your product or service (mainly for B2B).
• Role. Understanding an individual’s role will help you understand how to communicate with them. Every brand stakeholder will have a different take and perspective on your offering (mainly for B2B).
• Country. Location information can help you segment your contact by region and time zone and help you qualify the lead depending on your service.
• State. The more detailed information you can obtain without sacrificing conversions, the better. Knowing your lead’s state can help you further qualify them.

If you’d like to learn more intermediate-level tips on information collection and what you should ask for on your lead gen forms, read our post about it here.

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is a way to qualify leads quantitatively. Using this technique, leads are assigned a numerical value (or score) to determine where they fall on the scale from “interested” to “ready for a sale.”

The criteria for these actions are up to you, but they must be uniform across your marketing and sales departments so that everyone works on the same scale.

A lead’s score can be based on actions they’ve taken, the information they’ve provided, their level of engagement, or other criteria that your sales team determines.

For instance, you may score someone higher if they regularly engage with you on social media.

Borrowing from the examples above, you might give a lead a higher score if they used one of your coupons — an action that would signify this person is interested in your product.

The higher a lead’s score, the closer they are to becoming a SQL, which is only a step away from becoming a customer.

You may need to tweak criteria until you find the formula that works, but once you do, you’ll transform your lead generation into customer generation.

Lead Generation Strategies

Online lead generation encompasses various tactics, campaigns, and strategies depending on the platform you use to capture leads.

We talked about lead capture best practices once you have a visitor on your site, but how can you get them there in the first place?

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Let’s dive into lead generation strategies for a few popular platforms.

Facebook Lead Generation

Facebook has been a method for lead generation since its inception. Originally, companies could use outbound links in their posts and information in their bios to attract strangers to their websites.

However, when Facebook Ads was launched in 2007, and its algorithm began to favor accounts that used paid advertising, there was a major shift in how businesses used the platform to capture leads.

Facebook created Lead Ads for this purpose. Facebook also has a feature that lets you put a simple CTA button at the top of your Facebook Page, helping you send Facebook followers directly to your website.

Get some lead generation tips for Facebook.

Featured Resource: 50 Facebook Ad Examples We Actually Clicked

X Lead Generation

X has X Lead Gen Cards, which let you generate leads directly within a tweet without leaving the site.

A user’s name, email address, and X username are automatically pulled into the card, and all they have to do is click “Submit” to become a lead.

(Hint for HubSpot users: You can connect X Lead Gen Cards to your HubSpot Forms. Learn how to do that here.)

Featured Resource: How to Use X for Business (+ Follower Tracking Template)

LinkedIn Lead Generation

LinkedIn has been increasing its stake in advertising since its early days.

Regarding lead generation, LinkedIn created Lead Gen Forms, which auto-populate with a user’s profile data when they click a CTA, making it easy to capture information.

Get tips from our experience using LinkedIn ads.

PPC Lead Generation

When we say pay-per-click (PPC), we’re referring to ads on search engine result pages (SERPs). Google gets 3.5 billion searches a day, making it prime real estate for any ad campaign, especially lead gen.

The effectiveness of your PPC campaign relies heavily on a seamless user flow, as well as your budget, target keywords, and a few other factors.

Learn more about how to set up successful PPC ads.

B2B Lead Generation

B2B companies require a different approach to lead generation.

SmartInsights found that referrals are the top source for capturing business leads. Not to mention, effectiveness varies by channel.

Learn the B2B lead generation techniques for every channel.

Tips for Lead Generation Campaigns

In any given lead generation campaign, there can be many moving parts.

It can be challenging to tell which parts of your campaign are working and which need fine-tuning. Here are a few tips that can help when building lead gen campaigns.

1. Follow your data.

If you’re looking to build a lead generation engine, start with the bevy of data already at your fingertips. Begin by archiving which posts consistently rank well, bring in traffic, and have a clear connection to your product.

Once you know what performs well, you can determine where to place CTAs.

“For these posts, ask yourself what the missing middle piece is between what someone is reading about and what you can offer them,” suggests AJ Beltis, a senior marketing manager focused on media conversion at HubSpot.

Beltis continues, “Perhaps it’s an actionable template, a more in-depth guide, or even a demo if the content is intended for those further along in the buying cycle.”

Remember, your CTA should not be a reach from the topic in the post. “Keep it straightforward and logical and the leads will come flowing in,” Beltis says.

2. Use the right lead generation tools.

As you saw in our data, the most successful marketing teams use a formal system to organize and store their leads. That’s where lead generation tools and lead generation software come into play.

How much do you know about the people visiting your website? Do you know their names or their email addresses? How about which pages they visited, how they’re navigating around, and what they do before and after filling out a lead conversion form?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, chances are you’re having difficulty connecting with the people visiting your site. These are questions you should be able to answer — and you can with the right lead generation tools.

There are a few different tools and templates out there that’ll help you create different lead gen assets to use on your site:

• CTA Templates. Create clickable CTA buttons to use on your blog, landing pages, and elsewhere on your site.
• Lead Generation Software Tools. This free tool from HubSpot includes lead capture insights features, which will scrape any pre-existing forms you have and add those contacts to your existing contact database. You can also create pop-ups, hello bars, or slide-ins — called “lead flows” — to help you immediately turn visitors into leads.

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• Visitor Tracking. Hotjar’s virtual heatmap tool creates a color-coded representation of how a user navigates your site. You can then understand what users want and care about.
• Form-Scraping Tool. A form-scraping tool that collects submissions on your website’s existing forms helps you consolidate all your leads into your contact database.
  • HubSpot customers can create and embed forms using HubSpot, which automatically populate into your CMS.
  • Non-HubSpot customers can use a form creation tool like Contact Form 7, JetPack, or Google Forms, and then use HubSpot’s free collected forms feature to automatically capture form submissions and input them to a contact database.

3. Create offers for all different stages of the buying cycle.

Not all of your site visitors are ready to talk to your sales team or see a demo of your product.

Someone at the beginning of the buyer’s journey might be interested in an informational piece like an ebook or a guide.

In contrast, someone more familiar with your company and near the end of the journey might be more interested in a free trial or demo.

Make sure you’re creating offers for each phase and offering CTAs for these offers throughout your site.

Yes, it takes time to create valuable content that nurtures your leads down the funnel, but if you don’t offer anything for visitors who aren’t ready to buy, they may never return to your website.

Here are 20 ideas for lead generation content to get you started.

If you want to take personalization a step further, try using smart CTAs. Smart CTAs detect where a person is in the buyer’s journey, whether they’re a new visitor, a lead, or a customer, and display CTAs accordingly.

Personalized CTAs convert 202% better than basic ones.

4. Keep your messaging consistent and deliver on your promise.

The highest-converting lead gen campaigns are the ones that create a seamless transition from ad copy and design to the deliverable itself.

Ensure you’re presenting a consistent message throughout the process and providing value to everyone engaging with your lead capture.

The aspects of your lead gen campaign should mirror everything else on your website, your blog, and the product you will eventually try to sell. If not, you’ll have difficulty getting your lead to the next lifecycle stage.

5. Link your CTA to a dedicated landing page.

This may seem obvious to you, but you’d be surprised how many marketers don’t create dedicated landing pages for their offers. CTAs are meant to send visitors to a landing page where they can receive a specific offer.

Don’t use CTAs to drive people to your homepage, for instance. Even if your CTA is about your brand or product, you should still send them to a targeted landing page that includes an opt-in form. If you can use a CTA, send them to a page that will convert them into a lead.

If you want to learn more about building and promoting high-converting landing pages, download our ebook on optimizing landing pages for conversions.

6. Get your sales team involved.

Remember when we talked about lead scoring? Well, it isn’t exactly doable without your sales team’s input. How will you know what qualifies a lead for sales without knowing if your defined SQLs are successfully sold?

Your marketing and sales teams need to be aligned on the definitions and the process of moving a lead from MQL to SQL to opportunity before you even begin to capture leads.

Be open to evolving your relationship with sales and how you guide leads along your funnel. Your definitions will likely need to be refined over time — just make sure everyone involved is up-to-date.

7. Use social media strategically.

While marketers typically think of social media as top-of-the-funnel marketing, it can still be a helpful and low-cost source for lead generation, as shared in the lead gen strategies above.

Start by adding links directly to the landing pages of high-performing offers within your Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and other social media posts.

Tell visitors that you’re sending them to a landing page. That way, you’re setting expectations.

You can also do a lead generation analysis of your blog to determine which posts generate the most leads and then make a point of regularly linking social media posts to them.

Another way to generate leads from social media is to run a contest. Contests are fun and engaging for your followers and can also teach you a ton about your audience. It’s a win-win.

Read our step-by-step guide for growing your email list using social media contests, which covers everything from choosing a platform to picking a winner.

8. Leverage your partnerships.

When it comes to lead generation, co-marketing can be powerful. If your team works with partner companies, put your heads together and create some mutually beneficial offers.

“On the Content Offers team at HubSpot, we run campaigns with partner companies that have a similar target audience and brand values to create and promote gated content like ebooks, reports, and templates,” says Jasmine Fleming, a marketing manager at HubSpot.

Fleming says both HubSpot and our partners generate leads with the offer, and that “co-marketing offers have the potential to generate significantly more leads than a content piece created by one company alone.”

9. Remain flexible and constantly iterate.

Your lead generation strategy needs to be as dynamic as the people you’re targeting. Trends change, behaviors shift, opinions morph, and so should your lead gen marketing.

Use A/B split testing to see what CTAs perform best, which landing pages convert better, and which copy captures your target audience. Experiment with layout changes, design, UX, content, and advertising channels until you find what works.

Lead Generation Statistics

HubSpot surveyed over 1,400 global marketing professionals and compiled all the findings into the 2024 State of Marketing Report. Here are some lead generation and conversion statistics from this report:

• 15% of marketers face challenges with generating traffic and leads.
• Approximately 56% of marketers use Facebook and Instagram to execute their marketing campaigns.
• 56% of marketers using TikTok for lead generation plan to increase their investment next year.
• 51% of marketers say their company worked with creators or influencers in 2023 to generate leads.
• 87% of marketers plan to continue using mobile messaging (SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger) to generate leads.
• 87% of marketers plan to maintain or increase their investment in email marketing to generate more leads in 2024.

Lead Conversion Statistics

• 17% of marketers say that short-form videos have generated strong results for their business.
• 47% of marketers say they find the most success from partnering with micro-influencers, rather than big, broad niche creators.
• 25% of marketers who had effective marketing strategies in 2023 used AI and automation tools like chatbots (as opposed to only 5% of marketers who had ineffective strategies).
• Email marketing has an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent.
• AI-powered personalization in marketing emails can increase ROI by up to 70%.
• 77% of marketers who use generative AI say it helps them create more personalized content, which improves lead conversion.

Lead Generation Trends & Benchmarks

So you’re getting web traffic and generating leads. But how are you doing compared to other companies in your industry?

Read on to discover what other marketers are doing with lead generation in 2024, along with important stats to consider.

Lead generation is the top marketing priority.

HubSpot State of Marketing Report 2024 found that marketers report one of their top priorities for the next 12 months is generating more leads. Converting these leads to customers is another top priority, according to SmartInsights.

Most B2B leads come from referrals.

B2B marketers say that 65% of their leads come from referrals, 38% from email, and 33% come from Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

If you’re interested in getting in on this trend, it’s worth considering revamping your referral strategy and helping existing customers bring you new leads.

Content marketing helps drive leads.

Marketers also report that content marketing has helped them successfully generate demand and leads over the past 12 months.

To get in on this trend, read this helpful blog post on creating content for different stages of the buyer’s journey.

Top Content Types that Generate the Most Leads or Conversion ROI

According to HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing Report, some top channels for conversion ROI include:

• Website/Blog (16%).
• Social media shopping tools (16%).
• Paid social media content (14%).
• Email marketing (14%).
• Content marketing (14%).

You can also explore more top channels for lead generation in this blog post.

Within these channels, there is also an opportunity to dig into short-form video, influencer marketing, and other trends that deliver ROI.

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Grow Better With Lead Generation

Now that you know more about how to generate leads for your business, we recommend you try HubSpot’s free lead generation tool. Use it to add simple conversion assets to your site and see what content prompts visitors to convert.

The basics we’ve gone over in this blog post are just the beginning. Keep creating great offers, CTAs, landing pages, and forms — and promote them in multi-channel environments.

Be in close touch with your sales team to make sure you’re handing off high-quality leads on a regular basis.

Last but not least, never stop testing. The more you test every step of your inbound lead generation process, the more you’ll improve lead quality and increase revenue.

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

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Developing a consistent brand starts with creating a brand style guide. These branding rule books help graphic designers, marketers, web developers, community managers, and even product packaging departments present a unified vision of the brand to the public.

The best brands stick in our brains because their presence is defined by the repetition of the same logo, fonts, colors, and images. Once we see them enough, they become instantly recognizable. All of this is possible when each member of your team adheres to a cohesive brand style guide.

So, what is a brand style guide? In this article, I’ll go over the elements of a style guide and share some amazing examples of them in action to help inspire your next branding project or website redesign.

Table of Contents

• What are brand guidelines?
• The Elements of a Brand Style Guide
• Brand Style Guide Examples
• Branding Guidelines Tips

Picture the most recognizable brands you can think of.

Chances are, you’ve learned to recognize them due to one of the following reasons:

• There’s a written or visual consistency across the messaging.
• The same brand colors are reflected across every asset.
• The language sounds familiar.
• It‘s all very organized and, while not rigid, it’s cohesive.

But before you sit down to create your branding guidelines, I’d recommend taking a step back and define your brand’s mission statement and buyer personas.

These strategic elements will help you dive into the tactical components of your brand style guide later.

Brand Guidelines Mission Statement

To me, your mission statement is the compass of your brand style guide. It‘s an action-oriented statement declaring your organization’s purpose.

This statement ensures that all your content is working toward the same goal and connecting with your audience. It can also guide your blog and paid content, ad copy, visual media, and slogan.

Pro tip: You can either include your mission statement within your style guide, create a separate document for reference, or distill your mission statement into a slogan that you can place at the head of your document.

Brand Guidelines Buyer Persona

A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. It includes details on your customer’s job title, age, gender, and professional challenges — therefore stipulating for whom your brand publishes content.

Your buyer persona guides your blog content, ad copy, and visual media, which can attract valuable leads and customers to your business.

Pro tip: Download our free resource below on how to create your own style guide with brand guidelines templates to follow. Creating a consistent style guide isn’t easy, but with these tools you can build an unforgettable one with ease.

The Elements of a Brand Style Guide

A brand style guide encompasses much more than just a logo (although that’s important, too). It visually encompasses everything your brand is about — down to your business’ purpose.

Here are some key elements that I believe make or break a brand style guide.

Logo

Your logo might seem like the simplest aspect of your branding guidelines, but in reality, I‘d argue it’s one of the most complex and most important parts.

In your guide, you should:

• Include a visual of your logo.
• Explain the design details of your logo.
• Describe how your logo can be used by external and internal publishers.

You should also include wrong usages — i.e, you might advise against rotating the design or curving the font. That way, whether you or someone else is publishing information about your company, your logo looks consistent everywhere.

Pro tip: If your brand is well-known and many outlets publish information about you, you also might want to provide an entire document outlining acceptable use policies for your logo.

Color Palette

In my opinion, the color palette is probably one of the most distinctive and recognizable parts of a company’s branding guidelines.

It’s the group of colors your company uses to design its brand assets, guiding every piece of visual content created.

These color combinations often follow HEX or RGB color codes, and govern your logo, web design, printed ads, and event collateral.

Pro tip: A brand color palette should not only include your primary color, but also a wide variety of secondary, tertiary, and neutral colors. This will allow you to come up with more dynamic and varied designs in the content creation stage.

If you don’t define an array of options, you can run the risk of having your team create content with random secondary colors, which can look inconsistent.

Typography

Typography is a visual element of your brand style guide that goes beyond the font you use in your company logo. It supports your brand’s design down to the links and copy on your website — even your tagline.

I recommend specifying a primary and secondary font, with a mixture of serifs and font weights for different use cases.

Remember, the goal of your branding guidelines is to empower your people and external stakeholders to create consistent but varied collateral on behalf of your brand. You don’t want to limit them with a single font option.

For instance, HubSpot’s primary font is Lexend Deca (sans-serif), while our secondary font is Queens (serif). They’re both integrated in our very own Content Hub, and our design tool, Canva, where we can use them to create assets.

Pro tip: Don’t forget that typography also plays a major role in your website’s user experience. You want to make sure it is visually appealing while also being accessible and easy to read.

Imagery and Iconography

You may be able to only include your logo, colors, and fonts in your guidelines.

However, if you’d like to create a stronger style guide, consider including approved imagery, pre-designed icons, and custom symbols for your company to use across your website and print collateral.

If your budget is smaller, you can recommend photographic styles (i.e candid versus staged, etcetera), and then direct content creators to your preferred stock photo provider (i.e. Shutterstock, Unsplash).

Alternatively, you can commission a company photoshoot at a studio and make the resulting photography available for creative use.

Pro tip: Symbols and icons can also be a great addition to your branding guidelines. As with photos, you can always find free icons online and recommend what to use versus what not to use (e.g., outlines only vs. full color).

You can also commission custom icons from a freelance graphic designer.

Brand Voice

If your company visuals are the flesh and bones of your style guide, I’m going to say your brand voice is the beating heart.

The importance of your brand voice can’t be overstated.

Maybe you want your company’s personality to be friendly and casual, or you may prefer a more distant and formal voice.

Either way, you want to make it easy for marketers, salespeople, and content creators on your team to know how to represent your brand online. This will ensure consistent messaging across all channels.

You can also include a full editorial style guide. The job of an editorial style guide is to commit an editorial stylebook on how to phrase certain products, list topics the brand can and cannot write about, and other companies it can mention.

Your editorial style guide can guide your blog content, video scripts, website and landing page copy, PR talking points, and knowledge base articles.

As you can see, the purpose of the brand style guide is to form and maintain all of the various elements of a company that, when combined, spell out the entire brand as it’s recognized.

Ready to get started? HubSpot’s Brand Kit Generator can help you create all of these key branding and style guide elements with ease (and for free).

1. Medium

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Medium‘s simple brand style guide emphasizes usage of its logo, wordmark, and symbol. Medium’s logo is the brand’s primary graphic element and was created to feel “confident, premium, timeless, and modern.”

2. Walmart

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: The guide includes the brand‘s logo, photography, typography, illustrations, iconography, voice, editorial style, and more. Walmart’s color palette is so integral to its brand identity that its primary color is called “Walmart Blue.”

3. Asana

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Asana‘s simple style guide highlights its logo and color palette. It also explains how to properly use the brand’s assets.

4. Skype

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Everyone’s favorite video chat platform also has a squeaky-clean style guide for its brand. Skype, now owned by Microsoft, focuses primarily on its product phrasing and logo placement.

5. Barre & Soul

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Barre & Soul’s brand style guide includes variations of its logo, logo spacing, secondary logos, supporting imagery, and a five-color color palette.

6. Spotify

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Spotify‘s color palette includes three color codes, while the rest of the company’s branding guidelines focus on logo variation and album artwork. The style guide even allows you to download an icon version of its logo, making it easier to represent the company without manually recreating it.

7. Starbucks

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Starbucks’ interactive brand style guide includes details about how to use its core elements such as the iconic Siren logo and green color palette. Plus, the guide features a visual spectrum of how their creative assets can be used across different channels.

8. Paris 2024

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Paris 2024’s brand identity pays homage to the 1924 Olympic Games through Art Deco inspired design. Best of all, designers applied eco-branding methods to reduce the amount of ink and paper needed for physical materials as well as limit the power and data consumption on digital elements.

9. Urban Outfitters

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Photography, color, and even tone of voice appear in Urban Outfitters‘ California-inspired brand guidelines. Plus, the company isn’t shy to include information about its ideal consumer and what the brand believes in.

10. Love to Ride

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Love to Ride, a cycling company, is all about color variety in its visually pleasing style guide. The company’s brand guidelines include nine color codes and tons of detail about its secondary logos and imagery.

11. Barbican

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Barbican, an art and learning center in the United Kingdom, sports a loud yet simple style guide focusing heavily on its logo and supporting typefaces.

12. I Love New York

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Despite its famously simple t-shirts, I Love New York has a brand style guide. The company begins its guidelines with a thorough explanation of its mission, vision, story, target audience, and tone of voice. Only then does the style guide delve into its logo positioning on various merchandise.

13. TikTok

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: TikTok‘s style guide isn’t just a guide — it’s an interactive brand book. First, it provides an in-depth look into how it brings its brand to life through design. Then, it gives an overview of its logo, co-branding, color, and typography.

14. University of the Arts Helsinki

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: The style guide of the University of the Arts Helsinki is more of a creative branding album than a traditional marketing guide. It shows you dozens of contexts in which you‘d see this school’s provocative logo, including animations.

15. Ivy Lane Events

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Ivy Lane Events‘ bold style guide is reflective of the edgy events the company produces. In it, you’ll find a mood board with dark, romantic visuals inspired by “victorian gothic style and vintage book art.”

16. Western Athletic Conference

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: The Western Athletic Conference’s brand style guide includes extensive information about its history, mission, and vision. It also highlights its member universities and athletic championships and awards it is involved with.

17. Discord

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Discord‘s brand guide is as colorful and playful as the communities it serves. The brand’s motion elements are based on the dot, which represents the Discord user interacting with others in the communities it belongs to.

18. Netflix

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: As far as its public brand assets are concerned, Netflix is focused primarily on the treatment of its logo. The company offers a simple set of rules governing the size, spacing, and placement of its famous capitalized typeface.

19. Scrimshaw Coffee

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Featuring a six-code color palette, this “laid back,” “cool,” and “eclectic” brand has a number of secondary logos it embraces in various situations.

20. NASA

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: NASA‘s “Graphics Standards Manual” is as official and complex as you think it is. At 220 pages, the guide describes countless logo placements, color uses, and supporting designs. And yes, NASA’s space shuttles have their own branding rules.

21. New York City Transit Authority

See the full brand guide here.

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What I like: Like NASA, the NYCTA has its own Graphics Standards Manual, and it includes some fascinating typography rules for the numbers, arrows, and public transit symbols the average commuter takes for granted every day.

Branding Guidelines Tips

If you want to take your branding style guide to the next level, let HubSpot’s Brand Kit Generator do some of the heavy lifting for you.

I’d also recommend following the best practices below, which the HubSpot Creative team has used to disseminate branding information to the rest of the HubSpot Marketing team.

This has not only made my job as a blogger easier, but also makes our branding feel well thought-out and cohesive.

1. Make your guidelines a branded document.

Whether you’re publishing your branding guidelines online or creating an internal presentation, consider making the guidelines themselves a branded document.

Ensure the published document follows your established brand voice, uses the symbols and imagery you’ve created, and employs the colors and typography that makes your brand feel like you.

Insights from HubSpot’s Creative Team

When our Creative team rolled out a visual identity refresh for the HubSpot brand, we all received access to a branded playbook that summarized all the changes and described how we should represent HubSpot online moving forward.

Not only was I a huge fan of the refresh, but also of the way it was presented to our team in a branded document.

You can do the same, regardless of your budget. Our Creative team actually used a free tool, Google Slides — so it’s totally doable for a small or freelance brand!

2. Name your brand’s colors.

You’ve already chosen your color palette — why not go as far as naming the colors?

Giving your colors unique names (aside from “blue” or “orange”) can help you tie the tactical elements of your branding into an overall theme or ethos.

Not to mention that it’s awesome to be able to refer to company colors by a unique name. Imagine if we called Solaris, HubSpot’s primary brand color, “HubSpot Orange” — that simply doesn’t have the same ring.

Insights from HubSpot’s Creative Team

In our visual identity refresh, our Creative team brightened and intensified our color palette, then renamed the individual hues.

They wrote, “Every color, tint, and shade is based on central themes. […] Whether it’s a subway line in Paris, or a flower-lined street in Japan, the secondary color names are a veritable tour of important cultural and geographical touchstones from HubSpotters all over the world.”

Think about what makes your brand unique, and why you chose the colors that you did. For instance, if you work at a law firm that specializes in car accident cases, you might choose red as one of the brand colors and call it “Stop Light.”

3. Create easy-to-use branded templates.

Alongside your branding guidelines should be templates to empower your team to easily design branded assets, even if they’re not designers.

Insights from HubSpot’s Creative Team

At HubSpot, we keep all of our templates in our team’s Canva account. There, anyone (myself included) can edit pre-made designs for any number of use cases.

As a writer on the HubSpot blog, I have to create graphics to supplement the information I’m sharing.

The branded templates made by our Creative team have made my work a great deal easier, and I can imagine that it’s the same for our Social Media team.

Not everyone is a designer, but with templates, you can ensure your brand looks professional no matter who creates an asset.

4. Ensure your branding is optimized for all channels.

Your branding guidelines should include different specifications for different channels.

Or, alternatively, you should have assets and designs that can be adjusted for various channels and mediums. Not only for sizing purposes, but for accessibility purposes, too.

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For instance, if you primarily market your brand over Instagram and on your website, then your branding should have web accessible colors, as well as Instagram-friendly designs and sizes.

However, you don’t want to significantly change your branding from channel to channel. It should work relatively well no matter where you’re marketing your brand.

Build a Memorable Style Guide of Your Own

Once you build your unique brand style guide, customers will recognize your brand and associate it with all the visual cues you want them to.

I hope you were inspired by our list of amazing brand style guides and wish you luck in creating a timeless style of your own.

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

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Simplify growth with an all-in-one platform. Powerful marketing, sales, and support automation. Integrated CMS. Scalable software. Crafted for customer experience.

Ever think you’d click on a HubSpot article about rebranding announcement email examples, only to be met by a pro-wrestling anecdote? Well, batten down the hatches, reader, because we’re heading back to pre-World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in three, two, one.

Sparked by a long-running legal dispute with another famous WWF (the World Wildlife Fund), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) finally relinquished its name in 2002.

The sports entertainment giant went out swinging, launching the now iconic “Get The F Out” marketing campaign before officially changing its name, logo, and website to WWE.

The WWF was already a well-known company and, despite a rebrand by force of hand, remained renowned after the fact.

Long story short? Whether you love or hate the promotion — heck, whether you love or hate pro wrestling — the WWE managed to take litigation lemons and turn ‘em into marketing lemonade.

Sadly, I don’t have that rebranding email announcement at hand (did the WWE even send one?!). But I do have a ton more incredible examples to illuminate and inspire you.

40 of the Best Rebranding Email Examples

Grab your beverage of choice and get comfy because it’s time to dig into 40 of the best rebranding email examples for your viewing pleasure. Let’s get into it.

1. Featured

In July 2023, Terkel rebranded to Featured — and with the new name came a new logo and website.

I spoke with Featured Founder and CEO Brett Farmiloe about the change.

According to Farmiloe, “‘Featured’ more clearly states what we do: get experts featured in incredible media outlets and provide feature quality content to our publishing partners.”

Brett explains that since the rebrand, more than double the number of publishers (now 1,000+) ask questions on Featured. There are also over double the number of experts answering questions on the platform (now ~30,000 experts).

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Part of the success was arguably down to Featured’s simple and direct rebranding announcement email. It offered a clear explanation of the changes — including why the company made them and how they impacted users.

But perhaps most importantly, Featured gave existing users clear guidance about what they needed to do next (login to their account via Featured.com.)

What I like: Brett and the Featured team made a bold yet carefully considered move with the name change. In Farmiloe’s words, “This was a big decision for a seed stage, venture-backed startup to make 18 months into our company history.” I love that this rebrand paid off and that the rebranding announcement was clear and well-considered.

2. Wise

Early in 2023, I opened an interesting-looking email from money transfer resource Wise.

Real talk: I clicked “open” because I was skimming emails on mobile and assumed it was a payment confirmation. To be fair to Wise, the confusion was due to my haphazard skimming (and wishful thinking!) rather than Wise’s messaging. Because that messaging, my friend, was masterful.

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Anywho, the crux of the email was that Wise had a new look, switching up the color scheme from blue to “clean, bold, green.” Aside from the color scheme, the company had gone all out with the rebrand, sporting a new logo and different typography.

Humans aren’t always the biggest fans of change (myself included!), so having such a stark new look could’ve been unnerving for Wise’s client base.

However. the rebranding email announcement centered its customers as the inspiration for the changes. The masterful messaging also made it clear that the service remained the same despite a bold new look.

What I like: I loved how Wise put its customers at ease with clear messaging about its service, which remained the same. I also dug how everything about the rebrand was linked to the company’s values, vision, and, most importantly, its customers.

3. Centraal Beheer PPI

Shout out to Hristina Stefanova, head of operations at Goose‘n’Moose, for forwarding me this next pick and some context about the rebrand.

“The two emails come from the time I was still residing in the Netherlands and therefore making pension contributions to a Dutch pension fund,” says Hristina.

Hristina explains that the ABN Amro team opted for its existing brand identity when announcing the takeover and transfer to Centraal Beheer. But, this announcement email was one of the last (if not the last) times the company communicated under that brand identity.

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The above email screenshot is Centraal Beheer PPI’s latest look, with the most noticeable difference being the name change, logo, and color scheme.

What I like: I appreciate the way Centraal Beheer PPI announced the name change to its customers before emailing the new branding.

When it comes to anything like money or pensions, you really want to make sure you put your customers’ minds at ease during any transitions. So, I imagine this staggered approach would’ve made the changes less jarring for existing customers.

4. 123FormBuilder

123FormBuilder started in 2008 as a regular contact form tool.

The original name was 123ContactForm, and its tagline was “As easy as 1-2-3” for building contact forms. As years passed, users increasingly adopted the tool for more than just contact forms (e.g., event registration forms, order forms, surveys).

The company wanted to reflect this evolution in the name, so 123ContactForm became 123FormBuilder.

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In its rebrand email announcement, the company updated customers about the name and logo change. But 123FormBuilder also clued them into the context behind the changes.

Like Wise, 123FormBuilder’s messaging reassured its customers that despite rebranding, the company still had the same mission. A mission closely linked to doing the best for its customers.

What I like: I like that 123FormBuilder simultaneously announced the rebrand and its new product launch.

With a subject line like “We have an important announcement to make,” more people likely opened the email. And by also including the new product launch, 123FormBuilder capitalized on those extra eyeballs.

5. Resting Business Face

Our next example is from tax professional and business consultant Michael Eckstein. Eckstein is the mastermind behind Resting Business Face, a weekly newsletter about small business finance and strategy.

For context, Eckstein’s practice website originally started as ecksteintaxservices.com and then became ecksteinadvisory.com.

The latter is where the newsletter started and what eventually led to the restingbusinessface.com rebrand.

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When changing up any aspect of your business and explaining the changes to your customers, clarity is critical. And the email Michael sent out announcing the changes was impeccably clear.

Clarity aside, the content of the email stayed true to the loveably sassy tone of the weekly newsletter, which made for an engaging read. You can also tell how much Michael genuinely cares about the members on his email list.

An example of this empathy is how he reminds readers about updating their preferences and thanks them for reading at the bottom.

What I like: I love that Michael has made the instructions crystal clear — including a detailed breakdown of how to allow the new email address to be listed.

Another interesting aspect of this rebranding email is that Michael gave his readers the heads-up before the changes happened. That’s a good idea because it gives the email the most chance of landing in the right place. (Rather than, say, landing in the promotions tab or spam.)

I also think the “What did you think of today’s issue?” section at the end is clever because it shows he welcomes (and therefore values) his readers’ feedback. When your emails make people feel valued, they’re more likely to resonate.

6. Candour

Candour is a digital agency offering SEO, PPC, and digital marketing services. In 2018, the company rebranded from ApplinSkinner to Candour. With the rebrand came a company name, logo, and web address change.

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The email frontloads crucial information, diving straight into the most significant change (transitioning from ApplinSkinner to Candour.) This is followed by the dictionary definition of candour: “The quality of being open and honest; frankness.”

I think this is such a creative way of introducing the new name’s meaning and, in turn, the broader connotations of the rebrand. The email then reinforces this by sharing the finer points behind Candour’s decision to rebrand: Wanting to represent its “ethos of transparency and refreshing honesty.”

What I like: I love that this email invites readers and customers to come along for the rebranding ride — making it a customer-centric collaborative journey. One way Candour achieves this is by announcing the branding changes and immediately inviting customer feedback on its new website.

7. Uscreen

Uscreen, the all-in-one video membership platform for creators, recently rebranded. Part of its brand refresh included a “vibrant makeover” of the company logo. Towards the end of January 2024, the company sent an email revealing the change.

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I think the opening of this email is clever. As a subscriber to Uscreen’s email list, I like that the messaging makes me feel like this logo reveal is exclusive. It’s also cool how the email links the brand changes to Uscreen’s new product updates and features. The email then doubles down on this by letting readers know there are even more exciting updates en route. Overall, these touches make the email more engaging.

What I like: I like that the rebranding announcement email opens with a question. I don’t know about you, but I’m always more likely to engage with content if someone asks me a direct question. It makes me pay more attention and want to respond.

8. Shift

First things first: I’d like to thank Matt Janaway, CEO of Marketing Labs, for sharing the next three examples of rebranding announcement emails. (Pleo and Notion Calendar to follow!)

Now, let’s dive into Shift, a browser that integrates web apps. In December 2023, the Shift team emailed existing users announcing the forthcoming rebrand. The “fresh new look” included a new logo and updated color scheme.

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This rebrand announcement email example works because it’s short, sweet, and to the point. The email format also factors in user experience, with headings, bullets, and bold/italic text for a better reading experience. In short, even if you just scanned this email, you’d know what’s changing and what that means for you.

What I like: I think it’s effective how the email doesn’t just tell users what changed and why. But also where they would see the changes when using the product or interacting with the Shift brand.

9. Pleo

In 2020, Pleo, a business spending solution, rebranded with a new logo, color scheme, and updated fonts. Pleo initiated the changes to celebrate “the values that we already know connect with customers like you: trust, transparency, and empowering your people.”

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Pleo’s subsequent rebranding email announcement works because it’s so darn visually pleasing. The color palette is beautiful, and the headings help with readability.

Why is that important? Because when an email’s aesthetically pleasing, it’s not just easier to read, but people are more likely to want to read it all the way through.

What I like: Design delight aside, the creative subject line “Out with (most of) the old, in with the new Pleo” hooks you in without being overly sensationalized or clickbaity. In short, it lets readers know exactly what to expect from the email and does so in a fun way.

10. Notion Calendar

At the time of writing, the dust has barely settled on Notion’s announcement that Cron is now Notion Calendar: “A unified way to manage all the things competing for your time.”

Although they acquired Cron in 2022, the calendar app’s final amalgamation into Notion could’ve felt slightly abrasive for existing users.

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So it was paramount that Notion Calendar’s rebranding announcement email a) put existing Cron users at ease, and b) gave them everything they needed to know to continue to use the product with as little friction as possible during the transition.

In my humble opinion, the announcement did a great job of tackling both a) and b). The email clearly explained the reason for the change and what users should expect from Notion Calendar right now. Painting a vision for the future — a vision users could get excited about — was the final icing on the cake.

What I like: I think the aspect of the email I liked the most was how Raphael signed off at the end with some subtle next steps outlined for readers — i.e., stay in touch through the new email channel and stay tuned to Raphael’s X account.

11. Meetanshi

In 2021, Meetanshi, a platform providing Magento extensions, services, and solutions for ecommerce businesses, announced its rebranding with a completely new look.

The company was approaching four successful years in business and recognized how its team, core values, and offerings had evolved. The rebranding was the business’s effort to match and celebrate what “Meetanshi” had become.

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With a bold background color, sharp copy, and easy-to-read font, Meetanshi’s rebranding email announcement packs a punch. But of all those elements, I think the copy works especially well. It’s direct, yet conversational and easy to digest, making the email an easy, engaging read.

What I like: I love that peachy background color. It makes a bold statement, but it doesn’t overpower the copy, which remains legible.

12. BILL

Back in 2022, financial operations platform Bill.com changed its name to BILL and began “modernizing the look and feel” of the brand. The intention behind the brand refresh was to “create a more engaging experience.”

Meanwhile, the name change was inspired by how the company is referred to colloquially by its customers.

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Although the screenshot doesn’t show it, the subject line was “Spring has sprung — and so has BILL’s new look.” Of all the subject lines I’ve seen while crafting this article, I have to say that’s one of my favorites. It’s a quirky way of saying, “Hey, we have a new look.”

The email also fits the rebrand’s aim of creating a more modern feel — especially the graphic design elements. (The hand holding a mobile phone and the dotted flourishes give the aesthetic some modern energy.)

What I like: It has to be the color palette, design flourishes, and subject line for me. All of these elements combined make an impactful rebranding announcement email.

13. LOOP

Next up is LOOP. LOOP provides fair and equitable car insurance to customers based on how and where they drive. At its core, the company is on a mission to offer a fairer alternative to what currently exists in the “broken” car insurance industry.

LOOP is also a B-Corp committed to giving back to local communities. Those noble goals feed into the brand’s “Drive Good” tagline.

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When LOOP announced the rebrand, they said, “We’re going to start looking a little different. But it’s good different.”

Using and underlining the word “good” harks back to the company mission and tagline. But the phrasing also reassures customers that while the company has rebranded, LOOP will remain true to its core mission and values.

What I like: I love that the LOOP rebrand was inspired by its mission and values. And I really love that the founders explained the intention behind the rebrand so thoughtfully in their rebranding announcement email.

14. Rocketseed

Rocketseed is a leading B2B SaaS company offering business email signature management to a global customer base. I spoke to Rocketseed’s Global Marketing Director Jennifer Bassett about rebranding.

“In September 2023, following in-depth research and a strategic review, we ‘refreshed’ the Rocketseed brand to reflect the ability of our platform to give customers ‘one-to-one email marketing at scale,’” says Bassett.

Part of the brand refresh included updating various aspects of the company’s brand identity and communications while keeping Rocketseed’s name recognition and trust.

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According to Bassett, Rocketseed sent a mailer to the company database announcing the brand refresh. But, they also implemented a more sustained email approach, sending out “impactful, interactive banners announcing the brand refresh.”

These banners were “applied at the top of every business email that our staff sent to customers, prospects, and partners for the following month.”

By clicking the banner’s call-to-action (CTA), recipients could read a detailed explanation of Rocketseed’s brand refresh, its core brand values, the visual updates they could expect to see, and the significance of the new tagline “one-to-one email marketing at scale.”

What I like: I love that Rocketseed took an iterative approach to its rebranding announcement emails by sending an explainer and following up with a rebrand announcement banner at the top of all email communications.

15. Endota

Endota is a purpose-led brand that develops COSMOS organic certified and results-based skincare. Endota Founder Melanie Gleeson started the company in 2000 to “give back and inspire people to connect with themselves, the environment, and others.”

Both the rebrand and the rebranding email announcement reflected Gleeson’s continued vision. You need look no further than the email’s subject line, “A new look for Endota to continue to nourish and nurture you,” to see that in action.

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The email layout, with a human image to draw the reader in and plenty of white space for readability, also works. This creates a calming vibe that reflects the nourishing element of Endota’s products.

In terms of the content, there’s not a lot of writing, but what they do have counts. Like LOOP, the brand links all the changes to its original mission. Then, it reaffirms that it’s still committed to that vision.

What I like: I think the affirmation at the end of the email is such a nice touch. It showcases Endota’s focus on helping customers mindfully embrace well-being rituals. If the brand does this on all email communications, it helps retain some continuity while subtly aligning the rebrand as a force for good.

16. Butter

Butter is an online tool that helps you prepare, run, and recap collaborative sessions. In the email example below, Butter announced “A fresh new look” and some updated product features. The rebrand changes included a new icon set, color profile, and font.

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First, I love that “Oh, yoooouhoooo!” opener. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen in other rebrand announcement emails. It just brings such a sense of levity to the email.

Then it’s followed up by a friendly “We hope you’ve had a great weekend…” Right out of the gate, this email content energized and excited me. As a result, it’s clear to me that they’ve worked hard to establish a strong brand tone of voice.

What I like: I like the subject line: “Butter updates: A crisp new look (+ a lot of smooth new stuff) ✨.” It immediately puts readers in the picture. Aaand, I’m also a sucker for an emoji — I think they make email subject lines more fun and, thus, more appealing. (A little more “clickable,” if you will.)

17. Anchor (Now Spotify for Podcasters)

So, the all-in-one podcast platform Anchor has been rebranded again since the below email example. For context, Spotify now owns Anchor, and the product goes by Spotify for Podcasters. Buuut, we’re not talking about that rebrand. So let’s r-r-r-rewind back to the rebranding email announcing Anchor’s “new look.”

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The subject email line “Introducing our new look” does what it says on the tin. But if I’m honest, it’s a little bland. That said, the tagline within the email body copy is delicious. “Anchor’s next wave” is a subtle nod to the rebrand, the company’s name, and the nature of the product.

The email explains the changes (a new logo and “splashes of color”) and links the rebrand back to the product. Anchor explains that this is “our form of self-expression,” and the company hopes it will inspire users to speak to their “heart’s content.”

What I like: I love that Anchor makes the rebrand more about its users than the company. They do this early by saying they’ve worked hard on the rebrand before bringing it back to how excited they are to share it with “you.” I also really like that the messaging links back to the company name and product by using words like “wave,” “splashes,” and “self-expression.”

18. Coca-Cola

Now, onto Coca-Cola, the carbonated soft drink giant that needs no introduction (but it just low-key got one anyway.)

This example differs slightly from most on this list because it involves rebranding a single product from a wider brand. That’s opposed to changing a single brand element that gets applied across products or services.

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Like Anchor, the subject line “Diet Coke Gets a New Look” is pretty basic. That said, the layout and presentation of Coke’s rebranding announcement email is just so pleasing to behold.

There’s a nice balance between imagery, copy, and white space, which makes it feel PRO-fess-ional. The layout also makes it easier to absorb all the information because none of the elements are fighting with each other for your attention.

Another significant aspect of this email is how the company reassures customers that the look is changing, not the actual formula. There’s also some excellent trust-building social proof in the email’s headline: “America’s No.1 Selling Zero-Calorie Beverage.”

What I like: I like that Coca-Cola doesn’t just announce Diet Coke’s “updated look” but also takes the opportunity to introduce four new Diet Coke flavors.

19. Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian Airlines, a.k.a “Hawaii’s largest and longest-serving airline,” unveiled its new look in 2017. The brand refresh included an updated logo “that honors Pualani and the Hawaiian hospitality she represents.”

Hawaiian Airlines hoped to “retain the essence of our brand and move forward with a bolder, truer expression of our unique identity.”

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The airline’s rebrand intention shone through in its email announcement, especially with phrasing like “Honoring the past. Looking to the future.” I think the subject line “A new look. The same authentic Hawaiian experience” also communicates the rebrand’s intent.

What I like: I like how respectful this rebranding announcement email example is.

By respectful, I mean Hawaiian Airlines is honoring tradition, heritage, and its vision, all while putting its customers at the heart of what they do. They mention “warmth,” “hospitality,” and “tradition,” and I’m not sure about you, but I feel all of that by reading this email.

20. Sttark

Next, we have Sttark, a custom packaging company based in Greenville, South Carolina.

Over its 17 years in business, Sttark expanded its offerings beyond custom product labels to include folding cartons and graphic design services for packaging.

As a result, in 2022, the company removed the word “label” from its name and went through a rebrand, switching from Frontier Label to Sttark.

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I spoke with Anissa, who is part of Sttark’s marketing team. According to Anissa, the 2022 rebrand was also around the time Sttark began experimenting with email marketing as a company.

“We had never done consistent email marketing campaigns before going through our rebrand. We used Klaviyo to send a straightforward email to our existing customers outlining our company name change and our reason for doing so,” says Anissa. The result of Sttark’s rebranding announcement email was “A 54% Open Rate and a 5.6% Click Rate.”

What I like: I like that, in Anissa’s words, Stark wanted to send “a straightforward email.” In my humble opinion, it was precisely that: straightforward and clear, and it respectfully conveyed the rebrand.

21. Pelago

Pelago (formerly Quit Genius) is a virtual clinic for substance use management. The clinic rebranded in 2023 with a “new name, look, and feel” intended to remove the stigma surrounding substance use.

The subject line of the rebranding announcement email, “Introducing Pelago (formerly Quit Genius),” gets straight to the most apparent aspect of the rebrand: The name change. With something as big as a name change, it’s probably better to stick to the KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) principle. So, points scored there.

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I do have to address the elephant in the room, though — a stunning opening paragraph … used twice. The thing is, it’s such a forgivable “mistake” because the mission of the rebrand (“to address stigma”) isn’t just clearly stated, but it’s a beautiful ideal to aspire to. So maybe that does bear repeating?

What I like: I like the simplicity and elegance of this email. It communicates the rebrand’s why, what, and how while remaining true to Pelago’s “substance use care, that works” company ethos.

22. Wellfound

The startup job search platform rebranded from AngelList Talent to Wellfound in the latter part of 2022. A need to distinguish two businesses under the AngelList umbrella sparked the new name and rebrand.

Each company had grown to serve different customer bases. So by keeping AngelList Venture the same, while transitioning AngelList Talent to Wellfound, they could establish distance between the brands.

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Like Pelago, Wellfound was announcing a name change. Also, like Pelago, Wellfound’s email subject line keeps it clear rather than clever.

“AngelList Talent is now Wellfound” instantly gets down to business, informing existing customers about the name change. But the friendly “It’s nice to meet you” follow-up takes it from being all business to a personable exchange.

What I like: The rebrand reflects Wellfound’s increased understanding of its target audience. The rebranding email announcement takes that premise and runs with it to the finish line. (See: “No one knows change better than the startup community,” as an example of Wellfound speaking directly to its target audience in a way that resonates.)

23. Weglot

Weglot is a no-code website translation solution that allows users to launch a multilingual website. In 2023, the platform revealed a new brand identity to “better convey who we are as a company.”

The aim was to reflect on the outside all the growth Weglot experienced as a team, as well as the evolution of its product since launching in 2016.

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This rebranding announcement email had me at “💅.” (Did I mention I’m a sucker for a well-placed emoji in an email setting?)

Personal preferences aside, the email immediately grabs the reader’s attention with a question–and–answer format. The rest of the content is just as must-read, with clear, engaging messaging and plenty of white space to let it all breathe.

What I like: I love that Weglot isn’t afraid to share messaging with personality. “You know you want to check it out, go go go!” is a perfect example of a fun CTA that drives customers to take a desired action. I also love that Weglot ends the rebranding announcement email by adding value (i.e., previewing tasty morsels like “GA4 tips for global brands”) to its audience.

24. Irresistible Me

Irresistible Me is a New York-based beauty company established in 2013.

When the company rebranded, it was a comprehensive transformation encompassing every aspect of its brand identity. Irresistible Me updated its logo, redesigned the website, and revamped its product packaging.

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Now, that’s a whole lot of change to get down on paper. And I think this rebranding announcement email example captures the essence of the rebrand journey well.

The icons are also a nice touch. They help to highlight the brand changes while the bold squares of color keep the eyes moving in the right direction. By the “right direction,” I mean where the critical information is throughout the email.

What I like: You can’t tell from the screenshot, but the star icons above “what is new” and “what’s the same” aren’t static; they’re animated. It’s a subtle animation, but it draws the eye and adds personality to the email.

25. Stark

Stark is a SaaS platform offering a suite of integrated accessibility tools to over 30,000 companies.

In October 2020, the company announced “$1.5M in funding, billing accounts, and a fresh re-brand.” Through the rebrand specifically, Stark hoped to “Change the way people around the world understand, see, and know about accessibility” and “change the way the industry spotlights disability.”

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I love that Stark gets right into the heart of its rebrand mission with the top image in the rebranding announcement email.

By doing this, Stark doesn’t just tell us but shows us its goals to “make clear that accessible design is beautiful, and disabled does not mean unable.” The “Read More on our blog” CTA button also offers the option to read more about the rebrand.

What I like: Aside from the stunning image, I love that Stark has bundled several announcements into one email. It shows that the brand doesn’t want to spam email subscribers. Taking the time to thank everyone who has supported Stark is another nice touch that humanizes this rebranding announcement email example.

26. Typedream

Typedream Links is a no-code link-in-bio builder.

Before it was Typedream Links, the link-in-bio builder went by Dumplink. Typedream initiated the rebrand so the link-in-bio builder could become “a seamless part” of its all-in-one bundle for creators.

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Typedream’s rebranding email is simple but effective. It explains the why behind the rebrand and introduces the tool’s improved UI.

I think it’s cool how Typedream takes the opportunity to share a sneak peek of the tool’s new features, too. Not only does this showcase the product, but the product preview images break up the text.

What I like: I love that Typedream clearly explains what readers can do next and pairs this with the social sharing CTA buttons. The sweet sign-off also brings the announcement back to what matters — the customer’s creative journey.

27. Motherboard

Motherboard is an employee benefits platform that used to be called roHealth.

The company changed its name to reflect the broader amount of company benefits on offer and the fact it was now a “comprehensive benefits management platform.”

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Sure, the email lacks bells and whistles. But I think that’s my favorite thing about the announcement. It has a specific target audience in mind, “Employers,” and speaks directly to them clearly and straightforwardly.

Even though there aren’t any images to break up the text, the white background, bolded subheadings, and font improve readability.

What I like: I like that the email clearly explains the changes, why they’re happening, and how they will impact this customer segment.

28. Withings

Withings is a health and fitness brand that provides health-based devices and a health-tracking app called Withings Health Mate. When the brand updated the app, it also gave the app icon a fresh look.

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Withings’ rebrand announcement email took the opportunity to address both the product updates and the logo refresh. The email explained how these changes reflected the company mission and linked that back to how its company mission relates directly to helping its app users reach their fitness goals.

What I like: I love the user-centric nature of this sentence: “Each of these new features has brought us closer to our aim: to provide you with all the help you need to reach your health goals, whatever they may be.”

It’s a great example of centering customers within your messaging. When the rubber hits the road, messaging tends to resonate better when it’s more about them (your customers) and less about you.

29. A2X

A2X, an ecommerce accounting software that serves businesses and accountants, updated its branding, switching from using illustrated images to more human ones. The image below is an example of a pre-rebrand email. As you can see, the graphics used are illustrations rather than photos of actual humans.

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The image below is post-rebrand. The illustrated imagery in the first email is high-quality and professional. But I feel like adding an actual human makes the second email more engaging. I would also say the post-rebrand email makes me naturally trust the company more because it feels authentic.

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What I like: I think the ability to build trust between consumer and company is perhaps the biggest takeaway here, especially given:

“A consumer’s level of trust in a company drives revenue-generating behaviors such as the likelihood to purchase again, preference for a company over competitors, trial of unrelated products, and propensity to share personal data” (Forrester).

So, if you want to build trust (and drive revenue-generating behaviors), try using photos of real people in your emails. I personally don’t think the images even need to be overly “polished.”

You could use a screenshot from a company Zoom meeting rather than professional headshots, for example. The most important thing is that the people look real and genuinely relatable.

30. Zight

Zight (formerly known as CloudApp) is an all-in-one screen recorder. CloudApp switched to Zight in April 2023, saying: “The new name and brand identity align with our mission to create a happier and more productive workplace for all.”

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In my opinion, this rebranding announcement email example works because Zight has framed it through the customer’s lens. You can see the company has prioritized informing and reassuring existing customers about the changes.

To see this approach in action, look at how Zight takes the time to explain the changes at the start of the email. Then, the brand closes with a P.S. section that empathizes with the user (i.e., “We know name changes can be an adjustment”).

What I like: It’s a subtle touch, but I like the way Zight has bolded the information that will likely be most pertinent to existing users. This makes it easier for readers to scan the email and quickly see reassuring information like their application login and pricing remaining the same.

31. Vidico

Vidico is a video production agency for tech companies.

The company’s 2022 rebranding “was driven by customer feedback, which emphasized the need for a creative partner who truly understands their product,” says Vidico Marketing Manager Laura Chaves.

The rebrand included a revamped portfolio, a fresh website, a new logo, and updated visual elements.

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Vidico’s rebranding email announcement gives a short recap of what’s changed and why, plus how this impacts customers. There’s also a nice balance between the visual and written elements. The approach worked. According to Laura, the email achieved a 33% open rate and a 4% click rate.

What I like: I really like the clear “Explore the new Vidico” CTA button. I also like that the email includes a short and sweet overview of the rebrand, with the option to “Head to our blog” for people who would like to learn more.

32. Summit

Summit is a lead-scoring engine for marketing machines.

After over a year in development, Summit announced it was “open for general access with a refreshed brand.” New use cases for sales, marketing, and product teams inspired its new positioning and website.

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Summit’s rebranding email opens with an intriguing subject line, “Big news at Summit ⚡️” featuring the thunderbolt emoji (which is very similar to its logo).

So, right out of the gate, Summit announced a change and incorporated the brand identity into the subject line. There’s also a good mix of imagery, headings, and bolded text to create that email must-have — readability.

What I like: I appreciated the use of well-placed outbound links that explained and highlighted the new product use cases. I also like that Summit has taken the time to answer two customer-focused questions about 1) how the product has changed and 2) if there’s still a free version.

33. Hunter

Hunter is an all-in-one email outreach platform. Formerly named Email Hunter, the company was rebranded circa 2016 with a new name, logo, and website. The rebrand was inspired by how Hunter had expanded its service.

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Hunter’s rebranding announcement email starts by taking a minute to celebrate what’s been an incredible year. Then, the company introduces the “major rebrand,” explaining what has changed regarding its brand.

But what I think steals the show in this email is the paragraph explaining that nothing has changed for Hunter’s customer base.

What I like: I like that Hunter went with this subject line: “Email Hunter becomes… Hunter!” I like it because it does the job of announcing the rebrand while avoiding the format of “New Look, Same [Insert Brand].” Don’t get me wrong, that format also explains the email is about a rebrand, but it’s pretty predictable. I also love that Hunter takes the time to thank customers for their support at the end of the email.

34. Castos

Castos is a podcast hosting platform aimed at growing brands.

The company walked the walk of its niche by discussing the rebrand on its weekly podcast. The podcast went behind the scenes, sharing the why, what, and how of the new website, logo, and color scheme.

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Although the rebrand deep-dive came via podcast, Castos worked the rebrand announcement into its weekly Podcast Roundup email. The email incorporates elements of the new brand identity, including the new color scheme.

It also takes the opportunity to share a 50% off deal and coupon code for its integration partner, MemberSpace, as part of the announcement. If you have an offer that adds value to your customer base, why not share it with them?

What I like: I love both the clear CTAs, including the CTA for the coupon. That said, the bold purple CTA button for “Listen to the Episode” is especially eye-catching. I don’t know about you, but the power of purple compels me…

35. ConvertKit

Well-known creator marketing platform ConvertKit made the bold move to rename in 2018. Although the switch from ConvertKit to Seva was short-lived, the rebranding announcement email is an interesting example.

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The email starts by openly acknowledging the rename “seems completely crazy.”

From then on, it’s hard to look away because the energy of the email seems frenzied, but darn, is it authentic.

There’s also an excellent use of a media embed (the video of Nathan Barry’s keynote speech at Craft + Commerce) to break up the text.

What I like: I love that the email ends with “If you have questions, just hit reply!” In a landscape of emails that say, “This is an automated email, do not reply” (or thereabouts), this approach adds a personal touch.

36. Netlify

Netlify is a modern web development platform for enterprises that rebranded in March 2023. The Netlify rebrand centered around a new logo, which was “an exciting first step toward a whole new visual identity.”

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Netlify’s rebranding announcement featured the main event (the new logo) at the top of the email, with a side-by-side look at old versus new. This is a visually exciting way to show the changes in action while incorporating the new brand identity into email communications.

The copy is just as exciting to read, opening with: “A spark of inspiration from over 3M developers. A new logo for Netlify.” This killer line is followed by a clear explanation of why (and when) the logo change is happening, plus a solid CTA at the end.

What I like: I love the entire feel of this email. It seems like Netlify is legitimately excited about the new logo, and that energy shines through the copy and visuals.

37. Dig Insights

Dig Insights is a Market Research and Consumer Insights company that rebranded in 2022.

The aim was to move from a traditional research company to a more modern, tech-first one. As such, the company sent out a rebranding announcement email explaining the changes.

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To me, this email works because it has the company’s target audience in mind. For context, Dig Insights’ clients are in marketing, so they’ll probably be more curious about the “why” behind the rebrand (which Dig clearly explains.)

The email ends with a few words from the company’s CEO discussing the new visual direction, followed by a section dedicated to “What next?” I think marketers will also appreciate those elements.

What I like: You can’t see it from the screenshot, but I love that Dig Insights’ email announcement illustrated the rebrand with a GIF. Showing the before and after with visuals is an excellent interactive touch that clarifies what has changed.

38. Hable

Hable is a change management consultancy that helps people to work better with technology. Last year (2023), Hable reached a point where the brand needed a refresh.

The brand “hadn’t been updated in some time and was no longer reflective of who we were as an organization. We’d grown up a lot, and we needed our brand to grow up with us,” says Hable’s Communications Manager Rosie Burrows-Hall.

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Because it was a “major rebrand,” Hable wanted to send out a rebrand announcement email to all contacts communicating the “new era for the organization.”

I think they achieved what they set out to do. The email takes the time to explain the brand changes and why they happened.

Hable shares some background information about how they rebranded, too. But what gives it the extra special touch is that Hable links the changes back to its customers.

What I like: I really like the overall vibe of the email. It feels well-considered and genuinely sincere, especially when Hable describes its values. The layout is also effective, with a nice mixture of imagery, text, color, and white space that keeps the email visually interesting.

39. Engyne

Engyne is a full-fledged SEO platform for B2B SaaS startups.

Formerly launchman.com, the company offered a programmatic SEO tool that was more focused on the affiliate marketing space. Engyne rebranded last year in line with product growth and changes.

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The rebrand announcement email works because it explains the product evolution and how this has informed the brand refresh. It also does a three-step breakdown of what this means for existing users.

What I like: I like that this rebrand announcement comes directly from the founders and that they’re encouraging people to reply to the email with questions. Reassuring users that Engyne will be “responding to each and every” email response is another personalized touch.

40. EmailToolTester

EmailToolTester helps small-to-medium-sized businesses compare newsletters, CRMs, and marketing automation tools. In 2023, the company rebranded and sent out a rebranding announcement email.

“We kept it very simple and didn’t even mention the rebranding in our subject line,” says EmailToolTester Founder Robert Brandl. “The reason is that when a small business rebrands, it’s huge news for that business. But generally, others don’t care too much about it. That’s why we integrated it with our other content.”

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The simplicity of this rebranding email announcement speaks to me the most. It also focuses on adding value to the reader rather than centering the brand refresh.

EmailToolTester achieves this by sharing tips to increase email engagement, with only a subtle nod to the rebrand at the top of the email.

What I like: We could argue whether customers do or “don’t care too much” about company rebrands. I love to hear about company rebrands. But maybe you don’t. At the end of the day, it’s subjective.

That said, adding the brand announcement within a broader email has worked for EmailToolTester. That’s perhaps because they followed an approach that felt true to the brand and one they believed in.

Announcing Your Rebrand

We’ve looked at how 40 other companies announced their rebrands via email, and hopefully, you’re feeling inspired. But now it’s time for you to share your rebranding announcement email your way.

Providing the messaging is clear, the most critical element for success is taking an approach you believe in. Let’s break this down.

You can get the messaging clear by explaining the what/why of your rebrand and clearly communicating how any brand changes may or may not impact customers. If it makes sense (say, customers need to activate a new account), you’ll also want to cover what they need to do next.

But how do you follow a rebrand announcement approach that you believe in? Simple. (Well, kind of. Everything seems simple on paper, right?) Ask yourself if your rebranding announcement email resonates with your brand, values, and, perhaps most importantly, your customers.

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Simplify growth with an all-in-one platform. Powerful marketing, sales, and support automation. Integrated CMS. Scalable software. Crafted for customer experience.

Digging in to learn about YouTube SEO?

With video consumption at an all-time high, getting your videos at the top of the world’s largest video platform might seem difficult.

Here’s the good news: Ranking your YouTube videos doesn’t require technicalities or spammy tactics.

Instead, there are some key elements that the YouTube algorithm uses to rank the videos. YouTube SEO is about optimizing the videos around these elements and closely sticking to the algorithms.

That’s what it took us to scale our YouTube channel to around 399k subscribers and achieve the top spots for various search queries.

In this post, we’ll review proven YouTube SEO tips that have worked for HubSpot’s YouTube channel and will work for you, regardless of your channel size. Let’s get started.

How do your videos rank on YouTube?

YouTube Ranking Strategy

YouTube SEO Tips

YouTube SEO Checklist

YouTube SEO Tools

How do your videos rank on YouTube?

There’s no definite answer to this question.

To get videos to rank on YouTube, we must first understand the YouTube algorithm and YouTube’s ranking factors.

Like any search engine, YouTube wants to deliver content that answers the searcher’s query. For instance, if someone searches for “how to tie a tie,” YouTube won’t deliver a video titled “how to tie your shoelaces.”

Instead, it will serve search results that answer that specific query.

As you try your hand at YouTube SEO, think about how you can incorporate terms and phrases used by your target audience.

You’ll also need to think about YouTube analytics and engagement. When it ranks videos, YouTube cares about a metric called “watch time” — in other words, how long viewers stay on your video.

A long watch time means you deliver valuable content; a short watch time means your content should likely not rank.

If you want your videos to rank, create content optimized for longer watch times. You can, for instance, prompt users to stay until the end of the video by promising a surprise or a giveaway.

Is it worth optimizing videos on YouTube?

Optimizing your videos on YouTube reaps the same results as optimizing your pages for Google: higher rankings, more clicks, and better conversions!

Optimizing your videos can achieve the desired results on YouTube and even bolster your Google search engine ranking. Google suggests optimizing your videos to improve visibility and engagement.

If you’re actively solving your prospective customers’ problems with your YouTube videos, then you’ve done 90% of the YouTube optimization work.

In addition, ranking videos on YouTube is a key element of your inbound marketing strategy, even if it might not seem that way. As recently as a decade ago, inbound video marketing was a brand new idea.

Marketers were learning that they couldn’t just publish a high volume of content — it also had to be high-quality and optimized in ways that made it as discoverable as possible through search engines.

That content was once largely limited to the written word. Today, that’s no longer the case. Instead, a comprehensive content strategy includes written work like blogs and ebooks, as well as media like podcasts, visual assets, and videos.

And with the rise of other content formats comes the need to optimize them for search. One increasingly important place to do that is on YouTube.

If you’re feeling lost, don’t worry. We cover the most important YouTube SEO tips and strategies below so you can effectively optimize your content for YouTube searches.

YouTube SEO combines basic SEO practices with YouTube-specific optimization techniques. If you’re new to search engine optimization, check out this complete SEO guide.

YouTube Ranking Strategy

To be successful on YouTube, you’ll need a clear strategy. This strategy has two parts. First, you need to understand how YouTube SEO works.

Then, you’ll want to use that knowledge as you choose a target audience, develop a plan for your channel, and set goals for growth.

How does YouTube SEO work?

YouTube is part of Google, and it uses similar search algorithms to show users the videos that best match their search queries.

When a user searches a query on YouTube, the search robots scour the video platform to deliver the best results based on these algorithms. Watch this video to understand how YouTube search algorithms work:

The search algorithms evaluate various signals and elements to rank these videos, not only on YouTube but also on Google search results.

Search history and viewer personalization play a crucial role in customizing the results.

The algorithm also uses video performance and optimization to rank videos on YouTube.

Videos with more watch time likes, and shares are placed above those with lower engagement (or high bounce rates).

Additionally, the search engine robots can’t watch the video content but crawl through the text elements like title, description, tags, and video metadata.

Optimizing the videos with a relevant title, clear and concise description, and general and specific tags can help you place your videos better than the non-optimized ones.

When combined, these signals tell the algorithm how relevant, popular, or engaging your video post is for a user’s query.

Choose a target audience.

For many content creators, audience growth starts with picking a topic and then optimizing YouTube videos. But with growth comes competition.

It was once simple to create a YouTube channel for a broad topic like “product reviews” or “tech,” but today, new YouTube channels need a more specific focus.

As you narrow your target audience, think about who you want to engage with your channel and why. Ask yourself:

• How much do you know about your target audience?
• Why do they spend time on YouTube?
• What other social media platforms does your audience prefer?
• What inspires their interest and loyalty?
• Are there other YouTube channels or creators that you should partner with to connect with this audience?

Develop a plan.

Creating a content plan can seem simple if your YouTube channel centers on a topic you love. But most of the time, the challenge isn’t in coming up with ideas — it’s about making them happen.

Comprehensive content planning entails solid video creation capabilities with high-quality images, clear and concise video content or voiceover, a short and powerful title, long descriptive text, and a lot more.

If you want to optimize YouTube for SEO, content planning isn’t just about what videos you’re making and when to post them. It’s a process to figure out what resources you need to improve traffic, conversion, and engagement with your video content.

For example, you may have a great idea for a video about surfing, but where are you getting your footage? If you’re not recording yourself or your local community, it may be tough to find high-quality source material for your videos.

Building professional skills or a team with expertise in editing, sound, and animation can also boost the quality of your videos. But if those resources aren’t readily available to you, you may need a plan to create great videos without them.

Competitive analysis can also help with planning, whether you’re figuring out the right video length or where to promote your videos on other social platforms.

This free content planning template can help you create a solid plan for your YouTube strategy.

Featured Resource: Content Planning Templates

Set goals for growth.

YouTube offers many helpful metrics that can help you assess whether your team is meeting your strategic goals. Broad metrics can be helpful to track consistency and big shifts in performance, like algorithm changes.

But it’s also a good idea to choose focused metrics that align with your goals. For example, if you want to increase your audience, track your subscriber count, impressions, and audience retention.

If engagement is your goal, look at likes, comments, shares, and watch time. Driving web traffic? Add links to your video descriptions and annotations, then track those sources on your website.

Tracking the metrics that align with your goals will help you learn how you’re growing your audience. You can use that knowledge to create more effective videos for your users and SEO.

And that effort will help you keep growing your YouTube channel.

Perform keyword research.

A robust SEO strategy starts with effective keyword research. What search terms the searchers use to find their queries is monumental for SEO and YouTube strategists.

Type the main search term in the search bar, and YouTube search engine auto-suggests a long list of keywords, like Google.

Incorporating these keywords, a variation of keywords, and broad match phrases within the various elements of your YouTube video can bring the right audiences.

Kate Ross, SEO of Irresistible Me Hair Extensions, advises:

“When you’re working with YouTube SEO, think about where you’re placing your keywords. It’s like leaving breadcrumbs for viewers to find your videos. Put these keywords in your video’s file name, title, description, and tags. Imagine you’re giving YouTube a map to understand what your video is about.”

This YouTube video, for example, has the main keyword: “Free WordPress themes.” The main keyword is filled in the title, description, and hashtags. Thus, the video seems relevant to the searcher’s query of finding free WordPress themes.

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1. Rename your video file using a target keyword.

Your YouTube SEO efforts start even before you upload your video. The goal is not merely to rank it on YouTube — but also on Google.

Search robots don’t crawl the video content, only the source code of your video. By including the target keyword in the video file name, the YouTube algorithm can read the file name and all the code that comes with it when it’s uploaded.

With that in mind, replace the “business_ad_003FINAL.mov” file name (don’t be embarrassed — we’ve all been there during post-production) with your desired keyword.

For example, if your keyword is “house painting guide,” your file name should be “house-painting-guide,” followed by your preferred video file type (MOV, MP4, and WMV are some of the most common that are compatible with YouTube).

Pro tip: The best practice is to use a modifier with a keyword such as “best,” “how-to,” or “guide.”

2. Insert your keyword in the video title.

Video titles are the first point of contact for your viewers. In fact, they are an important element in helping your video index and rank.

If you have performed extensive keyword research, you’ll have a bunch of high-traffic and relevant keywords. So, your title should be as close to the user’s search terms as possible.

Be sure to include the exact keyword or a broad match at the very beginning of the title to get higher visibility.

Your video title should closely represent the content of your video. For example, this HubSpot video is titled “Brand Positioning,” which is also the target keyword of the video. The video content essentially describes ways to position your brand.

Lastly, make sure to keep your title fairly short — HubSpot campaigns manager Alicia Collins recommends limiting it to 60 characters to help keep it from getting cut off in results pages.

In fact, most of our best-performing videos have title lengths between 50-60 characters.

Pro tip: Longer titles tend to perform worse than videos with short and clear titles. This is not a rule of thumb, but it is highly advisable.

3. Optimize your video description.

As important as the title, the video description describes your content in detail. The good news is that you have 5,000 characters to flaunt your video content.

A video description is important for two reasons. First, it compels the viewer to click on the video, and second, it helps the algorithm identify your content through a combination of keywords.

When a user searches for a term, the search results page only displays a maximum of 120 characters. After that point, viewers have to click “show more” to see the full description.

That’s why we suggest front-loading the description with the most attractive information.

For the later part of the description, include the exact keywords with a blend of broad matches and phrases as you describe your content.

To add more context to the description, you can include the call-to-action (CTA) text that asks the viewers to subscribe, download a free ebook, or purchase a product.

Here’s an example of a great video description from Brand Master Academy that’s optimized around a variation of keywords.

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Notice how the video description consists of a variation of keywords in the content. The description also includes the timestamps with the relevant keywords.

It is also a good practice to include five to eight hashtags in the video description that align closely with the main keyword.

An optimized description can also help you show up in the suggested videos sidebar, which can be a great source of views.

Pro tip: If you need a high-performing video description, try one of these proven YouTube description templates.

Download These Templates for Free

4. Tag your video with popular keywords that relate to your topic.

YouTube suggests using tags to let viewers know what your video is about. But you’re not just informing your viewers — you’re also informing YouTube itself.

YouTube uses tags to understand the content and context of your video.

That way, YouTube figures out how to associate your video with similar videos, which can broaden your content’s reach. According to our experiment, targeted tags can help you appear on the sidebar of the video.

Note that YouTube tags are different from YouTube hashtags (more about it in tip 9). While the tags help understand the content of your video, hashtags provide relevancy to your content and anchor your viewers through similar hashtags.

The best practice is to use popular competitors’ tags to help YouTube understand it better. To find a tag, simply go to the View Source option and search for “keywords” to find the relevant tags.

Here’s an example of finding tags for one of our videos titled “How To Create a Marketing Campaign in 2024”:

Don’t use an irrelevant tag because you think it’ll get you more views — in fact, Google might penalize you for that.

And like your description, lead with the most important keywords, including a good mix of those that are common and more long-tail (as in, those that answer a question like “How do I?”).

Pro tip: Use these simple instructions to add and make the most of tags in your YouTube videos.

5. Categorize your video.

Categorizing the videos won’t boost your rankings or improve engagement. But, by selecting the relevant category, the YouTube algorithm gets an idea of what your video is about.

YouTube’s categories divide the large repository of videos on the search engine into different categories such as gaming, education, music videos, pets & animals, fashion, and more.

Once you upload a video, you can categorize it under “Advanced settings.”

It’s important to go through a comprehensive process to find which category each video belongs in. Answer questions like:

• Who are the top creators within the category? What are they known for, and what do they do well?
• Are there any patterns between the audiences of similar channels within a given category?
• Do the videos within a similar category share qualities like production value, length, or format?

Best for: Signaling to the YouTube algorithm what your video is about.

6. Upload a custom thumbnail image for your video’s result link.

Your video thumbnail is the main image viewers see when scrolling through a list of video results.

Thumbnails directly don’t affect your video SEO, but they surely boost the click-through rates (CTR). An average CTR between 2% and 10% is considered ideal and gives a positive or negative signal to the YouTube system.

While you can always pick one of the thumbnail options auto-generated by YouTube, you will notice a significant difference in clicks between the two.

Also, a custom thumbnail with a company logo is memorable and doesn’t get lost in the large pool of videos.

Joshua Uebergang, the director of Digital Darts, notes that a video’s thumbnail is the first thing viewers see on YouTube and in search results. It’s important to make it eye-catching.

“The secret is to craft your thumbnail before making the video, not at the time of upload, so the video itself delivers on the thumbnail. The best YouTubers sort out their thumbnail and title before hitting record,” Uebergang says.

He also recommends taking inspiration from competitors or similar videos.

“Look at the top videos of high-performing channels to see the thumbnails of their best videos. Sort the videos on the channel by the most popular videos. Identify the words or styles that can be mimicked, then add your style to it. Never copy,” says Joshua.

YouTube recommends using images that are 1280×720 pixels — representing a 16:9 ratio — that are saved as 2MB or smaller .jpg, .gif, .bmp, or .png files.

If you follow those parameters, it can help confirm that your thumbnail appears equally high-quality across multiple viewing platforms.

Here’s the screenshot of the video thumbnails from our HubSpot YouTube channel. Note how we have used the text and a presenter’s face to pique the viewer’s interest.

While the text in the thumbnail refers to the content of your video, the face signifies the authenticity of the video by a real person.

Insider Science also uses custom thumbnails with images that resemble the content and text to arouse curiosity.

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It’s important to note that your YouTube account has to be verified to upload a custom thumbnail image. To do that, visit youtube.com/verify and follow the instructions listed there.

What we like: Creating your own thumbnails allows you to be in charge of how your videos are presented to viewers.

7. Use an SRT File to add subtitles and closed captions.

Like much of the other text we’ve discussed here, subtitles and closed captions can boost YouTube search optimization by highlighting important keywords since the YouTube algorithm can read the texts in the source code and video.

Your subtitles and closed captions not only help with YouTube SEO but also increase the engagement of your video. Videos with captions witness a 12% increase in watch time comparatively.

However, it depends on whether you use a closed caption or a subtitle for your video.

Closed captions or transcripts are the textual representation of the audio in the same language as the audio file — including noises, such as “door open,” “exhale-inhale,” and more. Video captions assist hearing-impaired viewers to understand the video content.

Video subtitles represent the audio in different languages. Assuming that the viewers can hear the audio, the subtitles provide a useful translation into various languages.

With roughly 20% of the world’s population as native English speakers, it makes sense to use a multi-language transcription in the video.

For example, our team at HubSpot incorporates subtitles in the video that translate into multiple languages, making it accessible to non-native English speakers.

To add subtitles or closed captions to your video, you’ll have to upload a supported text transcript or timed subtitles file. For the former, you can also directly enter transcript text for a video so that it auto-syncs with the video.

Adding subtitles follows a similar process, but you can limit the amount of text you want displayed. For either, head to your video manager, then click on “Videos” under “Video Manager.”

Find the video you want to add subtitles or closed captioning to, and click the drop-down arrow next to the edit button. Then, choose “Subtitles/CC.” You can then choose how you’d like to add subtitles or closed captioning.

Pro tip: Find out how to add closed captions to your YouTube video in the video below:

8. Add Cards and End Screens to increase your YouTube channel’s viewership.

Cards

When you’re watching a video, have you ever seen a small white, circular icon with an “i” in the center appear in the corner or a translucent bar of text asking you to subscribe?

Those are info Cards, which YouTube describes as “preformatted notifications that appear on desktop and mobile which you can set up to promote your brand and other videos on your channel.”

You can add up to five cards to a single video, and there are six types:

1. Channel cards that direct viewers to another channel.
2. Donation cards to encourage fundraising on behalf of U.S. nonprofit organizations.
3. Fan funding to ask your viewers to help support the creation of your video content.
4. Link cards, which direct viewers to an external site, an approved crowdfunding platform, or an approved merchandise-selling platform.
5. Poll cards, which pose a question to viewers and allow them to vote for a response.
6. Video or playlist cards, which link to other YouTube content of this kind.

For detailed steps on adding a card to your video, follow these official steps from Google or check out the video below:

End Screens

End screens display similar information as cards, but as you may have guessed, they don’t display until a video is over and are a bit more visually detailed.

A good example is the overlay with a book image and a visual link to view more on the video below:

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Here’s another example of how HubSpot uses the end screens to encourage its viewers to subscribe to the channel or jump to another video.

There are a number of detailed instructions for adding end screens depending on what kind of platform you want to design them for, as well as the different types of content allowed for them by YouTube.

Google outlines the details of how to optimize for those considerations here.

It’s important to note that YouTube is always testing end screens to try to optimize the viewer experience, so there are times when “your end screen, as designated by you, may not appear.”

Take these factors into account as you decide between using either cards or end screens.

These factors may seem a bit complicated and time-consuming, but remember: The time people spend watching YouTube has more than doubled year over year.

There’s an audience to be discovered there, and when you optimize for YouTube, your chances of being discovered increase.

What we like: Cards and end screens allow you to incorporate CTAs in subtle but impactful ways.

9. Add hashtags to increase reach.

Hashtags are a part of the YouTube user interface that allows you to add related terms to your content, just as you would on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Hashtags show up right above your video title for easy clicking and discoverability. You can use your company name, as HubSpot does below, or include related keywords.

We also recommend using hashtags in your YouTube description, but don’t go overboard; the YouTube algorithm constantly checks for spam.

Overly hashtagging may get you inadvertently flagged. Instead of using every hashtag you can think of, choose two to three that you feel most accurately describe your video.

To search for the hashtags related to your video content, you can leverage the auto-suggest feature. By typing in the main keyword, the search engine suggests you with a string of keywords that are searched around that topic.

Note how Neil Patel uses a few hashtags in his video that’s centered around achieving ROI from content marketing.

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Best for: Increasing the findability of your videos through relevant topic searches.

10. Create a playlist about your video’s general topic.

Playlists are a great way to organize your videos into a compiled theme. With over 37% of millennials engaged on YouTube daily, creating a playlist for your channel can create an easy walkthrough of the videos.

The best practice is to group your videos in keyword-optimized playlists or a theme.

This won’t only signal to YouTube what your videos are about, but it will also keep viewers clicking from video to video, increasing your view count and, by extension, your rankings.

For example, Yoga with Kassandra grouped all of its short yoga classes in a playlist titled “5-15 min Yoga Classes.”

Not only is the title short and descriptive, but the playlist description includes related keywords such as “10-minute yoga classes,” “10-minute morning yoga stretches,” and “bedtime yoga classes.”

At HubSpot, we use this strategy to segment our videos based on the viewer’s interest. Each of these videos falls under the labeled theme so that users can jump to another video from the same playlist.

Best for: Brands that have multiple videos covering similar topics.

11. Experiment with video length.

Just like longer blog posts perform better than short blog posts (<1,000 words), longer videos outrank the shorter ones.

The longer a viewer stays on the page, the YouTube algorithm gets a positive signal for a higher engagement — leading it to rank better among others. So, don’t shy away from making your video as long as you can.

After all, the user is seeking a detailed answer to its query. Though the length may vary from one niche to another, the optimal video length is around 11 minutes.

For instance, the majority of Mr. Beast’s videos range from 13 minutes to 20 minutes, which we think is ideal for the audience type and content.

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However, that’s not a magical number or an obligation. Not every person on YouTube will stick around for 10 minutes or more.

For example, over 70% of watch time on YouTube happens on mobile devices. While some people can watch an hour-long video on a small screen, this figure shows how important it is to know your audience.

To find the right watch time for your audience, try creating videos of varying lengths. Then, do a quick analysis of the watch time, average view duration, and audience retention for each video and adjust your strategy.

Pro tip: Longer videos tend to bring more opportunities for ads and higher chances of earnings.

12. Use YouTube’s autocomplete feature.

This feature makes it simple to find the most popular search terms for your video topic.

Just start typing a keyword phrase (or a seed keyword) and see what other keywords and phrases come up. Then, add the most relevant terms to your title, descriptions, and tags.

You can also use this tool to discover top YouTube trends or to figure out which keywords your competitors are targeting. These insights can help you pivot your YouTube SEO strategy for better results.

Pro tip: Check out this post for more useful YouTube features.

13. Try timestamps.

Timestamps mark different sections of your videos. They make it easy for your audience to find the content they’re looking for within each video.

Adding a timestamp can improve retention and user experience because it sets expectations. Timestamps give watchers an easy way to jump to what they want to see in a video or a reason to wait for that section to appear on-screen.

Timestamps also improve SEO because they make it easier for YouTube’s algorithm to understand your video content. This helps your video appear for search terms within your video, not just the overall theme of your video.

For example, if your video is about baking a cake, your video might include sections on baking equipment or cake trends like geode cakes.

If you add timestamps to mark these sections, a user might not find your video when searching for “how to make a cake” because of competition for this keyword, but they could find it by searching for “how to make a geode cake.”

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You can manually add a timestamp or add and edit automatic video chapters with YouTube Studio. You can also look into different YouTube automation strategies and tools to speed up this process.

Best for: Segmenting long videos and helping YouTube understand the content of your videos.

14. Add a call-to-action in your video and video description.

CTAs are a powerful way to foster engagement. A CTA that offers value not only encourages likes, subscribes, and shares, but it can also improve viewer engagement metrics.

This can boost your video’s visibility in search results and the suggested video feature.

For maximum effectiveness, vary your CTAs. There are around eight different types of CTAs to drive visitors to your website or any product pages.

In one video, you might do a verbal CTA asking viewers to like, subscribe, or share. For another video, ask your audience to bookmark your video or click shared links in your description.

You’ll also want to ask your viewers to share comments and feedback. These actions aren’t just valuable for user experience. They also give signals to YouTube that your video is engaging and offering value to your viewers.

Here’s a standout example of how Cindy uses a “Subscribe” CTA to constantly remind her viewers to subscribe.

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Pro tip: Check out these CTA examples for inspiration.

15. Review YouTube search analytics.

While analytics are useful for tracking progress toward your goals, you can also actively use this data to improve your YouTube SEO.

Say you’re trying to figure out why traffic suddenly jumped up for one of your videos. It might be that your video is ranking for a popular keyword. Or a popular website recently added your video.

You can dig into the video-specific data and see why that jump happened. Then, you can figure out how to optimize other videos with the same tactics.

YouTube analytics can also help you anticipate keywords that are increasing in popularity. Optimizing your videos for those keywords early on gives you a better chance of ranking higher in those search results.

Finally, your analytics can help you better understand your audience. It’s not unusual to start a YouTube channel with an intended audience and then see those demographics shift over time.

Analyzing the age, location, and interests of your real-time audience can help you make smart changes.

Most SEOs recommend keeping an eye on these metrics to map the success of your efforts:

• Watch time.
• Average watch duration.
• Impressions and click-through rate.
• Card clicks.
• Unique viewers.
• Traffic sources.
• Subscriber growth.

What we like: YouTube search analytics give you the hard numbers to see where you’re succeeding and where you have room to improve.

16. Optional: Leave a pinned comment on your video.

Leaving a comment on your video might seem over the top, but it’s a smart strategy. Not only do more comments improve your video’s rankability, but they can generate high levels of audience engagement.

A pinned comment may result in hundreds of replies, like it did for Matt D’Avelia below:

Be sure to leave an engaging comment that furthers the conversation or offers more value for readers.

Here at HubSpot, for example, we leave a resource pinned so that viewers can further their knowledge on the topic.

Pro tip: Check out this post for more on YouTube comment management.

To sum up everything we’ve just covered, here’s a quick checklist for you to go through when making sure you’ve done everything you can to optimize your YouTube videos.

1. Choose a target keyword for your video. This can be a topic, a question, or a highly specific query. If you’re not sure of the right target keyword, use a keyword research tool or simply explore YouTube’s existing content library for inspiration.

2. Include the target keyword in the file name. Don’t use spaces between each word, but rather dashes (-) or underscores (_).

3. Include the target keyword in the title. Next up, work the target keyword into the title of your video, but be creative, and be sure to do it naturally. You don’t want the title to simply be “[keyword].”

The title is the first thing users will see, so try to create intrigue and interest while promising to help the viewer in some way.

4. Include the keyword, as well as keyword variations, in the video description. The video description is the lifeblood of your YouTube SEO strategy. Write a natural description with one to two mentions of your target keyword, as well as variations of this keyword.

5. Add related tags to your video. While most users don’t use tags to find videos, they can help the YouTube algorithm categorize your video and serve it to the appropriate audience.

Add around five to eight industry tags, being sure not to overdo it so that you’re not flagged as spam.

6. Add your video category. While not as specific as tags, categories help users find your video and help the YouTube algorithm understand what your video is about.

Categories come into play on the homepage, the explore page, and the sidebar menu.

7. Upload a custom video thumbnail. Create a thumbnail that includes either a variation of your keyword or a short phrase that could generate clicks (like “1,000 organic followers, fast!”).

As mentioned, you’ll need to verify your YouTube channel to get access to custom thumbnail uploads.

8. Add subtitles and closed captions. Subtitles and closed captions are a much-needed accessibility component of your videos. They also indirectly help you optimize for YouTube search by giving YouTube a text version of your video content.

9. Add cards and end screens that tie into the topic of your video. Cards are equivalent to internal and external linking, and end screens allow you to engage viewers during those critical last few seconds when a viewer might be tempted to click on another piece of content.

10. Add hashtags to your video. Hashtags are different from tags. They show up above your video title and help you increase reach and authority by further signaling what your video is about.

11. Create a playlist about your overarching topic. One of the best ways to optimize YouTube videos is to create playlists.

Finding a few related videos and putting them in a playlist will not only attract more viewers, but it will also help the YouTube algorithm understand how your video relates to others in your upload library.

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12. Optional: Leave a pinned comment to generate engagement or provide more value. As a brand, you can and should comment on your own videos — not only to reply to your commenters but to offer more value to readers.

Now, most of the SEO tips above rely on you finding a keyword and promoting your video correctly. And not all of those tips can be carried out through YouTube alone.

To get the most bang for your videography buck, consider some of the tools below to optimize your video for search.

1. HubSpot SEO Marketing Software

Our SEO marketing software, developed here at HubSpot, allows you to find popular keywords for creating content and organizing keywords into groupings — what we call “topic clusters.”

By sorting your content into topic clusters, you can oversee which pieces of content are related to one another, which types of content you have planned, and what you’ve already created.

While the keywords you discover in HubSpot reflect their popularity in a standard Google search, many of these topics will also produce videos on Google’s search engine results pages.

In those cases, you can create topic clusters that have both blog and YouTube content belonging to them.

Clustering your content — and linking from videos to blog posts, and vice-versa — can give you more authority in the eyes of Google and YouTube, while giving you more ways to capture traffic from the people searching your topic.

Pro tip: HubSpot integrates with YouTube for useful dashboards and performance tracking.

2. Ahrefs Keywords Explorer

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO platform that allows you to monitor a website’s ranking, estimate the organic traffic you’d get from each keyword, and research keywords for which you might want to create new content.

One popular feature of Ahrefs is Keywords Explorer, which allows you to look up details related to a keyword you’re interested in.

And, as you can see in the screenshot above, you can filter your keyword results by search engine — including YouTube.

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer gives you a keyword’s monthly search volume, how many clicks for videos ranking for that keyword, related keywords, and more.

3. Canva

You might know Canva as a design template for creating all kinds of cards, photos, logos, and more. It just so happens that this popular product has a Thumbnail Creator for YouTube videos.

As stated in the tips above, thumbnail images are critical to promoting your content in YouTube search results and enticing users to click on your video.

Using Canva’s Thumbnail Creator, you can create the perfect preview image for your video in 1280 x 720 pixels — the thumbnail dimensions YouTube requires.

4. vidIQ Vision

This is a Chrome extension, available through Chrome’s web store in the link above, that helps you analyze how and why certain YouTube videos perform so well.

This includes the tags a video has been optimized for, its average watch time, and even how quickly that video might be gaining traffic.

The vidIQ tool then gives an SEO “score” you can use to create content that performs (or outperforms) the results you already see on YouTube.

5. TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy is an all-in-one video platform that helps you manage the production, optimization, and promotion of your YouTube content.

Its features include an automatic language translator (which helps you rank for non-English keywords), a keyword explorer, tag suggestions, a rank tracker for your published videos, and more.

6. Cyfe

Cyfe is a large software suite that offers, among other things, a YouTube analytics platform. On this platform, you can track performance on YouTube and on your site.

In addition to traffic analytics, Cyfe can show you which keywords you’re ranking for and which ones are most popular across various search engines. Sounds a lot like Google Analytics or Moz, right?

That’s because Cyfe has data from both of those tools and more built into it.

Start Optimizing YouTube Videos

Video marketing is crucial for businesses and creators. No matter what SEO tip or tool you start with, a successful YouTube channel begins with good content.

Make sure your viewers have something high-quality and relevant to watch when they find you.

Optimizing your YouTube videos can help attract more views and build community — and lead to more conversions and sales. So, start today and watch your YouTube channel grow.

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

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.