Account based marketing isn’t just another channel or tactic. It’s a strategic approach that flips the traditional funnel. Instead of casting a wide net, ABM teams select high-propensity accounts. From there, marketers align revenue teams around orchestrated, personalized, and multi-channel programs tailored to buying groups within those accounts.

 

So, marketing doesn’t “throw leads over the wall.” In ABM, marketers co-own an account plan with sales or customer success, share a single view of the buying group, and run coordinated touches across channels to amplify engagement.

As the founder of the NextGenABM, I’ve seen this tactic lead to game-changing growth. Over the past decade, I’ve helped B2B teams break into prospect accounts, from the Fortune 500 to fast-growing startups. I’ve seen the benefits of shifting from manual tactics to automated, AI-assisted marketing orchestration using a strategic ABM approach.

In this guide, I’ll share how I build AI-powered ABM programs to tackle Fortune 500 IT deals and why they work.

Table of Contents

• How ABM Works (and Why It’s Different)
• The Fortune 500 IT Landscape
• Why AI-Enabled ABM Orchestration Outperforms Your Traditional Marketing
• ABM in an AI-First World
• The AI-Enabled Orchestration Advantage: Scalability, Speed, Consistency
• Manual vs. AI-Powered ABM Orchestration
• Core Pillars of AI-Powered Automated ABM Orchestration
• The Framework for Winning Fortune 500 IT Deals
• The Framework in Action [Case Study]
• Practical Tips for ABM Marketers
• Q&A

How ABM Works (and Why It’s Different)

Account based marketing (ABM) strategies identify specific target accounts first. Then, teams develop comprehensive marketing and sales strategies designed exclusively for those potential customers. Using software like HubSpot ABM can make the process easy to manage.

ABM success drives real revenue for businesses. In a Forrester and RollWorks poll, personalized advertising strategies resulted in a 60% higher win rate for companies. Beyond that, 58% of B2B marketers closed larger deals after using ABM advertising.

When the process works, three things happen:

• Tighter sales/marketing alignment throughout the process.
• Sharper messaging (because campaigns are built on dynamic account intelligence).
• Cleaner hand-offs (because everyone is looking at the same data and milestones).

Pro tip: ABM focuses sales and marketing resources on high-value accounts. For example, HubSpot ABM tools help marketing and sales teams target Fortune 500 IT decision makers with personalized campaigns that address their unique technical and business challenges.

The Fortune 500 IT Landscape

As companies build an AMB strategy, marketing and sales teams need to create campaigns tailored for each potential buyer. The first step is knowing how most enterprise organizations are structured. From there, teams can identify which accounts to target.

Enterprise IT buying is a consensus-driven decision. I’ve seen committees include at least six to ten stakeholders across functions (IT, finance, operations, security, procurement, etc.). Some stakeholders evaluate technical fit, others scrutinize risk, budget, and ROI.

With so many stakeholders involved in purchasing decisions, ABM must speak to each buyer persona with consistent narratives and experiences. IT decision-making at mid-market businesses operates in a completely different universe from enterprise companies.

So, if you want to sell to Fortune 500 IT decision makers, you have to understand both what their organizations need and how they buy. Here’s the landscape your ABM strategy has to confront head-on.

Structure of Enterprise IT Committees

Fortune 500 IT teams have many decision-makers who need to sign off on new purchases. According to Gartner, teams encounter buying groups of five to 11 stakeholders across five business functions when selling a B2B product. HubSpot ABM and other tools can help navigate that complex landscape at Fortune 500 IT companies.

Often, sales reps are selling to a senior team member like an IT vice president or director. That buyer will have to convince their boss that the product is worth the investment. The target buyer could also escalate the request to the CIO or CTO, depending on the offering or price tag.

ABM teams also need to provide value for lower-level stakeholders. Enterprise architects may need to evaluate technical fit. Individual contributors have to see how the tool will make their jobs easier. Then, sellers need to make sure solutions align with any legal and procurement requirements managed outside of the IT team.

Each company’s buying process will be different. ABM marketers and salespeople need to understand both the requirements and structures of each target company before building an ABM strategy.

Buying Triggers for Fortune 500 IT Decision Makers

Once ABM teams know what buyers to target, they need to understand the signals that lead to purchases. Leadership changes, urgent market trends, and transformation initiatives can push decision-makers to purchase helpful solutions. Marketers and sales reps can track these signals with HubSpot ABM and send key messages at the right time.

New Leadership or Organizational Shifts

Nothing shakes up the status quo like new leadership. ABM teams should monitor press releases, earnings calls, and LinkedIn updates. When a target account announces a new CIO or undergoes a major reorg, that’s a great GTM signal. Fresh leaders often come in with a mandate to drive change, which can include adopting new technologies.

Crisis Moments and Urgent Needs

Enterprise giants may be slow to move, but a crisis will light a fire under them. Urgent events — like major security breaches, system failures, or compliance deadlines — can also rapidly accelerate a buying process.

I once had a prospect go dark for months until their legacy system suffered a high-profile outage. Overnight, their “not interested” turned into “let’s talk now.”

Budget Cycles and Transformation Initiatives

Enterprise purchasing is often related to budget cycles and big strategic initiatives. I’ve seen target accounts that were unresponsive in Q3 come alive in Q1 simply because new budget was kicking in.

Similarly, if a company launches a digital transformation project or a cost-cutting initiative, teams become much more receptive to new solutions.

Why AI-Enabled ABM Orchestration Outperforms Your Traditional Marketing

Account-based marketing involves creating customized marketing and sales assets for each Fortune 500 IT decision maker. Automation, like HubSpot ABM, can help with that personalization at scale.

The Limits of Manual Orchestration

Teams can have the best strategists and savvy salespeople, but here’s the truth. The manual approach to account based marketing will only get teams so far. The biggest barriers created by manual ABM include:

• Too much data to analyze. Marketers and sales reps can’t reliably time outreach when insight is siloed.
• Too much content to hand-craft. Personalization of landing pages, email sequences, and content libraries at 20+ accounts becomes unsustainable.
• Too many moving parts. Multi-threaded sequences across roles and channels are hard to maintain without automation.

Pain Points Marketers Keep Running Into

I still remember the first time I tried to land a Fortune 500 account with account-based marketing. I was the lone marketer at a small tech startup. I lived in spreadsheets, built tailored decks for each account, and constantly coordinated with sales. In that role, my team missed a few key decision-makers simply because we couldn’t keep straight who had seen what messages in which channel.

That experience shaped how I operate today: If you want to win over enterprise decision-makers, especially with a lean marketing team, you need automation and orchestration. Here are other common roadblocks that teams need to solve for.

1. Data Overload in Disconnected Systems

One of the first challenges I faced was information overload. There’s so much data available, but it lives in silos.

In the past, my sales counterparts and I would dig through CRM records, marketing automation reports, third-party intent signals, and first-party product engagements to piece together a clear picture of the targeted accounts. Without a unified view of account insights, it’s nearly impossible to confidently pinpoint a buyer’s biggest challenges or time your outreach right.

HubSpot ABM allows teams to see trends in their centralized data. ABM marketing teams can then send Fortune 500 IT decision makers the information they need at key moments. The manual process lacks that oversight.

2. Endless Personalization Demands

Another pain point was the amount of customized content we needed. To resonate with each top account (and key buying groups within those accounts), ABM teams can’t rely on generic one-sheets or a single deck.

At one point, I had a laundry list of custom landing pages, bespoke email sequences, and personalized whitepapers for every target company. Manually tailoring content was exhausting and unsustainable.

HubSpot ABM and other tools can create personalized content faster. For example, HubSpot ABM allows you to flag sales enablement content that works best for each type of Fortune 500 decision maker.

3. Timing and Coordination Chaos

Coordinating timing, inbound content efforts, and outreach is a real-life challenge in ABM. Marketers could have one executive receive a follow-up too late, while another stakeholder at the same company was bombarded with marketing emails.

When competitors are moving faster with automated systems, manual teams lose business. HubSpot ABM can keep track of that timing so reps never miss a moment.

ABM in an AI-First World

Knowing which buyers to target and getting them tailored content can be a lengthy manual process. Automated account based marketing can make the process faster. HubSpot ABM is one AI-powered tool that helps with personalization at scale. Here are other benefits of AI-powered ABM.

1:1 Contextual Messaging at Scale

AI helps match role, industry, and live intent to the right narrative, then fills the last mile with contextual snippets (e.g., proof points, customer logos, risk language). The result is human-sounding messages tailored to each buyer at scale.

Automated Multichannel Campaigns Triggered by Behavior

Instead of static “drip” tracks, ABM marketers can orchestrate plays triggered by key events. For example, a CTO who consumes integration content will be served a deep-dive invite. Meanwhile, a CEO or CFO who opens a TCO model sees ROI proof in the next touch.

Timely Outreach Driven by Signals

Speed matters in enterprise deals. Savvy ABM marketers set thresholds that alert sales at the right moments. Reps may get a notification when a new exec is hired, intent surges, or a customer visits the same page multiple times. These AI-driven callouts reduce guesswork. Humans can then jump in when they add the most value, while automation handles the rest.

The AI-Enabled Orchestration Advantage: Scalability, Speed, Consistency

Automated ABM orchestration allows teams to personalize at scale and engage IT committees with the precision and consistency that enterprise buyers expect. Instead of choosing between quality and quantity, automation offers both. HubSpot ABM can help you scale that process.

You can quickly build personalized experiences.

With automation, speed becomes your competitive advantage. In the past, crafting personalized account messaging took days. Today, automated systems can use account intelligence to identify key stakeholders and launch personalized sequences.

ABM orchestration allows you to personalize at scale and engage IT committees. This responsiveness is crucial when dealing with enterprise buying cycles that can shift quickly based on budgets, leadership changes, or competitive pressure.

You can make the most of your data.

In the past, manual processes led to siloed data. Today, automated ABM systems unify all buyer information, so teams can identify real pain points instead of guessing.

For example, HubSpot ABM tracks every prospect touch point. Teams can see engagement and score accounts based on stakeholder behavior. They can then see what prospects interact with, helping better understand buyer challenges and serve up the right marketing assets to address the main points.

You can tailor messaging for each person on the account.

Automated systems can help you craft compelling messages for every member of the buying committee while maintaining cohesion. HubSpot ABM can help you identify Fortune 500 decision makers and craft content that addresses their questions.

The CTO gets technical deep-dives. The procurement lead receives ROI documentation. The business sponsor sees transformation case studies.

Each message is delivered with perfect timing and brand consistency, speaking to the same underlying challenge. With automated ABM, teams won’t have to worry about confusing accounts or sending the wrong thing to the wrong buyer.

Manual vs. AI-Powered ABM Orchestration

Factor	Manual ABM (what you end up doing)	Automated orchestration (what “good” looks like)	How HubSpot ABM can help
Account research	One-off desk research across CRM, insights go stale quickly.	Unified account profile (firmographic, technographic, intent, engagement) updated on a schedule	HubSpot ABM combines 100+ data sources with predictive intent scoring
Stakeholder mapping	Focus on titles, but hidden influencers missed	Focus on buying roles and buying groups; alerts for role gaps (e.g., “no decision maker”)	HubSpot ABM provides dynamic role mapping with influence scoring specifically designed for Fortune 500 decision makers
Sequence coordination	Ad-hoc timings, with possible overlaps and gaps, easy to go off-message across roles	AI-powered, tailored sequencing by roles and prior engagements	There is cross-stakeholder sequence coordination optimized for Fortune 500 decision makers’ complex buying cycles
Data integration	Manual updates, error-prone	Governed syncs (MAP↔CRM↔enrichment) with rules	HubSpot ABM offers native CRM integration with automatic enrichment
Campaign scalability	Limited	More scalable when plays are modular and tiered (1:1 / 1:few / 1:many)	HubSpot ABM enables enterprise-grade scaling with templates and workflows
Response time	24-72 hours to react (manual routing/creative)	Minutes to hours via alerts and automations	Team can access real-time personalization designed for the fast-paced needs of Fortune 500 decision makers
Consistency	Varies by workload; message drift across teams is common	Repeatable, policy-backed execution; guardrails (frequency caps, suppression) enforced	HubSpot ABM delivers brand-consistent messaging with AI-generated personalization
ROI measurement	Patchy attribution, hard to tie multi-threaded touches to revenue	Sourced + influenced pipeline tracked at account level; time-in-stage and velocity visible	HubSpot ABM offers attribution reporting with revenue impact tracking

Core Pillars of AI-Powered Automated ABM Orchestration

Effective automated ABM systems need a unified customer data platform and an AI-powered orchestration engine to win Fortune 500 accounts. HubSpot ABM offers these features out of the box.

Let’s dive into these key infrastructure elements.

A Unified Customer Data Platform (CDP)

Scattered data kills ABM effectiveness. The foundation of any successful ABM is a unified customer data platform that aggregates information about potential buyers. A CDP should gather:

• Firmographic data (e.g., information about the company’s size, industry, and tech stack).
• Technographic data, or current software and infrastructure preferences.
• Intent signals, including both first and third-party intent data.

The magic happens when these data streams converge in real-time. Instead of manually updating spreadsheets with account intelligence, a CDP continuously enriches profiles with fresh insights. This approach identifies buying signals weeks before manual processes would catch them, giving sales reps and marketers crucial early-mover advantages in competitive deals.

Further, unified data platforms enable account intelligence and drive larger deal sizes. When teams have a complete view of an enterprise account, sales reps can position solutions that address broader transformation initiatives.

An AI-Powered Orchestration Engine

Of marketers, 25% report difficulty knowing which accounts their ABM initiatives should target. AI-driven predictive account scoring makes the process easy.

AI can analyze hundreds of signals simultaneously. The algorithm considers engagement patterns, organizational changes, budget cycles, and competitive intelligence to generate dynamic account scores. This means ABM teams always work on the highest-potential opportunities first.

From there, AI can determine the optimal channel and content combination for each stakeholder. A technical decision-maker might receive detailed whitepapers via email, while the business sponsor gets executive briefings through LinkedIn and personalized video messages.

The right AI orchestration engine not only identifies what to send but also knows when to send it. When a new CTO arrives or a pricing page lights up, the system adjusts timing and surfaces the next best action.

This intelligent scheduling extends beyond individual touches to coordinate cross-stakeholder sequences. The buying groups can then get complementary messages that build consensus rather than creating confusion.

Pro tip: Teams already using HubSpot have access to an AI-powered engine. Lead-scoring is already baked into Marketing Hub, so marketers can find the right accounts to target. Then, HubSpot ABM software can help reps personalize messages for those buyers.

The Framework for Winning Fortune 500 IT Deals

• Step 1: Account intelligence gathering and unified view
• Step 2: Buying committee mapping
• Step 3: Multi-channel orchestration
• Step 4: Personalized engagement and content
• Step 5: Unified analytics

At this point, we’ve covered a lot of concepts. Let’s get practical. How do you actually execute an automated ABM program, step by step? In this section, I’ll walk you through a framework I’ve used to successfully target Fortune 500 IT decision makers.

Step 1: Account Intelligence Gathering and Unified View

Start by defining a crisp ICP for the target accounts: firmographics, technographics, operating model, etc. Then, leverage the following into a single account profile.

• CRM/CDP data.
• Enrichment and intent information.
• Marketing automation data.
• Product analytics.
• Web analytics.

ABM teams can use that information to operationalize this ideal customer persona into the marketing system by tagging target accounts. From there, all revenue teams have the same source of truth when it comes to who to target, how, and when.

Then, use AI to define and categorize those accounts into Tiers. I blend fit (ICP tier), intent (topic research), and behavior (multi-persona, multi-threads engagement) into one measure to categorize those accounts into Tiers.

Step 2: Buying Committee Mapping

Next, map the decision-making and influencing buying groups:

• Decision makers (CIO/CTO/VP IT).
• Champions (IT directors/enterprise architects).
• Budget holders (finance/procurement)
• And influencers (security, data, business, compliance).

I capture their personas based on “job to be done”, not just their titles: who forwards decks, who attends calls, who asks implementation questions. I also operationalize them into the system to build the orchestration foundation.

Goal checking: Upon completion, I aim to have the following fields aligned with cross-functional teams and operationalized in the system.

• “Target Account” property that identifies companies in the ABM program.
• “Ideal Customer Profile Tier” segments accounts by strategic priority
• “Buying Role” maps stakeholder influence within each account.

Step 3: Multi-Channel Orchestration

With the committee mapped, ABM teams can orchestrate coordinated engagement programs across online/offline, inbound/outbound, and marketing/sales channels. Teams can also build a combination of time-based and behavior-based rules to pace the orchestrated journey:

• Multi-persona engagement spike → short executive sequence for the CIO with a value brief and reference offers
• Stalled account → pivot to light nurture with a data-driven story

Step 4: Personalized Engagement and Content

Personalization needs to happen at two levels: engagement strategy and content. For engagement, teams should decide between one-to-one, one-to-few, one-to-many, and scale/automated, based on the account tiering.

I typically maintain a matrix by role, industry, and solution with reusable modules (headlines, proof points, quotes). As a result, 80% is standardized, 20% tokenized. I also leverage the mapped buying committee to send tailored outreach (e.g., a CIO sees a transformation brief and TCO model, an architect gets integration diagrams, etc.).

Step 5: Unified Analytics

Finally, create durable views that live in either BI or ABM platforms. Dashboards give marketing and sales teams a unified view of key leadership metrics, including:

• Account and person funnel.
• Account engagement by role.
• Account’s time-in-stage.
• Conversion rates.
• Sourced/influenced opportunities and pipeline.
• Average days to close.

The Framework in Action [Case Study]

One of the clients I worked with was an enterprise platform focused on automated cloud data governance for finance companies. I built a Tier-1 account universe using AI-assisted ICP rules and unified firmographics, technographics, and intent. The end result was one revenue-aligned profile.

From there, we mapped the buying committee, in their case: CIO/CTO as decision makers, enterprise architects as champions, and line-of-business influencers, and operationalized those roles for orchestration. Then, we ran a multi-channel play:

• Executive briefs and a TCO model for leadership.
• Architecture deep dives for engineers/architects.
• Business-impact narratives for LOB.

These assets were sequenced by behavioral triggers and coordinated seller steps.

AI-powered personalization drove next-best actions (e.g., surfacing a free-trial CTA after repeated visits to technical pages). Meanwhile, GTM signals monitored momentum and triggered AE alerts and multi-persona follow-ups. We were able to remove bottlenecks and make faster pipeline impacts.

How to Implement HubSpot Automated ABM

With HubSpot Automated ABM, teams can target Fortune 500 IT decision makers and boost sales. HubSpot ABM allows sales reps to prioritize and score target accounts. From there, ABM teams can send the right enablement content to each stakeholder.

Here’s how.

1. Set up HubSpot’s ABM tools.

The first step in automating ABM orchestration is activating HubSpot ABM. Have Super Admin navigate to CRM > Companies, then click “See Target Accounts” and select “Get started.”

Once activated, HubSpot ABM automatically creates three critical ABM properties that become the foundation of your automated orchestration:

• “Target Account” property that identifies companies in your ABM program.
• “Ideal Customer Profile Tier” segments accounts by strategic priority
• “Buying Role” maps stakeholder influence within each account.

2. Set up automated account identification and scoring.

To identify target accounts in HubSpot ABM, head to the “Update company properties based on defined criteria” template. From there, describe which Fortune 500 companies you want to focus on and which decision makers matter most.

You can target characteristics including:

• Annual revenue.
• Industry.
• Number of employees.
• What’s already in their tech stack.

Source

HubSpot ABM automatically assigns Ideal Customer Profile tiers (from one to three) based on how closely companies match your criteria. This automated tiering ensures consistent account prioritization. Your marketing teams can then allocate resources appropriately across different account segments.

Source

3. Automate stakeholder mapping and engagement.

HubSpot ABM can automatically segment contacts based on buying roles and account associations. When tools are activated, HubSpot Automated ABM creates six automated contact labels that update dynamically. Contacts are tagged as:

• Influencers.
• Champions.
• Budget Holders.
• Decision Makers.
• Buying Roles.
• And all contacts associated with target accounts.

These automated lists in HubSpot ABM become the foundation for sophisticated engagement orchestration. You can create automated workflows that trigger different email sequences based on each role. You can also customize social outreach and what gets sent to each person.

For example, Decision Makers automatically receive executive-level content and strategic briefings, while Technical Influencers get detailed product documentation and architecture guides.

4. Review your results.

Perhaps the most valuable automation feature is HubSpot ABM’s reporting dashboard. Here, you get real-time visibility into account engagement, pipeline progression, and revenue attribution.

Source

The Target Accounts dashboard in HubSpot ABM gives marketing and sales teams a unified view of account status, engagement levels, and deal progression. Automated attribution reporting connects marketing activities to closed revenue, so you know exactly what’s working.

Practical Tips for ABM Marketers

Account-based marketing should be implemented as a comprehensive strategy rather than a single channel or campaign. To get ABM right, teams will need close alignment with sales leadership on target accounts and success metrics. Here are the tips that help ABM marketers drive real impact:

• Treating ABM as an approach instead of a single campaign.
• Fixing data before adding new tools.
• Using AI to scale.
• Orchestrating with a buying committee instead of one contact.

1. Treat ABM as an approach, not a channel.

I can’t emphasize this enough: ABM is a strategy, not a channel or a campaign.

Based on my experience and observation, the ABM owner often is demand gen. In larger orgs, ABM lives best as a center of excellence. From day one, align with sales leadership on the target list and success metrics. Then, review together regularly, even better if you can be embedded in sales leadership calls.

2. Fix data before you add new tools.

Make sure to prioritize your data quality more than anything else. If your CRM and marketing database are full of outdated contacts, missing industry info, or duplicate company records, fix that before you turn on the AI engine. A unified data foundation is a lifesaver here.

Bottom line: clean, rich data is the fuel that makes your ABM run smoothly.

3. Scale personalization with modules + AI.

Don’t make everything bespoke. Standardize 80% of messaging; reserve 20% for tokenized snippets (e.g., role, industry, pain points, trigger). I also leverage AI tools to draft first passes of personalized content, which a human then reviews and fine-tunes.

4. Orchestrate the committee, not the contact.

Make sure to measure your buying group coverage (do we have a decision maker?) and momentum (did the key decision maker engage?). I’ve seen “committee engagement” correlate more strongly with progression than contact-level opens/clicks.

Q&A

How do I identify the right IT stakeholders?

Start with organizational charts and LinkedIn mapping using tools, but don’t stop there. Use AI-powered ABM platforms to analyze buying committee coverage and engagement to identify hidden influencers.

The key is looking beyond job titles to actual decision-making authority. If the person with “Director” in their title is leading the specific transformation initiative you’re targeting, they might have more influence than a VP.

HubSpot ABM software automatically maps stakeholder relationships and tracks engagement patterns across Fortune 500 IT committees. This reveals actual decision-making authority beyond job title.

What content resonates with enterprise IT audiences?

Different stakeholders need different types of collateral that speak to their needs:

• Enterprise IT leaders respond to content that demonstrates a deep understanding of their challenges and provides clear paths to resolution.
• Technical stakeholders want architecture diagrams, integration guides, and security assessments.
• Business stakeholders prefer ROI calculators, transformation roadmaps, and peer success stories.

The automated advantage is delivering the right content mix to each stakeholder based on their engagement patterns and role requirements. HubSpot ABM tools help deliver the right content mix to each stakeholder automatically.

What’s the ROI timeline for automated ABM?

Enterprise ABM requires patience, but the right tools can help you see value fast. HubSpot ABM automated approaches deliver faster results than manual methods when targeting Fortune 500 IT decision makers.

Year one with HubSpot ABM focuses on process establishment and initial wins with Fortune 500 accounts. Years two and three deliver exponential returns as HubSpot ABM account intelligence deepens and stakeholder relationships mature across enterprise committees.

Measuring Success and ROI

At the end of the day, ABM teams need to demonstrate that their efforts pay off. That’s why sales reps and marketers should define success metrics up front for each stage:

• Engagement (opens, clicks, meeting set).
• Pipeline (opportunities created/influenced, deal progression speed).
• And revenue influence (deals won, average contract value).

Teams can use HubSpot ABM or other ABM tools to set up reports that attribute pipeline and revenue to campaigns. In many cases, a well-orchestrated ABM will lead to larger deals and a smoother, possibly faster, sales process compared to business-as-usual leads.

One thing I always do is share “ABM win stories” internally. I may tout a $2M deal closed in 8 months, 4 months faster than our usual enterprise cycle. Those anecdotes, backed by data, help everyone appreciate the ROI beyond just the numbers.

And as you continuously refine your approach, those metrics should only get stronger, proving the value of your ABM investment year after year.

Using AI to level up your marketing campaigns shouldn’t require a computer science background. With the right tools, non-technical marketers can use automation tools to turn initiatives into impact.

In fact, non-technical marketers can learn HubSpot Marketing Automation and become productive in just two weeks. The difference between HubSpot’s onboarding and other similar tools is a structured, confidence-first approach that delivers early wins without overwhelming anyone.

This guide covers the 14-day onboarding framework teams can use to transition from automation-anxious to automation-empowered.

Table of Contents

• What are marketing automation tools?
• Marketing Automation Onboarding Challenges
• The Benefits of Accelerated 14-Day Onboarding
• 14-Day Framework for Onboarding Non-Technical Marketers to Automation Tools
• Checklist for Onboarding Non-Technical Marketers
• Comparison of Onboarding Approaches
• Q&A: How to Onboard Non-Technical Marketers to Automation in Two Weeks

What are marketing automation tools?

Marketing automation software enables the team to focus on customer-centric tasks that require a human touch, without being bogged down by repetitive processes that consume the workday.

HubSpot Marketing Automation software uses AI to streamline marketing activities, helping marketers increase the effectiveness and quantity of campaigns. Key capabilities include:

• Automated lead generation through powerful email and forms features that turn website visitors into customers.
• Forms that use CRM data to remember returning visitors and adapt based on their behavior.
• Email triggers and sequences automatically follow up on form submissions to welcome new subscribers, nurture leads with relevant content, or re-engage inactive contacts.

The best automation tools can be used by non-technical marketers. Whether you’re building simple follow-up campaigns or complex multi-step journeys, HubSpot Marketing Automation’s user-friendly interface helps teams scale their efforts while maintaining a personal touch.

Marketing Automation Onboarding Challenges

If marketing automation tools have a simple interface and robust training materials, teams can avoid onboarding challenges. HubSpot Marketing Automation’s visual workflow builder is intuitive and designed for non-technical users. Beyond that, marketers have access to HubSpot Academy courses and knowledge base articles that make onboarding easy.

But, when training materials are missing, onboarding challenges arise. Without the right foundation, marketers may not have the right language and skill set to make the most of their tech stack. Common onboarding challenges include:

• Fear of breaking things in the system.
• Imposter syndrome in marketing tech.
• Resistance to change and jargon overload.

I’ve seen these challenges firsthand. The first time I sat in a meeting to discuss marketing automation, I swear I could read the thought bubbles over the heads of the non-technical marketers on my team. Those bubbles read, “I just don’t want to break anything.”

I get it. As a former non-technical marketer, I understand how new technology can leave you feeling uncertain. I’ve also learned that when onboarding lags and software becomes frustrating to use, it’s not really because the team “can’t” learn a new tool. Usually, it’s because the onboard process unintentionally fuels anxiety.

When this happens, these patterns consistently show up.

1. Fear of Breaking Things in the System

Many marketers worry that a single click could send an email to the entire database or overwrite essential CRM fields. While these things rarely happen, 37% of CRM adopters feel they lack the internal knowledge needed to make the best use of their chosen platforms.

I asked Vassilena Valchanova, Digital Strategist, if she sees tech anxiety when onboarding teams to a new tool. She has, and it’s more common than you think.

She told me, “In my experience, there‘s this fear among non-marketing people that if they start working with a new tool, they might ‘break it.’ Usually, when people see a new platform they haven’t worked with, they’re uncertain about where to start and what their actions might lead to.”

While the easiest way to fix this is to be curious and experiment, these hesitations often derail entire campaigns.

Pro tip: HubSpot Marketing Automation addresses the confidence gap by designing marketing automation tools that prioritize user confidence and ease of use. The platform’s visual workflow builder eliminates the need for technical expertise, allowing marketers to create targeted workflows through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

What’s Worked for the Experts

The easiest way to help non-technical marketers learn new software is to give them a sandbox to play in. A sandbox is a dedicated space for testing features, sending test campaigns, and learning workflows.

Create a test environment — complete with mock customer data — for training purposes. When users feel more comfortable with their tools, they’re more likely to adopt them into their workflows appropriately.

Valchanova uses this approach, too. As she said, “The worst that can happen is spamming colleagues’ emails, not thousands of unintended recipients.”

2. Imposter Syndrome in Marketing Tech

Imposter syndrome can show up in even the most skilled marketers. For non-technical marketers, it can prevent them from fully adopting their tech stacks. In fact, 32% of CRM users say a lack of tech expertise is the biggest hurdle to feeling confident enough to embrace it. These fears are common, but if not squashed early on, they can set the entire team back.

Aaron Whittaker, VP of Demand Generation at Thrive, said he’s noticed this with his team. He told me, “When I rolled out marketing automation to the non-technical team, the main concern they had was the fear of revealing that they didn’t know how to do something. Many of them were anxious that automation meant complicated processes or being put out of work by technology they didn’t really understand.”

What’s Worked for the Experts

Pushing teams toward early wins is one of the most effective ways to eliminate imposter syndrome. Create role‑based starting points, side‑by‑side build sessions, or a five‑minute “you already do this” demo. This helps empower marketing teams to flex their existing knowledge while learning new skills.

Whittaker has used this approach with his team. He says, “One of the early ‘wins’ in transforming that fear to confidence was what I now refer to as a ‘customer journey playback.”

He explains it like this: “We mapped a basic end-to-end campaign from a lead’s point of view and depicted what they would see and go through at each stage of engagement–the goal was to ensure that the team sees and understands that automation allowed us to hyper-personalize at scale.”

3. Resistance to Change and Jargon Overload

Nothing derails adoption faster than a perceived learning curve. Whether big or small, learning curves can cause friction and invite frustration.

When I spoke to Matthew Tran, Engineer and Founder of Birchbury, about this, he said that his team’s biggest concerns about tool adoption stemmed from the complexity. He said, “They feared that the learning curve would take time and that integrating the new system with our existing platforms would cause more headaches than it was worth.”

Tran added, “Hesitation is common in teams without a technical background, especially with tools that seem like they require coding or advanced technical skills.”

Pro tip: HubSpot Marketing Automation’s interface and HubSpot Academy training materials are built with straightforward, accessible language. By removing technical language, teams can focus onstrategy and creative work that drives results, rather than getting bogged down by lengthy learning curves.

What’s Worked for the Experts

While change can be overwhelming, getting team buy-in requires an intentional approach to adoption. Marketing leaders can motivate their teams to start using a new tool by implementing simple systems.

To kick off onboarding, create an onboarding guide to walk users through an automated subscriber campaign. Give your team a chance to learn by establishing test email addresses to use for practice.

Tran notes, “Using a structured onboarding approach has helped reduce our time-to-first campaign from several weeks to just days. A phased rollout paired with guided tutorials allowed us to quickly test and refine our workflows. This hands-on experience accelerated the team’s adoption and made them more comfortable with the tool.”

The Benefits of Accelerated 14-Day Onboarding

Accelerated onboarding can help teams unlock the benefit of automation tools. The right onboarding structure flips the switch from fear to confidence. And when confidence takes hold, marketers don’t just try the tool. They weave it into their everyday workflows.

I’ve seen the process firsthand. Recently, I stepped into the role of CMO at Thoughttree, an early-stage startup. When I joined, the team did not have a CRM in place. We were about to start a beta testing push, and we needed a CRM to track sign-ups. I know from experience that automating certain parts of these processes with HubSpot is the most effective approach.

In fact, HubSpot Marketing Automation is designed to be helpful out of the box with no technical expertise required. Marketers can use an intuitive visual editor to design workflows that make follow-up campaigns and multi-step journeys simple.

Here’s what else happens when you pair accelerated onboarding with marketing automation.

1. Immediate Confidence

Structured onboarding reduces time-to-productivity by 70%, and when paired with hands-on learning, users quickly feel more confident using the tool’s basic features. Some onboarding elements that can help marketers better understand automated features include:

• Selected knowledge base articles related to the tools.
• Bite-sized modules, such as 10-20 minute videos, that increase user adoption.
• Roadmaps of which skills to acquire or lessons to learn by key dates.

When Tran’s team began onboarding with new software, they started with a basic, automated welcome email for new subscribers. This helped the team see immediate results from their efforts, without feeling overwhelmed by the tool’s features.

Tran said, “The success gave our team the confidence to move forward with more complex workflows.”

2. Faster Campaign Deployment

Marketing automation training can help reduce complexity and accelerate results. In turn, teams can deploy campaigns more quickly, dramatically reducing time-to-impact. When training reduces complexity, everybody wins.

But that’s not the only metric that improves when teams quickly onboard with a new tool. According to Tran, success can be found in customer retention rates.

Tran said, “With fast onboarding, we saw an 82% higher retention rate in the first three months after launching automated campaigns. It was a clear indicator of the ROI of our efforts.”

3. Peer Learning and Support

Providing marketers new to technical marketing with “what to do when stuck” guides in their own language can minimize frustration and speed up adoption rates. Coupled with peer training, marketers have the support they need to integrate a new tool into their workflow fully.

When Valchanova launches a new marketing automation tool, she opts for the “see one, do one’ approach, similar to what medical students use in their training.

She told me, “First, we start with a clear description of the process, combining video walkthroughs with text and screenshot manuals for quick reference. Then, we demo the first task flow together, showing them what I‘m doing and why, encouraging questions so they can see the process in action. Finally, I have them perform it while I’m there to help.”

Valchanova added, “This doesn‘t just give them knowledge—it ensures they’re confident enough to continue because someone who knows the process has validated they can do it too.

14-Day Framework for Onboarding Non-Technical Marketers to Automation Tools

With a structured plan, leaders can onboard non-technical marketers to automation tools in less than two weeks. The key is to match each day pairs with concise lesson. The plan should include hands-on execution and a simple success metric. This framework keeps the cadence tight and the stakes low, while giving immediate feedback and a needed confidence boost.

While this framework can be adapted to any marketing automation tool, this guide will be tailored to HubSpot Marketing Automation. HubSpot’s visual workflow builder and intuitive interface make it ideal for this sprint approach, as teams can create powerful automation without technical expertise.

Days 1-3: Establish the foundation.

Goal: Platform navigation basics. Marketers learn how to navigate the HubSpot Marketing Automation interface.

Time Required: 1 hour/day

Success Metric: Complete the HubSpot Academy course on marketing automation.

Onboarding Activities

• Day 1: Orientation. See how to work with contacts, lists, emails, workflows, and settings by taking a tour of the interface. Start with the HubSpot Academy Marketing Automation Course to understand the fundamentals and benefits of automation within HubSpot.
• Day 2: Lists and segments. Create a static list and import contacts CSV using sample data. Review HubSpot Knowledge Base for step-by-step guidance on list management.
• Day 3: Email builder basics. Review, blocks, preview, test sends, and version history. Complete the Email Marketing Certification section on personalization and automation to understand how email integrates with HubSpot’s automation workflows.

Hands‑On Tasks

• Create a “Practice – Internal Test” list with 10-20 dummy contacts.
• Build a “Practice – Internal Only” email using a pre‑approved template.
• Send a test to a 3‑person internal seed list.

By Day 3, every marketer can segment a list and execute a test send. Spending the first three days learning the basics helps remove the most common bottlenecks that delay first campaigns.

Days 4-7: Build your first campaign.

Goal: Build and launch a simple email

Time Required: 2 hours/day

Success Metric: Live test send

Onboarding Activities

• Day 4: Define success criteria for a campaign. Understand the goal, audience, offer, CTA, and KPIs for an automated marketing campaign.
• Day 5: Draft and build a campaign. Then, create a QA checklist. Use HubSpot Marketing Automation’s forms that adapt based on CRM data to create personalized experiences for returning visitors.
• Day 6: Set up link tracking and UTM basics.
• Day 7: Set up approval process. Add go/no‑go snapshots.

Hands‑On Tasks

• Choose a low‑risk internal or “warm” audience, such as customers, for a webinar reminder.
• Use an approved template and swap in copy and CTA.
• Execute a live test send to a small, controlled audience.

By Day 7, the team has shipped a real campaign, creating early engagement signals you can optimize next week.

Days 8-10: Master your workflow.

Goal: Create basic automation sequence

Time Required: 2 hours/day

Success Metric: Triggered workflow test

Onboarding Activities

• Day 8: Use the workflow builder. Leverage HubSpot Marketing Automation’s visual editor to design workflows for common scenarios, like delivering content based on visits to specific pages.
• Day 9: Focus on branching basics. Establish if/then workflows for engagement or lifecycle stage.
• Day 10: Quality assess your systems with test contacts, suppression lists, and “kill switch” toggle.

Hands‑On Tasks

• Build a welcome sequence consisting of a three‑email series, including a delay, and a clear opt‑out. Use HubSpot Marketing Automation’s email triggers and sequences to automatically follow up on form submissions and nurture leads with relevant content.
• Enroll test contacts and verify each step fires as expected.
• Create a one‑page “Runbook” with a trigger, audience, content, and stop conditions.

By Day 10, new leads receive timely nurture automatically, shortening the lag between capture and first meaningful touch. (HubSpot’s automated lead scoring helps prioritize contacts based on their interests and behaviors during this process.)

Days 11-14: Build confidence and independence.

Goal: Troubleshoot and optimize

Time Required: 1.5 hours/day

Success Metric: Peer‑led demo session

Onboarding Activities

• Day 11: Interpret early metrics, such as deliverability, open, click, and conversion proxies.
• Day 12: Implement common fixes, including subject line tests, CTA clarity, and send time adjustments.
• Day 13: Add safe edits to live assets, like lines, version control, and rollback
• Day 14: Hold a peer demo and retrospective.

Hands‑On Tasks

• Identify one optimization for the week‑1 campaign, like subject line A/B, CTA tweak, or segment refinement.
• Update the welcome workflow with one branch, such as “if no click after Email 2, then send resource B.” Use HubSpot Marketing Automation’s personalized journey system to deliver the right message at the perfect moment in the buying process.
• Lead a 5‑minute “show and tell” of the change and result.

By Day 14, marketers can reduce ops dependency, increase campaign throughput, and set the floor for repeatable automation. Teams using HubSpot Marketing Automation can build confidence and focus on strategy that drives results rather than manual processes.

Checklist for Onboarding Non-technical Marketers

Onboarding is only effective if it helps non-technical marketers learn the basic skills to execute and automate marketing workflows. By the end of the onboarding, every marketer should be able to:

• Navigate confidently. Find contacts, lists, emails, workflows, and settings without assistance.
• Segment audiences. Build static and simple active lists with clear inclusion/exclusion rules.
• Ship emails. Draft, build, QA, and send a controlled live test using an approved template.
• Create workflows. Build, test, pause, and adjust a basic 3‑step nurture sequence.
• Troubleshoot safely. Clone, roll back, and fix common issues without risking live sends.
• Read results. Interpret core metrics and propose one improvement per campaign.
• Document and share. Keep a one‑page runbook per campaign/workflow for consistency.
• Ask smart questions. Use the “What to do when stuck” guide before escalating to ops.

Comparison of Onboarding Approaches

Factor	Traditional Onboarding (4–6 weeks)	Accelerated 14-Day Onboarding
Time to first live send	It often takes several weeks before the first campaign is ready to go	Teams launch a real campaign within the first week
User adoption	Adoption is inconsistent; many users never move beyond basic features	Nearly all team members gain the confidence to use the platform daily
Ops/IT dependency	Heavy reliance on technical support or operations teams	Lightweight support needs thanks to clear guides and peer demos
Time-to-productivity	Long ramp-up before value is visible	Productivity increases quickly because early wins build momentum
Campaign throughput	Limited output in the first quarter after rollout	Steady campaign flow starts in week two
Team sentiment	Risk of fatigue, frustration, and skepticism	Confidence grows steadily as milestones are hit

Q&A: How to Onboard Non-technical Marketers to Automation in Two Weeks

What if someone falls behind in the 2 weeks?

When transitioning to automation tools, teams benefit from onboarding a new cohort of marketers at the same time. However, things happen, and someone might fall behind. When this occurs, give the marketer priority in daily office hours, provide recordings, and let them shadow a peer for a single day’s module. Keep them in the sprint because momentum matters more than perfection.

If your team is switching to HubSpot Marketing Automation, take advantage of HubSpot’s knowledge base. The guide on how to automate processes provide step-by-step instructions that make it easy for team members to catch up on specific modules they may have missed.

How do I handle resistance to change?

When launching a new automation tool, resistance is inevitable. Instead of giving in to the frustrations, lead with outcomes like “this saves you an hour per campaign.” Onboarding leaders should remove jargon and pair skeptics with early adopters for a quick win. Be sure to also celebrate visible contributions publicly and often.

HubSpot Marketing Automation’s visual workflow builder eliminates technical barriers that often cause resistance, allowing teams to create powerful automations without coding knowledge.

What’s the minimum tech knowledge required?

If your marketing team can manage a spreadsheet and follow a checklist, they can learn HubSpot Marketing Automation workflows and email in this format. The onboarding sprint requires no coding skills and follows a simple step‑by‑step process, designed to give even the most non-technical marketers a solid foundation.

HubSpot Marketing Automation’s visual editor is specifically designed to build powerful marketing workflows without technical expertise. Non-technical marketers can get value out of the tools without diving deep into code.

How should I maintain momentum post‑onboarding?

Don’t lose momentum after the initial onboarding sprint. Run a monthly “automation challenge.” Challenge your team to make one small improvement, create one new trigger, or launch one new peer demo. Add a #automation‑wins channel and rotate a weekly “builder of the week.”

Confidence is the real ROI.

Leaders can’t just give your teams a new marketing automation tool and expect them to know how to use it. Although some CRMs are intuitive, it’s best if marketing team take the time to nail the basics before moving on to more complex workflows.

In our conversation about this, Whittaker made an excellent point. He told me, “The fastest way to drive adoption is to remove fear, start small, and prove value early. Automation succeeds because of technology, yes. But it also succeeds—and creates an even bigger revenue impact—when the people using it feel capable and empowered.”

When structured onboarding builds confidence, it increases adoption. And when marketing automation training reduces complexity, it accelerates results. And yes, non‑technical marketers can learn HubSpot and be productive in two weeks. Make sure to hit these milestones:

• Launch Day‑1 foundation with a sandbox and a glossary.
• Iterate campaigns quickly with the first live send by day 7.
• Build a welcome workflow by Day 10.
• Celebrate milestones and run peer demos on day 14.

Kick off your 14‑day HubSpot Marketing Automation onboarding sprint and turn “I don’t want to break anything” into “We’ve got this.”

Picture this: Content visibility is up, but traffic to your website is way down. More than half of Google searches today end in no clicks, according to Search Engine Land. And consumers are looking everywhere — from Google’s AI Overviews to Reddit — for instant solutions to fit their needs.

Is this your reality? Welcome to the rebirth of how people find information.

Payoffs from traditional SEO tactics used to be huge. Now, AI has effectively given everyone access to unlimited, personalized knowledge on a diverse set of channels, and Google Search is losing users to AI search engines like ChatGPT.

The once reliable marketing playbook has officially been disrupted. You can no longer count on one distribution channel, like search, to do all of the work for you. As a brand, you need to diversify your content across channels to meet buyers where they are.

With the rise in AI adoption, one of those channels is AI search. When your audience is finding information in large language models (LLMs), it’s time to optimize your content strategy for both humans and machines.

The Scoop on AI Engine Optimization (AEO)

AI usage has been increasing since 2023. A recent McKinsey survey found that 78% of organizations used AI in at least one business function in 2024, compared to 55% the year prior. This widespread adoption is fundamentally changing how people consume information.

As Google and other search engines roll out more AI features, businesses are facing a unique paradox: they’re seeing fewer clicks even if their rankings and impressions improve. That’s because AI engines are increasingly becoming the first stop for product discovery.

It is worth noting, however, that the buyer’s journey hasn’t changed. Users still identify a pain point, determine a solution, find the right product for that solution, and ultimately make a purchase. But the channels guiding those steps have, and AI search is shaping the first three phases more and more.

Traditional SEO focused on surfacing the best resources through search engine results pages (SERPs). Content was designed to address simplified search queries, where users make multiple search attempts and perform manual research to compare results.

But AEO prioritizes surfacing the best answers directly through LLMs. This means developing content that satisfies specific, natural language queries, where users learn from the AI engine and ask conversational follow-up questions.

Succeeding in the AEO environment depends on two things: choosing the right topics and designing content with intent.

Choosing the Right Topics

AI engines rely on vector embeddings to understand the relationships between words, concepts, and entities. This means that brands need to build strong semantic associations between their content and the product categories they want to own.

For example, a project management software company should target keywords beyond “project management tools” and create depth across related topics such as “resource allocation,” “workflow automation,” and “team collaboration best practices.” That way, AI engines can begin to associate the brand with the entire product category.

Topic selection is about claiming a semantic territory and fully owning it, rather than chasing down individual keywords. You can do this in three ways:

• Category saturation: Developing clusters of content that fully explore a topic category, from definitions to advanced use cases.
• Context-rich answers: Addressing nuanced, conversational queries like “How do small businesses manage projects with limited resources?” rather than only short, keyword-driven questions.
• Personalization at scale: Creating variations of content tailored for different industries, business sizes, or roles. This allows AI engines to pull the most relevant response for each user context.

AEO rewards breadth and depth of context. The more complete and interconnected the content is, the better the AI can understand it and recognize it as authoritative.

Designing Content with Intent

AI engines prioritize content that is both accurate and structured for machine readability and retrieval. It’s a strategic balance between factual authority, semantic completeness, and structured storytelling.

There’s value in consensus-driven, widely corroborated information. Citing credible sources, linking to structured data, and presenting verified facts increases the likelihood of being cited. But to stand out, content should also include information gain — insights or data that can’t be found elsewhere.

For example, a marketing firm that publishes a “Top Emerging Marketing Trends” article could cite widely available data but also include proprietary findings from its own research team to increase its chances of showing up in AI search results.

LLMs also index and retrieve content in “chunks.” This means each paragraph or section in your piece of content should stand alone as a complete thought.

A paragraph that explains how workflow automation tools support tasks like audience segmentation and lead scoring is far more valuable than one that simply references an earlier point. This completeness ensures the content can be understood and retrieved without relying on surrounding context.

Another important factor here is entity association. Content that clearly identifies and connects entities (like companies, tools, or processes) helps AI engines understand information in context. Writing techniques like using semantic triples make this easier.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Semantic triple: “HubSpot’s CRM helps sales teams track leads.”

• Subject: The entity being described (HubSpot’s CRM)
• Predicate: The relationship or property (helps)
• Object: The value or related entity (track leads)

Great content alone no longer guarantees visibility. Breaking through today requires meeting prospects where they are with content that is accurate, comprehensive, and easy for both humans and AI to understand.

To really make it count, brands need a smarter approach to distribution that amplifies content across the channels where buyers are already paying attention.

From Distribution to Amplification

This tactical AI-driven shift in search and discovery is outlined in HubSpot’s Loop Marketing playbook, which helps businesses evolve as customer habits change.

There are four stages in the Loop:

1. Express who you are: Define your taste, tone, and point of view.
2. Tailor your approach: Use AI to make your interactions personal.
3. Amplify your reach: Diversify your content across channels for humans and bots.
4. Evolve in real-time: Iterate quickly and effectively.

AEO fits right into this playbook at the Amplify stage, where the focus is on diversifying your channel mix to engage customers where they are.

The components of the Amplify stage were historically seen as one simple play: distribution. But these tactics now influence LLM citation volume in the AI search era.

Here’s a quick breakdown.

Diversify your channel mix.

This has been discussed in detail as AEO takes center stage as a new channel for information and product discovery. The key to diversification is embracing channels with more upside. This includes AEO, but also channels like community forums and video that are showing big returns.

According to Statista, Reddit is seeing significant increases in daily active users across regions with approximately 50 million users in the U.S. Statista also reports that YouTube had over 2.5 billion global viewers as of February 2025.

Your channel strategy needs to reflect changing industry trends and follow your audience’s behaviors. The goal isn’t to be everywhere — you want to be on the platforms where your message makes the most impact.

Engage buyers in real time where intent is highest.

When someone reaches your website, they’ve already signaled high intent. They’re no longer casually browsing. They’re actively evaluating whether your product or service can solve their problem.

That makes the on-site experience just as important as the channels they came in on.

Delivering value in these moments requires immediacy. Buyers expect instant answers, personalized recommendations, and smooth pathways to action.

A software company might integrate an AI assistant that surfaces relevant tutorials or comparison pages the moment a visitor begins researching features. The goal isn’t to overwhelm with information but to anticipate the next question and serve it up before the buyer bounces.

Real-time engagement also means removing friction. Fast load times and intuitive navigation help to create an experience that feels effortless. After all, buyers are more likely to convert when they don’t have to work too hard to find information.

Activate trusted creators.

While the power of influence is shifting from traditional search to LLMs, it’s also moved from polished brand channels to trusted individuals.

Audiences today are more likely to believe a product review from a respected YouTuber or an honest LinkedIn post from an industry expert than from a business press release.

Partnering with creators — like YouTubers or industry experts — builds credibility by transferring trust. These voices already have established relationships with the communities your brand wants to reach, which makes them invaluable for amplification.

Scale content production with AI.

If it isn’t clear by now, the demand for fresh, relevant content across multiple platforms is sky high. AI can give you the leverage to meet that demand without breaking the bank on headcounts or budgets.

Use AI to help you increase production, but use it wisely and don’t forego human involvement. You can ask AI to:

• Transform long-form content (blog posts, whitepapers) into bite-sized assets (social media posts/graphics, short-form video).
• Personalize copy for different audience segments to ensure consistent messaging at scale.
• Handle busy work and time-consuming tasks like research and copyediting.

The result is a content engine that moves faster, adapts more easily, and frees teams to focus on creativity over production.

Experiment with next-gen advertising.

Advertising is entering a phase where personalization and interactivity are no longer nice-to-haves. Static banners and generic pre-rolls are giving way to AI-generated campaigns that adapt in real time.

For example, a SaaS company might run LinkedIn video ads that automatically highlight different product features depending on the viewer’s job title. A CFO sees the ROI dashboard while the sales manager sees the pipeline tracking tools.

The common thread is relevance. By experimenting with new ad formats and technologies, brands can meet audiences with timely messages that feel personal and position themselves ahead of competitors who are still relying on old methods.

Riding the Seismic Shift in Discoverability

AI is reshaping how buyers make decisions. No surprise there.

Like a game of telephone, your business website now becomes essential in influencing the AI engines that influence humans to take action and buy from you. The journey to product discovery is spread across LLMs, communities, creators, and dynamic brand experiences.

Winning in this new era means creating content that both humans and machines can trust, and showing up in the spaces where buyers are already engaged.

The companies that adapt won’t just be found — they’ll be recommended, cited, and surfaced at the exact moments when intent is highest.

As a marketer, you‘ve likely encountered the dreaded “prediction problem” while tracking data to predict revenue growth. The prediction problem is the frustrating gap between having data and knowing what’s coming next.

Traditional marketing metrics can tell you what happened last month, but they’re like my tarot cards when predicting the future—confusing, vague, and not always accurate. Fortunately, some marketing KPIs predict future growth, and the companies achieving 10x revenue growth have figured out which ones matter.

In this deep dive, I’ll share the 10 marketing KPIs that leading subscription businesses use to predict and scale revenue growth. But first, let’s explore why traditional marketing KPIs often fail to make accurate predictions.

Table of Contents

• Why Traditional Marketing KPIs Fail to Predict Growth
• The Framework: Leading vs. Lagging Indicators for Growth Prediction
• The 10 Marketing KPIs That Predict 10x Revenue Growth
• Building Your Predictive Marketing Dashboard
• Conclusion: From Reactive to Predictive Marketing

Why Traditional Marketing KPIs Fail to Predict Growth

The Lagging Indicator Trap

Most marketing dashboards are museums of past performance. Website traffic, email open rates, social media engagement, and even marketing qualified leads (MQLs) are metrics that tell you what already happened, not what’s about to happen.

Take website traffic, for example. As a journalist, I worked for a news outlet that saw a 300% increase in organic traffic within six months of executing our strategy. From the marketing team to the TV anchors, our entire newsroom rejoiced … until we realized our revenue saw no improvement.

So, what happened? Traffic is a lagging indicator of brand awareness, not a leading indicator of revenue growth. When traffic spikes, the marketing activities driving revenue are already 3-6 months in the pipeline.

The Attribution Nightmare

Even when marketers track metrics closer to revenue, like Marketing Qualified Leads or demo requests, there‘s still a massive attribution gap. Marketing activities today don’t show up in revenue for months, especially in B2B subscription businesses with longer sales cycles.

Therefore, your marketing dashboard could show substantial MQL numbers in January, but you won‘t know if those MQLs drive revenue until March or April. By then, it’s too late to course-correct, thus delaying measurements.

The attribution gap is even more complex for subscription businesses because revenue comes from new customer acquisition, expansion revenue from existing customers, and retention (avoiding churn).

Why Subscription Models Break Traditional KPIs

Subscription businesses operate fundamentally differently from traditional companies, but most marketing teams still use traditional metrics. Here‘s why that doesn’t work:

Churn masks acquisition success: You might acquire 100 new customers this month, but lose 80 existing customers. Traditional acquisition metrics show success, but your MRR is actually declining.

Expansion revenue is invisible: A customer who starts at $500/month but grows to $5,000/month represents 10x value, but most marketing KPIs treat them the same as any other customer.

Time to value varies dramatically: Some customers see value immediately, others take six months. Traditional metrics miss this crucial timing difference, which directly predicts expansion revenue and churn risk.

The bottom line? If you‘re using traditional marketing KPIs to predict subscription business growth, you’re driving while looking in the rearview mirror.

The Framework: Leading vs. Lagging Indicators for Growth Prediction

Not all KPIs are created equal. The key to predictive marketing lies in understanding the difference between leading and lagging indicators and building your dashboard around metrics that predict future revenue changes.

Leading vs. Lagging Indicators: The Essential Comparison

Leading Indicators (Predictive)	Lagging Indicators (Reactive)
Product Qualified Leads (PQLs)	Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
Feature adoption velocity	Total platform signups
Time to value by segment	Revenue per customer
Customer health score trajectory	Monthly recurring revenue
Content engagement depth	Page views and sessions
Support resolution impact	Total support tickets
Pipeline velocity by deal size	Closed-won deals
Expansion revenue signals	Current customer count

Key Differences:

• Leading Indicators help predict future performance and allow for proactive decision-making
• Lagging Indicators measure past results and outcomes that have already occurred

The most powerful leading indicators share three characteristics:

1. Forward-looking timing: They predict revenue changes 6-12 months in advance
2. Behavioral insight: They measure customer actions, not just demographics
3. Revenue correlation: They have a statistically significant relationship with actual revenue outcomes

The minimum data needed for accurate predictions includes: customer behavioral data (product usage, engagement patterns), revenue data by customer segment, and channel attribution data. Even the best predictive KPIs lose their power without these three data types.

The 10 Marketing KPIs That Predict 10x Revenue Growth

1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Payback Period

CAC Payback Period measures how long it takes to recover the cost of acquiring a customer. Companies with payback periods under 12 months typically see accelerated growth because they can reinvest returns quickly. SaaStr research shows that companies with sub-12-month paybacks grow 2x faster than those with more extended periods.

2. Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

NRR above 110-120% is the strongest predictor of sustainable growth. An NRR above 100% indicates that your existing customers are expanding their usage, creating compounding revenue effects. Bessemer Venture Partners’ cloud index shows companies with 120%+ NRR consistently outperform in growth metrics.

3. Lead Velocity Rate (LVR)

The month-over-month growth rate of qualified leads is more predictive than absolute lead volume. A consistent 10-15% monthly LVR typically translates to strong revenue growth 2-3 quarters later, as leads work through the sales cycle.

4. Pipeline Coverage Ratio

Maintaining 3-5x pipeline coverage of your quarterly target is essential to growth and success. Companies consistently hitting this ratio rarely miss growth targets. This metric accounts for conversion rates and deal slippage that other pipeline metrics miss.

5. Time to Value (TTV)

Customers reaching their first value milestone quickly have 3x higher retention rates in my experience. Fast TTV correlates with expansion revenue and reduces churn – both critical for compound growth.

6. Product-Qualified Lead (PQL) Conversion Rate

PQL conversion rates above 15-20% in freemium or trial models indicate strong product-market fit. Freemium users have demonstrated behavioral intent, making them highly predictive of sustainable growth channels.

7. Expansion Revenue Rate

The percentage of revenue growth coming from existing customers should ideally be 20-30% of total growth. This indicates you’re building sticky products that naturally expand within accounts – a key growth multiplier.

8. Sales Development Representative (SDR) Activity-to-Opportunity Conversion

Tracking activities (calls, emails) to qualified opportunities reveals sales efficiency trends before they impact revenue. Declining conversion rates often predict growth slowdowns 1-2 quarters ahead.

9. Content Engagement Velocity

The rate at which content engagement (downloads, views, shares) converts to pipeline. High-performing content creates predictable, scalable demand generation that compounds over time.

10. Customer Health Score Trending

A weighted score combining usage, support tickets, NPS, and renewal risk. Improving aggregate health scores predicts expansion opportunities and reduced churn, both essential for growth acceleration.

Building Your Predictive Marketing Dashboard

Essential Dashboard Architecture

Creating a predictive marketing dashboard isn‘t just about choosing the right metrics — it’s about building a system that connects customer data, reveals correlations, and enables real-time optimization.

Unified data platform advantage: The most successful predictive dashboards integrate customer data from marketing automation, CRM, product analytics, and support systems. HubSpot customers using unified platforms see 40% better prediction accuracy than disconnected tools.

Real-time vs. batch processing: Leading indicators need real-time data feeds. Lagging indicators can use batch processing. Plan your data architecture accordingly to balance speed with accuracy.

Must-Have Dashboard Components

1. Leading indicator widgets with trend analysis: Visual displays that show not just current metrics but directional trends and momentum
2. Revenue correlation visualizations: Charts that clearly show the relationship between marketing activities and revenue outcomes
3. Predictive modeling outputs: Forecasts based on current leading indicator performance
4. Alert systems for threshold changes: Automated notifications when key metrics deviate from expected ranges
5. Cohort comparison views: Side-by-side analysis of different customer segments or time periods

Implementation Roadmap

Phase 1: Data Collection and Unification (Months 1-2)

• Audit existing data sources and identify gaps
• Implement a unified customer data platform
• Establish data quality standards and cleaning processes
• Set up basic tracking for priority predictive KPIs

Phase 2: KPI Tracking and Baseline Establishment (Months 3-4)

• Deploy comprehensive KPI tracking across all identified metrics
• Establish baseline performance levels for each KPI
• Begin correlation analysis between leading indicators and revenue outcomes
• Train team on new metrics and dashboard usage

Phase 3: Predictive Modeling and Optimization (Months 5-6)

• Implement predictive algorithms and forecasting models
• Begin optimization based on predictive insights
• Refine KPI definitions based on correlation strength
• Scale successful tactics identified through predictive analysis

Conclusion: From Reactive to Predictive Marketing

The shift from reactive to predictive marketing isn’t just about better metrics — fundamentally changing how you approach growth. Instead of waiting to see what happened last month, you can predict what will happen next quarter and take action today.

The 10 marketing KPIs we‘ve covered aren’t just numbers on a dashboard. They’re your early warning system for revenue changes, growth optimization roadmap, and competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded market.

The Competitive Advantage: While your competitors track lagging indicators and react to revenue surprises, you’ll predict growth opportunities and scale proactively. This 6-12 month visibility advantage compounds over time, creating sustainable competitive differentiation.

Start Today: You don’t need to implement all 10 KPIs immediately. Choose the three most relevant to your business model and growth stage. Focus on data quality and correlation analysis. Build your predictive capability gradually and systematically.

The Future Outlook: Predictive marketing will become even more potent as AI and machine learning capabilities advance. Companies that establish predictive KPI foundations today will be best positioned to leverage these advanced capabilities tomorrow.

The question isn‘t whether predictive marketing will become standard — it’s whether you’ll be ahead of the curve or scrambling to catch up. The companies achieving 10x revenue growth have already made their choice.

Ready to get started? Begin with Product Qualified Leads, Customer Health Score Trajectory, and Pipeline Velocity by Deal Size. These three KPIs provide immediate predictive value and form the foundation for more advanced analytics.

The future of marketing is predictive. Your growth depends on when you embrace it.

Want to learn more about implementing predictive marketing KPIs? Check out our comprehensive Marketing KPI Guide and explore KPI Dashboard Best Practices for additional insights.

Ready to build your predictive marketing dashboard? Download our free Interactive Dashboard Template and start tracking the KPIs that predict 10x revenue growth.

Whatever terrible thing you’ve pivoted a campaign around — a delayed launch, maybe customer backlash — I bet it didn’t involve a multi-hundred-thousand dollar burglary.

This week’s master can put that on her bingo card. But, more importantly, her bingo card also includes working with a list of brands too long to say in one breath: Special Olympics, Coca-Cola, Nike, Google, Coors Light, Les Schwab, and the legendary Seattle radio station KEXP are just a few.

Today, she heads up the creative team behind the marketing art for the popular trading card game Magic: The Gathering. She sat down for one of my favorite interviews yet, not least because I learned that her grandpa was a Chicago bootlegger whose house was raided by Eliot Ness of The Untouchables. But also for the great advice she shares about facing adversity and working with creatives.

Alicia Mickes

Senior Creative Director, Wizards of the Coast (publishing company of Magic: The Gathering)

• Fun fact: Alicia loves to collect random certifications. She’s got certs for tattooing, personal training, TRX, cake decorating, ceramic restoration, and even bloodborne pathogens training.
• Claim to fame: If you’ve seen the MOD Pizza logo, you’ve seen something Mickes has designed!

Lesson 1: Take ownership, but don’t take it personally.

Mere weeks before Hasbro was set to release a version of Magic: The Gathering based on Wild West outlaws, the worst happened: Images of unreleased products hit the internet following two high-profile thefts.

“A bunch of cards got leaked because people started selling product before it hit stores,” Mickes recalls. “It really blew our planned marketing campaign.”

And while I couldn’t confirm if the thieves had old-timey waxed mustachios, Mickes relays the story with an ear-to-ear smile and a touch of mischief in her eyes.

Which isn’t to say she doesn’t take the situation seriously, but you get a sense that that smile is at the heart of who she is as a leader, a marketer, and a human being.

“We could have gotten really mad about it. [Instead,] we tried to play into it and have fun with it.”

To illustrate her point, she shared a blog penned by their communications director that tackled a similar leak head-on with inside jokes and even a few sneak peeks of their own.

We spent time trading war stories. Product launches blown by eager fans zooming in on early marketing materials. Negative feedback strewn across the internet.

The takeaway is this: On a long enough timeline, all of us will face a marketing crisis. And whether it’s a branding misstep, a social media meltdown, or actual grand larceny, Mickes says it’s important to take ownership without taking it personally.

Sometimes that means “accepting that you did something wrong, or that you did something people don’t love, and being okay with it. That’s just human. I want all my team members to know they have a safe place to create, and explore, and take big risks. And big risks fail sometimes.”

“It is what it is. And so we pivot.”

Lesson 2: Collaboration starts with culture.

Mickes is a big believer that a high-performing creative team requires a supportive culture.

“With all the testing in the world, it doesn’t mean things are going to land the way you want,” she explains. “It’s important to have a group of people to talk your ideas out with, to brainstorm with, and to bounce ideas off of. And know that it may not be the idea that gets picked, but it may help contribute to the overall finished product.”

But that kind of dynamic doesn’t happen by accident.

“I make it a point to create a culture of psychological safety, where everyone feels comfortable being themselves and talking about their ideas.”

Now, the topic of culture-crafting could fill the next year’s worth of newsletters, so I asked Mickes for her number one, gotta-have, most impactful piece of advice for working with creatives.

“One of the quickest ways to build trust is to help your team members get wins.” That might look like exploring time-management strategies with a team member who wrestles with work-life balance. Or teaching communication techniques to someone who is afraid of interpersonal comms. (Or who, like my co-worker who shall remain unnamed, but who edited this, is afraid of phones.)

“We have check-in meetings where you share the things you’re struggling with or share your work to talk out. It takes time, and isn’t necessarily part of the creative process, but it aids the creative process in the end.”

Lesson 3: Fun is not the opposite of work.

When you’re constantly focused on A/B testing, engagement rates, and driving ROI, it’s easy to forget that marketing is, at heart, creative work. And creative work should be fun.

“We’re one of the loudest groups at work. We always get in trouble, because we’re over in the corner yelling and hooting and having a good time,” she laughs. “Some folks think we’re not working, and I’m like, no, that’s us getting to the answers!”

“Creatives that are having fun and feel relaxed and safe are going to make better work. It’s not a competition. No one’s trying to win anything. You’re in there, together, trying to make the best thing possible.”

It’s a simple formula. Clever minds + fun + safety = Good marketing. When something resonates with your team, there’s a greater chance that it’s going to resonate with your audience, too.

“And when the whole group says, ‘Hell yeah! That’s it!’ that’s when you know.”

Lingering Questions

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION

What’s a creative hot take that will make a marketer second guess how they work with creatives? —Brandon Smithwrick, Founder, Content to Commas

THIS WEEK’S ANSWER

Mickes says: In my experience, the business side (i.e., product strategists, sales and marketing managers) bring in creative too late… often treating them as the shiny gift wrap around the product strategy — but in reality, the creative is the product strategy.

If you involve us only at the end, you’re not getting design, you’re just getting decoration. Every time you hand us a baked plan and ask us to “make it pop,” you’ve already cut the legs out from under what could have been a more powerful marketing campaign.

Let creatives lead earlier! I always encourage working in groups: Have early holistic campaign development conversations with key stakeholders from media, strategy, product, and creative. The future of marketing is all about experiences where creative execution is indistinguishable from brand strategy. If you still think of creative as just “making things look good,” you’re never going to create an authentic experience for your consumer.

NEXT WEEK’S QUESTION

Mickes asks: As marketing shifts from communication and storytelling to creating authentic cultural experiences, how are you or your company rethinking the role of creative?

As someone who’s spent the past few years building websites and helping businesses fine-tune their digital presence, I’ve seen firsthand how overlooked the homepage can be. Yet, it’s the most visited page on your entire website. The virtual front door that welcomes (or turns away) the majority of your traffic.

A lot of businesses struggle here because they treat the homepage like a one-size-fits-all landing page. But your homepage has a much bigger job to do. It needs to guide visitors from all different backgrounds, interests, and traffic sources to the next best step.

That means it has to be designed with intention, not guesswork.

When I work on websites, and what to put on the homepage specifically, I always look at three non-negotiables:

• Does it attract and hook visitors quickly?
• Does it educate them on who you are and what you offer?
• Does it guide them toward taking action (without being pushy)?

That’s the formula for a homepage that performs. If you’re serious about making your homepage work harder for you, make sure the following must-have elements are in place.

What You Should Include in Your Website Homepage Design

1. Headline

On average, users usually scan websites within 15 seconds. That’s such a small window to tell visitors what your business has to offer. That’s why I always opt to place the headline, sub-headline, and a clear CTA right in the hero section — it’s prime real estate to get your message across fast. Your headline may only be a few words, but it’s one of the most important pieces of copy on your website.

When I’m working on website projects, I’ve learned that trying to please everyone with a single headline is a losing game. Your homepage will attract a wide range of visitors with different backgrounds, needs, and levels of awareness. But the truth is, your headline only needs to resonate with the third of your audience that’s most likely to love what you offer. Those are the people you want to connect with right away.

That’s why I always aim for clarity over cleverness.

A headline should be simple, direct, and instantly tell visitors what’s in it for them. One of my favorite examples is Dropbox’s homepage headline: “Find anything. Protect everything.” There’s no fluff, no jargon. You don’t have to think twice about what Dropbox does. That kind of clarity is what keeps people on your site.

Over the years, I’ve seen too many businesses overthink their headlines — trying to sound innovative or bold — when what really works is being clear and human. A well-written headline can do more heavy lifting than an entire paragraph of marketing copy if you keep it focused on the visitor’s needs.

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Pro tip: One way I simplify this process for myself and my clients is by using HubSpot’s free drag-and-drop website builder. It’s a user-friendly tool that allows you to build a homepage that adapts to your audience’s needs, no code required. I like it because it gives me control over layout and flow, while still leaving room to optimize as traffic behaviors change.

2. Sub-headline

Your sub-headline is where you get to add a little context to your headline. Think of it as the quick follow-up that explains what you actually do. It’s not the place to be vague or overthink it.

The best way to make it land is by calling out a problem your audience is dealing with and showing how you solve it.

One brand that does this well is Slack. Their headline says, “Where Work Happens,” which is broad, but their sub-headline gets specific: “Bring your people, projects, apps, and AI agents together.” In just a few words, they’ve described exactly what they offer and why it matters to busy teams. The video of the Slack app being used also adds to the clarity of what their product actually offers and how it works.

When I’m working on websites, I always recommend using this space to address a real pain point. Don’t just list a feature, explain how it makes life easier for your users. That’s how you turn a headline and sub-headline into a powerful combo.

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3. Primary Calls-to-Action

The first thing I think about before I dive into website building is what I want the users to do. What action do I need them to take? That’s where straightforward, easy-to-find calls-to-action (CTAs) come in.

I recommend having at least two to three CTAs above the fold, leading visitors to different parts of the buying journey. Personally, I like to at least place one in the header and another in the hero section. Some folks might be ready to sign up today, while others are just browsing. Your CTAs should meet them where they are — and they need to stand out.

A good example of this in action is Afterschool HQ’s website. Right in the header, they have a CTA geared toward program directors looking to promote their after-school activities that says “Get Started.” If they miss the button in the header, they have the same one in the hero section underneath their sub-headline.

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Pro tips:

• I always advise clients to use a contrasting color for CTAs. That simply means picking a color that pops against your homepage background but still feels like it belongs in your brand palette. For example, if your website has a soft, neutral color scheme — think whites and light grays — a bold navy blue or vibrant coral button will naturally draw the eye. The key is balance: It should grab attention without clashing.
• Keep the CTA text simple. I’m talking five words or less. Short, action-oriented phrases like “Get Started,” “Book a Demo,” or “Try It Free” do the trick. Don’t make people think too hard about what happens next.

4. Supporting Image

Most people are visual. Make sure to use an image (or even a short video) that clearly indicates what you offer. Use images or videos that capture emotion, drive action, and visually tell the story you’re writing about.

To optimize your images for mobile users, use high-quality images that have a reduced file size. (HubSpot customers don‘t need to worry about this, as images uploaded to HubSpot’s software are automatically compressed. Otherwise, tools like Tinify will do the trick.)

Also, always add alt text to your images to make them more accessible to visitors who use screen readers and to take your SEO efforts up a notch.

The Smith & Wollensky homepage is a great example of emotional imagery: It features a series of short, high-definition, and mouthwatering videos that play on a loop behind a simple headline.

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5. Benefits

Stating what you do is not enough. I am a huge advocate for showing what you do as well. Your audience cares about how your product helps them, and that’s what keeps them interested.

Keep your message light, clear, and in their language. Evernote is one of my favorite examples of this. On their homepage, they show their benefits in a way that’s easy to read and nice to look at.

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6. Social Proof

Social proof is a powerful indicator of trust. Your product or service could be the best in the world, and it‘s okay to lay that claim — it’s just that people may not believe you unless they hear it from other people, too. And that’s exactly what social proof does.

Include just a few of your best (short) quotes on the homepage, and link to case studies if applicable. Adding a name and photo gives these testimonials more credibility.

OptinMonster nails this on their homepage with glowing testimonials from actual clients. Most local services and goods thrive on social proof. So, whether you’re working on an orthodontics website design or a local bakery, make sure to include testimonials and reviews if available.

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7. Navigation

The design and content in your homepage navigation could mean the difference between a website conversion and a bounce. If you want to keep your bounce rate low, you’ve got to give visitors an obvious, easy-to-follow path to wherever they need to go — starting right from your homepage.

So, keep your navigation menu visible at the top, and lay out your links in a way that naturally guides people through your content, from the most important pages on down.

You and your team know your website inside and out, but your visitors don’t. That’s why it’s important to run user tests to see if navigating your site feels as smooth and intuitive to them as it does to you. If you can, add a search bar to make it even easier for folks to find exactly what they’re looking for.

One of my favorite examples of easy navigation is Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria. Their homepage navigation is clearly structured, keeping visitors moving in the right direction.

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8. Content Offer

To generate even more leads from your homepage, feature a really great content offer, such as a whitepaper, ebook, or guide. Folks who may not be ready to buy might rather download an offer that gives them more information about a topic they’re interested in.

If you need inspiration, here are several different content types to pick from.

9. Secondary Calls-to-Action

Here’s the thing: Not everyone who lands on your homepage is going to be ready to commit straight into your main offer. That’s why having secondary CTAs is so important. They’re like your safety net, giving visitors who need a little more time (or a lower-commitment option) another way to connect with you.

While your primary calls-to-action should be front and center above the fold, those secondary CTAs belong further down the page.

As people scroll, you want to keep giving them reasons to stay engaged. A great example of this is Spanx’s homepage. Once you scroll past the top section, you’ll spot three clear CTAs waiting for you. Whether it’s grabbing $20 off or hitting “Shop Now” to browse the catalog, these secondary actions give visitors more paths to convert when they’re ready.

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10. Features

In addition to benefits, list some of your key features. This gives people more of an understanding of what’s provided by your products and services. Again, keep the copy light and easy to read.

Dropbox for Business, for example, doesn’t shy away from showing off a features matrix right on their homepage below the fold.

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11. Resources

One of my signature website elements is having a resourceful footer. This is because most people aren’t going to be ready to buy on the spot. They’re still in research mode, trying to figure out if what you offer is the right fit.

That’s why it’s smart to give them a space where they can explore and learn more, like a resource center or knowledge hub. It not only keeps them engaged and on your site longer, but it also positions you as the go-to expert in your space.

Take Lovesac, for example. They’ve added a resource link in the footer, below the fold, that reiterates all of their wonderful offerings.

Their secondary CTAs are thoughtfully designed to catch visitors at different stages of their buying journey. There’s a credit card link for folks ready to make a purchase, a fabric swatch guide for those still deciding on colors, and an online catalog for shoppers who are browsing but not quite ready to commit. Each one gives visitors a reason to stay connected and move closer to a purchase when they are ready.

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12. Success Indicators

Along with customer success stories, awards and recognitions are great for making a strong first impression. Is your restaurant critically acclaimed? Did your app win best new product this year? Highlight those wins on your homepage. Just like social proof, showcasing achievements builds trust and adds credibility for visitors who are new to your brand.

On Calendly’s homepage, for example, you’ll find the names of famous organizations that have recognized them, like Gartner and Dropbox.

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13. Search Bar

If your website is content-heavy, adding a search bar may be extremely helpful for your users, especially if you’re an online store with hundreds of products, a blog library, or a resource hub.

Visitors who already know what they’re looking for don’t want to go through layers of navigation menus. A simple, visible search bar gives them a direct shortcut to find exactly what they need, fast.

Remember this: The more content you have, the harder it becomes for people to browse through categories and filters. A search bar solves that by letting users type in exactly what they’re looking for. It’s an underrated tool that keeps visitors engaged and prevents them from bouncing out of frustration. Sites like Amazon and Nike wouldn’t be functional without it — and if your site has a large inventory or content library, you’ll want to follow their lead.

Even on smaller websites, a search bar can add value if you have multiple service pages, case studies, or blog articles. It’s all about reducing friction and making sure people don’t have to work hard to find what they came for.

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14. Contact Us

Your “Contact Us” options shouldn’t be hidden away in some forgotten corner of your website. It deserves a spot right on your homepage. Why? Because when a visitor is ready to reach out, you want to make that next step as frictionless as possible. Whether they have a question, need a quote, or simply want to connect, giving them a direct line to you upfront builds trust and shows you’re approachable. Plus, it’s a key touchpoint that can turn casual browsers into real leads — so why make them dig for it?

Now, if you’re working with a minimalist design or don’t want to dedicate a full page or section to contact info, no problem. You can keep your layout clean by using a strategically placed “Contact” button that triggers a hidden modal. When clicked, this modal can pop up with a simple contact form or contact details, giving visitors a distraction-free way to reach out without cluttering the main page.

It’s a sleek way to keep your design tight while ensuring people know exactly how to get in touch with you. Check out this blog full of great “Contact Us” examples.

A Homepage Worth Visiting

Your homepage is your brand’s first impression — it sets the tone before you even get a chance to make a pitch. Visitors judge what you do, why it should matter to them, and how your product or service can make their life easier. That first impression happens fast, and your homepage needs to pop to keep them interested.

By weaving in the elements we’ve talked about — clear CTAs, strong headlines, user-friendly navigation, and a design that guides visitors down the funnel, you’re building a path to conversion.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2012 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

For what seems like ages, “Google” has been synonymous with “search.” Have a question? Google it. Looking for a product? Google it. But consumer search behavior has changed.

Now, people are flocking to other channels. Gen Z and Millennials are leading the change, as 29% of the group prefers to search for information on social media over actual search engines.

But that’s not all — generative artificial intelligence (AI) is also coming to search result pages, throwing another wrench in old habits. If your brand relies on search traffic, big consumer shifts are coming (and already on their way). To help you prepare, here are the most significant trends we found after surveying 700+ consumers.

Table of Contents

• TLDR: How Consumer Search Behavior Is Changing & What Marketers Should Do About It
• What is consumer search behavior?
• How Consumer Search Behaviors Are Changing
• How to Adapt Your Strategy to New Consumer Search Behavior
• Frequently Asked Questions about Consumer Search Behavior

TLDR: How Consumer Search Behavior Is Changing & What Marketers Should Do About It

Consumer search behavior is rapidly evolving, with users now turning to social media, mobile devices, and AI-powered tools alongside traditional search engines. Recent data shows that over half of Gen Z and Millennials actually prefer social platforms for discovery, while mobile searches continue to outpace desktop.

With these two groups quickly becoming the most powerful market share, marketers need to evolve their search behavior to stay competitive.

This means optimizing content for multiple platforms, prioritizing mobile and local SEO, and preparing for AI-driven search. With HubSpot’s integrated marketing tools, you can start optimizing your search approach today.

What is consumer search behavior?

Consumer search behavior refers to how people discover, research, and find information online before making purchases.

Today‘s consumers don’t just “Google it” anymore. They use social platforms, AI chatbots, voice assistants, and even visual search tools to find what they need. (This has been a big one for me lately.) They read reviews, watch unboxing videos, or do price comparisons.

This shift in consumer search habits demands a new approach to digital marketing strategy — one that meets customers wherever they choose to search.

How Consumer Search Behaviors Are Changing

So, what does consumer search behavior look like in 2025? Let’s break down some of the biggest trends and some telling statistics by category to discuss what it all means for your search behavior marketing.

AI search is on the rise.

1. 72% of consumers report planning on using gen AI-powered search for shopping in the future.

While Google remains the top research destination (more on that later), our research found that consumers plan to search for products more and more on apps like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

In fact, according to GWI, 31% of Gen Zers report they already use AI platforms or chatbots most frequently to find information online, while roughly the same amount also hope to see the research experience only improve.

Add the fact that when researching a brand or product, 59% of consumers prefer to gather information themselves rather than speak to another human, and it’s no wonder experts expect ChatGPT alone to take 1% of the search market in 2025.

Ok, that was a lot of numbers, but I think it makes the picture’s pretty clear.

The days of being able to ignore answer engine optimization (or AEO) are long gone. AI is quickly becoming a part of popular consumer search behavior, and marketers need to react accordingly.

Not sure where to start? First, you’ll want to see how your website, products, and brand currently perform with answer agents. Our free AEO grader will reveal how AI interprets your brand and give you a score out of 100.

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It’ll also give you detailed competitive analysis, brand sentiment scoring, and strategic recommendations to improve your score. HubSpot’s Breeze AI in particular can aid your efforts to improve your brand’s AI visibility. (How’s that for meta?)

Social media is increasingly becoming the preferred search channel.

2. 31% of consumers use social media to find answers to their questions.

Our studies found one in three consumers use social search to find answers online. This is actually over double the amount of people who are using AI, and honestly, it’s not a huge surprise.

Social media is where people hang out. It gets a bad rap for “brain rot,” but there’s also a wealth of educational and helpful information. From how-tos and life hacks to news, people across every generation are consuming content across some form of social media.

In fact …

3. 29% of Gen Z and millennials prefer social media over search engines.

While just 15% prefer social search over search engines overall, combined, 49% of Gen Z and Millennials prefer social.

That’s a significant chunk that will likely only grow, especially as these platforms also incorporate artificial intelligence. (Think Meta AI on Facebook and Instagram, for example.)

When thinking about future strategies, this could be a major shift for marketers as younger generations come into full buying power as they rise in career ranks and generate more income.

Our research shows that B2B marketers plan to invest more in LinkedIn, while B2C marketers are looking to TikTok. Both of these moves reflect how shoppers research new products and services personally and professionally.

Traditional search still reigns supreme.

4. Most consumers still turn to Google first for general search.

All this hype might have you thinking search engines are dying, but SEO teams shouldn’t go into panic just yet – if at all.

While 79% of those who have already used AI for search believe it offers a better experience than traditional search engines, most people still default to Google for general search queries, according to BrightLocal. And that’s not even including Google Maps or users with Google as their default search engine on Safari.

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Only 5% said they default to ChatGPT for general searches, while only 1% use voice assistants. But why? Isn’t AI the new internet darling?

Yes, but not entirely.

Our studies found that one in three consumers uses AI tools like chatbots and ChatGPT, but trust is still very low. In fact, 45% of consumers admit feeling hesitant about AI, considering potential bias, misinformation, and data privacy, among other things.

This is also likely why our research has found consumers still believe search engines are most effective at answering their questions.

So, overall, while alternatives are gaining traction and improving functionality, traditional search is still a go-to for consumers looking for answers.

Plus, search engines are incorporating their own AI responses to searches and answer engine optimization (AEO) is still in its infancy. It’s unclear if search rank has an influence on agent mentions and there’s still a chance it does.

Things are changing fast, though. So, we’ll be paying attention.

Mobile search is still popular.

5. 54% of consumers primarily use phones to search.

Consumers we surveyed say they use mobile phones more than any other device when searching for questions online. But, similarly to social search preferences, mobile-first search habits become even more drastic in younger generations.

A whopping 80% of Gen Z use their phones most often when searching, with Millennials (62%) and Gen X (66%) not far behind.

Our latest Consumer Trends report also shows consumers shop on their phones more than any other device. That’s particularly true for Gen Z, of which 81% use their phone as their primary shopping device.

This mobile-first approach highlights just how critical it’s becoming to optimize web experiences for mobile search platforms and adapt to the preferences of younger generations.

Consumer search is more local than you may think.

6. The majority of consumers say at least 21% of their searches are local-specific.

A study by BrightLocal found, 71% of consumer searches are estimated to be dedicated to local searches. More specifically 32% estimating 21-40% of their searches were local, 24% estimating 41-60%, 11% estimating 61-80%, and 4% estimating 81-100%.

If your business has a specific service area or physical location, localization and local SEO should be a part of your marketing strategy.

7. 1 in 5 consumers conduct local searches directly within maps.

One habit I’ve found myself doing in recent years is using Google Maps to search for places to eat, stay, etc when travelling. I’ll type in the address of where I’m going then zoom in to see what’s close by.

Apparently, I’m not alone.

Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Bing Maps combined make up 20% of default local search platforms for consumers. So, if relevant, you want to make sure your business is set up to appear in results.

8. 1 in 4 of Gen Z consumers use social media as their primary method for local search.

Social media plays a big role in local search as well. With location tags and user-generated content, it’s common for consumers to learn about businesses in their geographic location or those they’re going to be in.

Take me, for example. On Instagram, I have collections where I save places and restaurants I’d like to visit by state, city, or country.

Visual search is up-and-coming.

9. At least 42% of consumers are somewhat interested in using visual search.

If you’ve been on Google or Amazon lately — and who hasn’t — you’ve likely seen this feature.

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It’s a camera icon or photograph on or next to the search bar (like in the screenshot above) that allows users to upload a picture of a physical item they want to learn more about.

This can be useful for a number of different searches. It can identify plants or animals, styles of furniture, or most useful to businesses, show users exactly where they can buy a product like the one in the picture. That was me several times this summer trying to find out where I could buy a specific dress or pair of pants.

According to eMarketer, only about 27% of people are doing the same right now (with Gen Z and Millennials leading the way), but an encouraging 42% are interested in trying it out.

Amazon has also reported a 70% increase in visual searches worldwide year-over-year, while Google gets about 20 billion Lens searches a month, 4 billion related to shopping.

Visual search is growing and with the prevalence of mobile shopping, it can truly be used by marketers to increase conversions and sales.

How to Adapt Your Strategy to New Consumer Search Behavior

Now, understanding these shifts in search behavior is just the beginning. Here’s how to optimize your digital marketing strategy for the evolving search landscape. 

(Dig even deeper in our free AI search guide: “How to Rank on AI Search: 5 Strategies to Stay Visible in the AI Era”)

1. Invest in AEO.

The 2025 State of Marketing revealed that 19% of marketers are building SEO strategies for generative AI search, and nearly half of B2B and B2C (both 47%) marketers have noticed an increase to their web traffic as a result of consumers using AI search.

These numbers are not to be taken lightly. They show a dramatic shift in consumer search behavior and potential competitors’ strategies.

While AI adoption is still emerging, early AEO can help position you ahead of the curve.

Here’s what you can do:

Conduct an analysis of your brand.

First and foremost, you need to assess your brand’s current visibility in AI search, brand sentiment, perception in AI search engines, and how you compare to competitors. I mean, you can’t know how much work needs to be done until you know where you stand currently, right?

A tool like HubSpot’s free AI Search Grader can do this for you.

Study content featured in AI search responses

What’s already showing up in AI agents and engines? Look at who’s “winning” and what their brand is doing that perhaps yours isn’t. You can also use Perplexity, Gemini, and Google’s suggested follow-ups and “People Also Ask” questions to identify gaps in your content marketing.

Analyze AI-generated citations to see where competitors are getting mentioned and examine how AI overviews are structured and formatted.

Structure content for AI comprehension.

Speaking of structure, all the principles of creating high-quality content still apply with AEO. Use clear headers, bullet points, and direct answers to common questions. Optimize for featured snippets and focus on user intent.

Overall, you want to build authority and backlinks to signal to LLMs that you’re a trusted source and expert in your future content marketing. AI systems tend to prioritize credible, well-sourced information.

Pro tip: Create comprehensive topic clusters. AI tools synthesize information from multiple sources, so thorough coverage matters. Learn more about “topic clusters” here.

Build a strong multichannel online presence.

AI models aggregate data from diverse sources, so it’s important to establish a strong presence and reputation as an expert across multiple channels.

Make sure you’re participating in online discussions, monitoring and responding to reviews and feedback, and crafting a compelling narrative around the problems your product solves.

From blogging to social media and analytics. Marketing Hub has all of the tools you need to adapt your marketing strategy to new consumer search behaviors. The best part: You can get started with it for free.

2. Optimize for social search success.

Our recent report found 84% of marketers agree that consumers will search for brands on social media this year. With that in mind, your social media strategy needs a search-first mindset.

Here’s what you should do:

Create searchable content.

Use relevant hashtags, keywords in captions, and descriptive alt text on any visual content. This will help make it easier for algorithms to crawl and retrieve your content for users, as well as index the content for users to find on their own.

Pro tip: Video is the name of the social media game in 2025 — three of the top five most-used social platforms across both B2B and B2C brands are YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and these are the platforms driving the most site traffic, social engagement, and audience growth.

Get platform-specific.

Every social media platform has its subtle nuances and features. Optimize for TikTok‘s search algorithm, Instagram’s Explore page, and YouTube’s suggested videos. Also make sure you abide by any technical specifications such as aspect ratio, dimensions, file size, and file type.

Build topic authority.

Consistently create content around your core topics to establish relevance in social algorithms. Not only does this give the platform’s information about what you’re about, but your audience as well.

HubSpot’s social media management tools can not only help you schedule and publish social media content to accomplish these goals, but also create, analyze, and monitor that content.

3. Master mobile-first optimization.

When I first got started in digital marketing, mobile optimization was a big topic of discussion. We preached making sure websites were set up to offer the best user experience from a browser, but today, that’s a big factor in mobile search ranking as well.

With mobile search dominating across all demographics, mobile optimization is non-negotiable.

That means you should:

Focus on site speed.

Aim for page load times under three seconds on mobile devices. Faster websites offer a better user experience, in turn minimizing bounce rates and improving your search rank.

Pro tip: AI can help.

Read: Understanding Technical SEO: Audit Fundamentals + Detailed Checklists

Design for thumbs.

Ensure buttons, links, and interactive elements on your website are easily tappable. Similarly, make sure it’s easy to scroll or swipe through your content.

Prioritize local search.

Mobile searches often have local intent. People are looking for something nearby as they’re on the move. So, be sure to optimize your Google Business Profile and local SEO.

Pro tip: The HubSpot Marketplace is full of free mobile-responsive website templates to help make optimization easy for you.

4. Cater to your target generation.

Remember, while most trends we discussed are consistent across generations, there are subtle nuances that vary.

For example, while all generations are using social media, younger generations are flocking to Instagram and TikTok, while older generations are still enjoying YouTube. Cater your search behavior marketing to the generations you’re trying to reach.

5. Maintain your search engine foundation.

With all the talk about AI and social media, it’s easy to think you can ignore traditional SEO — but that would be a big mistake. Traditional search engines remain the backbone of online discovery. In fact, traditional search rank may even impact AI visibility. It’s still unclear.

Knowing that, continue investing in SEO fundamentals while expanding to new channels. That means continuing to work on your:

• Technical SEO: Ensure crawlability, site structure, and Core Web Vitals meet standards
• Content depth: Create comprehensive resources that search engines can confidently recommend
• User intent alignment: Match content to the specific needs users express through their searches

Frequently Asked Questions about Consumer Search Behavior

What are the 5 stages of the buyer’s journey?

The buyer’s journey typically follows five key stages, each with distinct search behaviors:

1. Problem Recognition (or awareness): Consumers identify a need and begin broad searches for solutions.
2. Information search: They actively research across multiple platforms and sources, including possible search engines, social media, or even AI.
3. Evaluation of alternatives (or consideration): Here, the consumer is comparing options, reading reviews, and seeking recommendations to determine which is the right solution for their needs.
4. Purchase decision: The consumer has identified the solution they want and are now looking at availability and how to get the best deal.
5. Post-purchase behavior: Searching for usage tips, support, or sharing their experience in reviews or feedback forms. This also could include making referrals or even a repurchase.

How have consumer search habits changed in recent years?

Consumer search habits have evolved dramatically. While traditional search engines remain dominant, we’re seeing a shift toward multi-platform search strategies. Key changes include the rise of social media search, mobile-first behavior, and emerging AI tool adoption.

Why is understanding search behavior important for marketers?

Search behavior insights directly impact marketing effectiveness. By understanding where and how your audience searches, you can refine your content to improve visibility and connect with consumers at crucial decision moments. This knowledge drives better ROI and helps your brand appear wherever customers look for solutions.

What percentage of consumers use social media for search?

One in three consumers use social search to find answers online. Thanks to enhanced algorithms, hashtags, and even AI assistance, social media can deliver robust answers to users that include content created by peers and sources they trust.

Why is mobile search becoming more important?

Statista reports that over half of global web traffic comes from mobile use, making mobile-first design essential to any marketer and brand. With mobile use being such a prominent consumer search habit, it would be misguided of marketers to neglect mobile optimization in their strategy,

How should marketers adapt to changing search behavior?

Marketers must embrace a hybrid strategy—that includes traditional SEO, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)—to remain visible across AI-powered search answers, voice assistants, and conversational tools.

The rise of AI-driven search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, now capturing shifting chunks of search traffic, requires marketers to also optimize for AI-first formats and zero-click summaries.

Additionally, including structured data, engaging FAQ formats (like this one), and ensuring accurate, brand-level information support visibility in AI-generated results and voice search and helps position brands to still get found by their target audiences in today’s market.

What role does AI play in future search behavior?

AI-powered search tools are reshaping discovery. Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity now account for approximately 5.6% of U.S. desktop search traffic as of mid-2025, more than doubling in a year. 

Major players like Google are embedding AI Overviews into search results—reaching billions of users and enhancing user experience, though at the cost of fewer website click-throughs.

This shift demands that brands build content designed for direct citation by AI and cultivate authentic user-generated reviews and community voices, which AI tools increasingly reference.

Which search platforms should businesses prioritize? Which search platforms should brands prioritize for maximum visibility?

This depends on your business, product, and audience, but here are some general guidelines that are worth experimenting with.

Google remains crucial for broad reach, but businesses must also diversify across emerging platforms and search modalities. Social media platforms like TikTok, forums like Reddit, and even AI chat tools like ChatGPT are becoming powerful search destinations, especially among younger or trend-driven audiences.

Additionally, optimizing for voice, visual, and local search — via tools like Google Lens, structured markup, and local business profiles— offers visibility where intent is rich and immediate.

Adapting Your Strategy to New Consumer Search Behavior

In 2025, consumer search behavior is no longer defined by a single platform or habit — it’s multi-channel, contextual, and available on-the-go.

While traditional search engines still anchor the experience and hold great power, social media, AI-powered tools, and mobile-first habits are adding new complexity and dimension. As a marketer, you need to stay flexible and experimental. This vigilance and early adoption is what will keep you relevant and easy to find when consumers go looking.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

The beauty of freelancing for most of my decade-long career is that I’ve worked on both sides of the B2B and B2C marketing coin. One week, I’m helping a B2B SaaS brand rewrite a whitepaper. The next, I’m deep in campaign planning for a B2C real estate brand. It’s a front-row seat to how marketing works across different verticals.

Now, with AI, everything has changed. I’ve heard it in interviews with marketing leads, seen it in the tools people reach for, and felt it in the way teams are organizing their workflows.

In this article, I’ll share what I’ve observed, backed by insights from our State of AI in Marketing 2025 report, to compare how B2C and B2B marketers are each leveraging AI and where they’re headed next.

Table of Contents

• How B2C vs B2B Brands Use AI for Content Creation
• Top AI Tools Leveraged by B2C vs B2B Brands
• How B2C vs. B2B Leaders Feel About AI
• Is B2C or B2B embracing AI more quickly? 

How B2C vs B2B Brands Use AI for Content Creation

Although the use cases of AI are as varied as they come, one thing is clear: AI has become nearly synonymous with content creation. But the way it shows up in B2C versus B2B contexts reveals both strong similarities and subtle differences. And the data from our report makes this very clear.

1. Content Quality Assurance

One of the most widely adopted use cases across both sales models is quality assurance. According to our survey, 53.87% of marketers use AI for things like spellchecks, tone adjustments, accessibility reviews, and writing recommendations. Every marketer knows this is the kind of work that quietly eats up hours in the content cycle.

Personally, I often spend just as much time reviewing as I do writing, checking that every ‘i’ is dotted and every ‘t’ crossed. Now, it is such a relief to be able to handle that part of the process with AI.

2. Copywriting

This was the second most popular use case in our survey, with over half of all marketers saying they use AI to write content. While their content goals may differ, both B2B and B2C marketers rely heavily on written communication.

B2C teams often turn to AI for high-volume writing needs, especially when there’s pressure to churn out lots of content across different channels.

On the B2B side, where content is often required to be in-depth and technical, AI is frequently used more for structure than speed. Here, AI is more relevant for generating outlines, organizing ideas, and sometimes producing a solid first draft.

3. Creating Images With AI Art Tools

Visual content is another growing area for AI support, with nearly half of marketers across both B2C and B2B saying they use AI to create marketing images.

In this case, B2C slightly leads the way. And that’s not surprising, as they often rely heavily on attention-grabbing visuals for social media, digital ads, and branded storytelling, way more than their B2B counterparts.

4. Summarizing Text Into Key Points

I once worked in social media for a B2C brand, and I remember how important it was to take complex or detailed service information and turn it into fun, digestible content for our social media pages. That’s one of many instances where I believe AI could have supported me.

Around 40% of marketers are now maximizing this, using the technology to break down dense content into key points.

For B2C, it’s a shortcut to creating engaging captions, stories, or newsletter blurbs. For B2B, it helps transform long-form assets like reports or webinar transcripts into summaries, executive notes, or even LinkedIn carousel content.

5. Repurposing Content by Format and Audience

Let’s say you’ve shot a customer testimonial video. That same piece of content might need to become a blog post, then a LinkedIn thought leadership article, and maybe even a script for a short video ad. This kind of repurposing, taking one idea and reshaping it across multiple formats, is another space where AI shines for marketers working with B2B and B2C brands.

But it’s not just about changing the format. Many marketers (nearly 40%) also use AI to adapt content for different audiences. For example, turning a blog on male fashion trends into one tailored to women’s styling needs. It’s the same core message, but with language, tone, and focus adjusted to resonate with a new reader.

6. Translating Content Across Languages

Global campaigns demand localized content, and 35% of the marketers we surveyed are using AI to scale their content across languages faster than traditional workflows allowed. B2C brands, especially in ecommerce, use this to localize product pages, ads, and help docs.

B2B teams are also adopting it, particularly for international landing pages, case studies, or product education content. Human oversight still matters, but there’s nothing quite like the head start AI provides.

Top AI Tools Leveraged by B2C vs B2B Brands

When we asked marketers and marketing leaders what AI-related resources their organizations provide to support AI adoption, the most common response — by a clear margin — was subscriptions to AI tools and platforms.

The interesting part?

This trend was evenly distributed between B2B and B2C organizations. That tells us something important: Regardless of audience, industry, or sales model, brands are actively investing in access.

But what tools are marketers actually using in their day-to-day roles? Here’s what stood out over the past 12 months.

1. Image or Design Generators

This was the most used category overall, used by over 40% of marketers. B2C teams are slightly ahead here, which makes sense given their heavier reliance on visual storytelling.

Tools like DALL-E, Canva AI, and Midjourney allow marketers to create entirely new images from text prompts, mock up campaign visuals, or even iterate for ad creatives.

2. General Purpose Chatbots

Chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot are arguably the most versatile tools on this list and they come as the second most popular tool. As the descriptor goes, these chatbots can be used for everything ranging from brainstorming, outlining, writing, and summarizing to answering research questions.

3. Smart AI Video and Audio Editing Tools

Video content continues to dominate digital marketing, and the demand for high-quality video assets has never been higher. What’s changed is how easily marketers can create and edit that content using AI.

Now, 36% of marketers, with B2C marketers leading B2B, use tools like Descript, Runway, Pictory, and Wisecut to automatically remove filler words, add subtitles, clean up audio, fix lighting, and even repurpose long videos into shorter clips.

4. Voice and Narration Generators

And then we have voice or narration generators which allow marketers to generate human-sounding voiceovers in different languages, tones, and styles. These tools — like Murf, Speechify, Play.ht, and Soundraw — give marketers the creative range to generate voiceovers and soundtracks without needing a professional studio.

With these generated sounds, marketers can produce video ads, social explainers, or even audio content for apps, product tours, demos, training modules, product tutorials, and presentations. The possibilities are endless.

5. Smart Image Editing Tools

Imagine this: You take a product photo somewhere, but for a specific campaign, it makes more sense on a clean white or seasonal background. This is where AI-powered image editing tools come in.

Over 30% of marketers across both B2C and B2B use image editing tools like Photoshop, Fotor AI, Luminar, and others to enhance, retouch, resize, or remove backgrounds automatically. With these tools, photos are polished quickly and adapted for different uses in record time.

How B2C vs B2B Leaders Feel About AI

Marketers may be deep in the trenches of AI-powered tools, but leadership sentiment is what really signals how organizations are thinking about long-term adoption, and our data reveals a lot.

1. Leaders want more control, not just more tools.

When we asked leaders what’s driving AI adoption, the answers were practical. Top of the list at 23% was better control over data privacy and security. Right behind that at 22% was the ability to customize AI to fit their business needs, and then cost savings at 20%.

These priorities came out nearly evenly between B2C and B2B brands, suggesting that regardless of industry, leaders are trying to bring AI closer to the core of their operations, not keep it as a shiny external add-on.

2. Many leaders see growth potential but they are not fully sold yet.

Roughly 35% of leaders somewhat agreed that AI will help their businesses scale in ways that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.

That’s a moderate vote of confidence, but what’s even more telling is the second most common response: neutrality. Almost 29% neither agreed nor disagreed, which says a lot about where most leaders are right now — interested, but still watching closely.

Maybe they haven’t seen the ROI yet, or maybe they’re wary of betting too heavily on a technology that is still evolving. Whichever it is, we can agree that there is optimism, but it’s cautious.

3. AI is great, but maybe not as great as the Industrial Revolution.

Yet. More than a third of marketing leaders somewhat agree that AI will rival the Industrial Revolution, especially when it comes to the impact it will have on human productivity. And yet, nearly 27% said they neither agree nor disagree — again pointing to this theme of cautious curiosity.

The hype is strong, but leaders may want to see sustained productivity gains across departments, not just faster content. Until then, the comparison to the Industrial Revolution will likely remain a metaphor.

4. Being overly reliant on AI is a red flag.

A clear majority — 65% — of leaders agree that AI should be used in people’s roles, but without them becoming overly dependent on it. This is one of the most widely agreed-upon sentiments across both B2C and B2B, and it reflects something important: Respect for human creativity and critical thinking.

This makes plenty of sense. While there is value in automating the repetitive stuff, the core skills that make marketing work should never be outsourced.

5. The ROI of AI investment is somewhat positive.

The majority of leaders describe the ROI from their AI investments as “somewhat positive.” That’s solid, but not game-changing.

Around 43% are seeing results they feel good about, while only about a third are seeing “very positive” returns. In other words, AI is working — but not blowing minds just yet.

This tracks with how most companies are using AI: to enhance productivity, speed up content production, or unlock small efficiencies.

The takeaway? Leaders aren’t walking away from AI, but they’re not betting the entire farm either.

Is B2C or B2B embracing AI more quickly?

If you’re hoping for a dramatic divide between B2C and B2B when it comes to AI adoption, you won’t find it here. What the data (and conversations with marketers) show instead is that both sides are moving fast, and in surprisingly similar ways.

An astonishing 91% of marketing teams say they already use AI in some capacity, and the split between B2C and B2B is nearly even. The same goes for employee mindset — over half of respondents described their teams as eager to use AI, and again, B2C and B2B are neck and neck.

Even when we asked leaders about future investment in AI tools, the pattern held: Two-thirds of teams plan to increase their AI spend in 2025, with a near-identical number from both sides.

The bottom line? B2C and B2B may be using AI for slightly different tasks, but when it comes to pace of adoption, they’re on the same track — and both are accelerating.

AI does not belong to one type of marketer.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned while writing this piece — and working with both B2B and B2C brands — it’s that AI doesn’t belong to one “type” of marketer. Whether your job is writing enterprise whitepapers or producing viral product videos, the core goals are the same: Be more creative, work more efficiently, and stay relevant.

To do this, marketers are maximizing every tool at their fingertips, which is a very smart thing to do. The tactics may differ slightly, but the momentum is shared.

Remember the last time you got an email that started with ‘Hey {First_Name}’ and immediately felt like deleting it? That visceral reaction isn’t just about poor execution — it signals a fundamental shift in buyer expectations.

HubSpot research shows that 78% of customers expect more personalization in business interactions than ever before. Yet only 47% of business leaders say their customer service experiences are highly personalized.

You can no longer rely on old-school personalization tactics like adding basic customer details to a holiday card or making a generic comment like “I love what your company is doing” in your outreach.

Buyers want to feel like their favorite brand understands their underlying needs and motivations. And they’re doing business with those who prioritize deep connection.

The Next Chapter of Personalization

These expectations have raised the bar. You know that “How did they know?” moment when you’re browsing Netflix and the algorithm picks your next binge-watch for you — and actually gets it right?

That’s the new personalization standard that buyers are holding your brand to.

Reaching that level of resonance isn’t possible with old marketing tactics. The good news is that we’re in the age of AI, where traditional marketing strategies have evolved and opportunities for hyper-personalization are endless.

This is where playbooks like HubSpot’s Loop Marketing come in. Businesses need the right tools to adapt to a world where you have access to unlimited information and endless distribution channels — and AI to make sense of it all.

The Loop is the four-stage playbook that helps businesses evolve with customer habits. Here are the stages:

1. Express who you are: Define your taste, tone, and point of view.

2. Tailor your approach: Use AI to make your interactions personal.

3. Amplify your reach: Diversify your content across channels for humans and bots.

4. Evolve in real-time: Iterate quickly and effectively.

Each of these stages is important, but today, we’re focusing on Tailor.

When you combine AI efficiency with human authenticity, you can deliver customer experiences that feel one-on-one at scale. And knowing how to Tailor your messaging effectively is how you get there. Here’s the breakdown.

Tailoring a Custom-Fit Message

Tailoring is about making your content feel personal, not just personalized.

As a brand, you want to leverage your unified customer data — everything from call records to website behavior — to create genuine relevance. That means developing solutions that resonate with both prospects and existing customers.

According to a 2025 HubSpot survey, a whopping 96% of marketers reported that personalized experiences have increased sales.

And that’s a big reason why brands like Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon are at the top. They use data about your past behavior to predict your future preferences — whether that’s a TV show, a playlist, or a product recommendation. The more you know about your target customer, the easier it is to meet (and exceed) their expectations.

Delivering that kind of one-to-one relevance starts with the data you use to power your strategy. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Gathering the Data That Matters

Most businesses are sitting on goldmines of customer data. Customer interactions live in help desk portals, intent signals hide in analytics, and behavior patterns are scattered across platforms.

The tricky part isn’t gathering the data — it’s making sense of it all. If you can’t connect the dots, all of that good data goes unused.

Take this example: You’re doing cold outreach to the VP of Product at a fintech startup. Sure, it’s nice to know basic information like their industry and company size. But what if you also knew that the company just secured another round of funding and is preparing to expand into the SMB market?

That’s the difference between surface-level tracking and enriched intelligence. It’s knowing exactly where each buyer is in their journey and using that context to guide your marketing strategy.

The key to nailing this is using the right tools to bring those scattered signals together. Many of these tools are powered by AI to help you layer context — like firmographics, industry movements, and company news — into your existing contact records.

You can then pull data across your entire tech stack — your CRM, marketing automation, website analytics, even your sales team’s conversation notes — and compile these touchpoints into a single source of truth.

Once your data is unified, the next step is turning those insights into customer profiles you can actually act on.

Moving from Insights to Customer Profiles

With data at the foundation, you can turn your rich, contextual insights into real target audience segments. That means going beyond traditional demographics like “Marketing Manager, 25-35, SaaS.”

Today‘s top marketing campaigns are built around intent and timing instead of job titles and company sizes. Brands are zeroing in on hyper-specific audiences like “Companies showing expansion signals who’ve engaged with competitive content in the past 30 days.”

Instead of using the static audience approach, use AI tools like ChatGPT or Breeze to identify dynamic targets based on real-time behavioral patterns and intent signals.

Here’s one approach: Choose a broad intent category (e.g., “actively evaluating solutions”) and layer in context clues (e.g., pricing page visits, competitor research, email engagement patterns, or subtle signals like increased website time-on-page).

Your prompt will look something like this:

“Find contacts who have shown signs of active solution evaluation in the past 30 days. Include behaviors like pricing page visits, demo requests, or content downloads focused on product ROI.”

The beauty of intent-based segmentation is that your messages land when people are ready to hear them, not when your campaign calendar says it’s time to send them.

Finding the Intersection Where Personalization Meets Connection

True personalization is about meeting your customers where they are with messages that make them stop and think, “Wait, how did they know that?”

Sprinkling “Hey {First_Name}” personalization into an email is so old playbook. If you truly understand your customers, you can connect your solution to their specific challenges and make your marketing feel more like advice from a trusted colleague.

This approach works across all channels. Take landing pages and CTAs as examples. Rather than using one-size-fits-all messaging, try creating variations that speak to different use cases.

You can see this in real time on the HubSpot Blog. Visitors to this email newsletter article will see a different CTA depending on where they are in our contact lifecycle.

New users will see more of an introductory message since they are likely in the early stages of product discovery: “Download now: Free Email Newsletter Guide.”

On the other hand, HubSpot customers will see a more personalized one that prompts them to try a specific tool in the HubSpot stack to accomplish a related task: Use HubSpot’s AI Campaign Assistant to Create Email Copy.”

For email campaigns, you can reference recent company announcements, popular industry trends, or seasonal factors relevant to their business in your copy.

Instead of “Save time with our productivity app,” think “Finally, a way to get through your inbox before your morning coffee gets cold.”

If you get stuck, AI can help kickstart your writing process. But the best results come when you pair AI’s speed with your own judgment and make sure the message still sounds human, relevant, and on-brand.

Leaving Room for the Human Touch

If you’re doing business during the AI era, you’re already at an advantage. From data analysis to content creation, AI is helping teams operate leaner and deliver faster results. And that’s exactly what leadership wants to see: fast results.

The catch? AI tools are incredibly powerful, but they’re not infallible. The most brilliant personalization campaigns may fall flat if AI makes assumptions that aren’t quite right or lacks human judgment about timing and context.

More than half of AI users rely on it for writing. And the top challenges they face boil down to inaccurate information and biased outputs.

That’s why it’s so important to build human quality checks into your process.

The most successful teams treat AI as a superpower that amplifies human creativity and strategic thinking — not as a replacement for it. They build systematic review processes that catch issues before prospects ever see them.

If you’re using AI to generate copy, use the right prompts and designate someone on your team to review the content before it enters the final stages of production.

• Does the brand voice feel consistent across all the variations?
• Does the personalization feel natural and helpful?
• Are the facts about both the customer and your product accurate?
• Do the CTAs make sense for where this person is in their buying process?

Even with systematic reviews in place, the reality is that some campaigns will still miss the mark. The difference is catching those misses early and learning from them rather than letting your LLM of choice run unchecked.

Creating Personalization at Scale

When you combine rich data, smart segmentation, AI-powered content generation, and thoughtful human oversight, something remarkable happens. Prospects don’t just engage with your content — they build a relationship with your brand.

And at a time when buyers are increasingly skeptical of generic outreach, that human connection is what separates prospects who delete your emails from customers who are enthusiastic about engaging.

HubSpot‘s Transactional Email add-on is a specialized email delivery solution that helps businesses send automated, relationship-based communications like order confirmations, password resets, and account updates through a dedicated IP address.

With seamless CRM integration and unlimited sends that don’t affect your marketing contact limits, Transactional Email ensures reliable delivery of critical customer communications. Here‘s what you need to know about HubSpot’s Transactional Email add-on as of 2025.

HubSpot Transactional Email Add-On Pricing Overview

HubSpot Transactional Email is available exclusively as a premium add-on for Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise customers:

Component	Monthly Cost	Requirements	What’s Included
Transactional Email Add-On	$600/month	Marketing Hub Pro/Enterprise + Dedicated IP	Unlimited transactional sends, dedicated IP, SMTP/API integration
Additional Dedicated IPs	Contact Sales	Per additional domain	Extra IP addresses for multiple domains

Note: Transactional email requires the purchase of both add-ons and is only available with Marketing Hub Professional ($800/month) or Enterprise ($3,600/month) subscriptions.

What Is HubSpot’s Transactional Email Add-On?

Price: Contact sales for custom pricing

Requirements: Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise + Dedicated IP Add-On

Email Volume: Unlimited transactional email sends

HubSpot‘s Transactional Email add-on enables you to send automated, essential business communications through a dedicated IP address separate from your marketing emails.

Unlike marketing emails, transactional emails bypass subscription preferences. Transactional emails are delivered regardless of a contact’s opt-in status, making them perfect for order confirmations, password resets, and other transaction-related communications.

The add-on integrates seamlessly with HubSpot‘s CRM, logging all email activity on contact records for complete customer journey visibility.

With API integration capabilities and unlimited sending that doesn’t count against your marketing contact limits, this solution is designed for businesses that need reliable delivery of critical customer communications.

Key Features

• Unlimited transactional email sends (don’t count against marketing contact limits)
• Dedicated IP address specifically for transactional emails
• Immediate IP activation (no warm-up period required)
• SMTP API and single-send API integration capabilities
• Custom tokens for personalized customer information
• Full CRM integration with email activity logging
• Performance tracking for opens, clicks, and bounces
• Domain authentication with SPF, DKIM, and custom domain setup

Trade-offs vs Standard Marketing Email

• Advantage: Unlimited sends, guaranteed delivery regardless of subscription status, dedicated IP protection
• Cost: Additional monthly fee on top of Marketing Hub subscription
• Limitation: Content must be transaction-focused, not promotional

Best for: Businesses with e-commerce sites, SaaS applications, or customer portals that must send automated, non-promotional messages triggered by customer actions or system events.

Prerequisites for Transactional Email

Required Base Subscriptions

Marketing Hub Professional

• Price: $800/month (includes 3 core seats)
• Additional Seats: $50/month per additional seat
• Marketing Contacts: 2,000 included

Marketing Hub Enterprise

• Price: $3,600/month (includes 5 core seats)
• Additional Seats: $75/month per additional seat
• Marketing Contacts: 10,000 included

Required Add-Ons

Both add-ons must be purchased together to enable transactional email functionality:

1. Dedicated IP Add-On: Provides a dedicated IP address for email sending
2. Transactional Email Add-On: Enables transactional email features and unlimited sending

Technical Requirements

• Domain ownership and DNS management access
• Ability to configure A, MX, TXT, and CNAME records
• Setup of SPF, DKIM, and domain authentication protocols

Key Pricing Considerations

Contact Limits and Cost Savings

Transactional emails don’t count against your Marketing Hub contact tier limits, providing significant cost savings for businesses that send high volumes of transaction-related communications. This separation lets you maintain marketing contact efficiency while ensuring critical business emails reach customers.

Email Send Benefits

Unlike marketing emails with tier-based send limits, transactional emails offer unlimited sending capacity, making them ideal for businesses with unpredictable or high-volume transactional email needs.

Required Add-On Bundle

Both dedicated IP and transactional email add-ons are required together, making this a premium solution designed for businesses with substantial transactional email requirements rather than occasional use.

ROI and Business Impact

Deliverability Benefits

• Protected Reputation: Dedicated transactional IP prevents reputation damage from marketing campaigns
• Improved Delivery Rates: Major email platforms filter messages from marketing-first IPs, making dedicated transactional IPs essential
• Guaranteed Delivery: Transactional emails bypass subscription preferences and quarantine status

Operational Efficiency

• Unified Platform: Manage all customer communications within the HubSpot ecosystem
• Complete Tracking: Full visibility into customer email interactions in CRM
• API Integration: Seamless connection with external systems and applications

Cost Efficiency at Scale

For businesses sending thousands of transactional emails monthly, unlimited sending without marketing contact impact provides substantial cost savings compared to alternative solutions or treating these communications as marketing contacts.

Feature Comparison by Email Type

Feature	Marketing Email	Transactional Email Add-On
Subscription Respect	Yes, honors opt-out preferences	No, bypasses subscription status
Send Limits	Based on contact tier (5x, 10x, 20x)	Unlimited sends
Unsubscribe Link	Required for compliance	Not included (non-promotional)
IP Infrastructure	Shared or dedicated marketing IP	Dedicated transactional IP only
Contact Counting	Counts against marketing limits	Does not count against limits
Content Type	Promotional and nurture campaigns	Transaction and account-related only
Warm-up Required	40 days for dedicated marketing IP	No warm-up, immediate activation

Making the Right Choice

Choose Transactional Email Add-On if:

• You send automated emails triggered by customer transactions
• You need guaranteed delivery of critical business communications
• You want to protect your marketing IP reputation
• You send high volumes of order confirmations, account alerts, or system notifications
• You require API integration for external system triggers
• You need unlimited sending without the marketing contact impact

Consider Alternative Solutions if:

• You only need occasional transactional emails
• You don’t currently use Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise
• You prefer specialized transactional email services with pay-per-send models
• You want to minimize platform complexity and cost

Evaluate Your Volume Needs

Dedicated transactional email services might be more cost-effective for businesses sending fewer than 1,000 transactional emails monthly. The unlimited sending and CRM integration often justify the investment for high-volume senders already using Marketing Hub.

Integration and Technical Capabilities

API Integration Options

HubSpot provides comprehensive developer tools for transactional email integration:

• SMTP API: Generate tokens for third-party system integration
• Single-Send API: Programmatically send individual transactional emails
• Direct Send: Create and send emails directly within the HubSpot interface
• Webhook Support: Trigger emails based on external system events

CRM Integration Benefits

All transactional email activity integrates with HubSpot CRM, providing unified customer communication history across marketing, sales, and service teams without requiring separate tracking systems.

Getting Started

Step 1: Assess Your Requirements

Evaluate your current transactional email needs, including volume, integration requirements, and deliverability challenges with your existing solution.

Step 2: Contact HubSpot Sales

To purchase the transactional email add-on, contact your HubSpot Customer Success Manager or sales representative. They can provide:

• Custom pricing for both required add-ons
• Implementation timeline and technical requirements
• API documentation and integration planning
• Best practice recommendations for your use case

Step 3: Plan Implementation

Work with HubSpot’s onboarding team to configure DNS records, set up domain authentication, and integrate with your existing systems.

HubSpot offers several support options:

• Professional onboarding specialists for setup and implementation
• Technical consulting for complex integrations
• 24/7 support for troubleshooting and ongoing maintenance
• Comprehensive developer documentation and API guides

For current add-on pricing or custom enterprise quotes, contact HubSpot Sales at (888) 482-7768 or visit HubSpot’s pricing calculator for estimates based on your specific requirements.

Conclusion

HubSpot’s Transactional Email add-on provides enterprise-grade transactional email capabilities with the unique benefit of unified CRM integration and unlimited sending.

While specific pricing requires custom consultation with HubSpot sales, this solution is designed for businesses already committed to Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise who need reliable, trackable delivery of essential customer communications.

The requirement for dedicated IP and transactional email add-ons positions this as a premium solution for businesses with substantial transactional email needs. For companies sending high volumes of transaction-related emails, the unlimited sending capability, dedicated IP protection, and seamless CRM integration provide significant operational value that can justify the investment.

Whether you need to send order confirmations for your e-commerce business or automated account updates for your SaaS platform, HubSpot’s Transactional Email add-on ensures your critical communications reach customers reliably while maintaining complete visibility within your CRM ecosystem.

With more than 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is one of the most essential social media platforms for marketers and business owners to connect with their audience.

If you’re new to the platform, you’re probably wondering how to get Instagram followers who are genuinely interested in what your business has to offer.

Growing your following takes time and attention, but there are a few things you can do right now to build your Instagram platform.

Let’s dive into the steps you can take to tap into your audience on Instagram and increase your follower count.

Table of Contents

• How to Get More Followers on Instagram
• The Best Instagram Apps to Get Followers

1. Don’t buy Instagram followers.

While many social influencers and major brands work hard to build an organic following, some choose to buy followers to increase their social reach and engagement.

Buying followers is cheap; some companies charge less than $5 for hundreds of followers.

However, buying followers and likes can severely damage your brand image and decrease engagement.

For example, Hootsuite created a fake Instagram account and bought 1,000 followers for as little as $15 to test how purchased followers influence audience engagement.

The company received some new followers over the course of a month, but the followers were fake, barely interacted with the content, and were unrelated to the brand.

Furthermore, you risk Instagram removing your account for violating their community guidelines if you buy fake followers.

Moreover, fake followers won’t buy your product or support your brand. Instead, focus on gaining authentic followers to increase your engagement and sales.

2. Create and optimize your Instagram account.

Your Instagram profile should tell your potential followers about your brand, what you do, and why they should follow you. Most importantly, your Instagram should be set up as a business account and not a regular personal account.

To set up a business account on Instagram, follow these steps. Once your business account is set up, you can optimize it to attract followers.

Username

As for your account’s name, start with a recognizable and easily searchable username — like your business name. If your business’ name is already taken, try keeping your business name as the first part of your username so people searching for your business are more likely to come across your account.

For example, the Australian activewear line Lorna Jane uses the username @lornajaneactive.

Pro tip: Make sure to add your full business name to the “Name” field by clicking “Edit Profile.” This will appear under your profile picture and your username in search.

Public Profile

Make sure your profile is public. To make your profile public, open Instagram, click on the gear icon to open “Options,” and make sure “Private Account” is turned off.

Profile Photo

Choose a profile picture on-brand with your other social networks, like your company logo. Check out HubSpot’s profile picture for reference.

Profile Bio

Fill your bio with delightful, actionable, and informative information about your brand. This lets people know what you’re about and gives them a reason to follow you. Include who you are and what you do, and add a hint of personality. Here are a few examples for inspiration:

• @WeWork: “For all the #waysyouwork, we’re here #wework
• @Oreo: “Playful moments from your favorite cookie.”
• @natgeo: “Experience the world through the eyes of National Geographic photographers.”

Notice the bios are short, to the point, and may include relevant hashtags.

Profile Link

Add a link to your bio to make it easy for people to go straight from Instagram to your website if they want to.

Notifications

Enable notifications to see when people share or comment on your photos so you can engage with them quickly. To enable notifications, go to “Settings” > “Notifications” > “Posts, Stories, and Comments.” Select “From Everyone” for every category.

Pro tip: We don’t recommend you link your Instagram account to Twitter and Facebook, so your Instagram posts are automatically published on those other accounts. The post types are different.

3. Designate a content creator.

There should be one or two people managing your business’s Instagram account. If possible, assign a content creator for your account who has the experience and understands the platform, including all its unique features.

Pro tip: If you work for a large organization, keep an organized guidelines document so your content stays consistent with your brand and that others who want to contribute know what/what not to post.

4. Post high-quality content.

Get familiar with essential photography and videography tips and editing apps. Since Instagram is a mobile app, you’ll likely take most of the photos and videos you post on Instagram on your mobile device. Here are some tips for taking great photos and videos:

• Focus on one subject at a time.
• Embrace negative space.
• Look for symmetry.
• Capture small details.

• Capture a variety of angles.
• Make sure the video or image is clear and steady.
• Have excellent lighting and avoid grainy imagery.

Pro tip: Instagram also offers a wide range of filters, effects, and tools to make your content stand out, so experiment with different features to see which you like best.

5. Leverage Reels, Stories, and Live videos.

In 2021, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, announced the platform is no longer a photo-sharing app. Since then, Instagram has prioritized video content such as Reels and Stories.

It makes sense, considering videos are more engaging than photos. Our Instagram Engagement Report found that video posts got three times more engagement than photos.

So when you’re creating content for your brand’s Instagram, focus primarily on engaging, dynamic, and interesting Reels and live videos.

For example, the owner of Perfect Pooches Dog Grooming runs an Instagram page called Girl With The Dogs. The page mainly consists of videos showing the behind-the-scenes of pet grooming as well as tips for different breeds of animals.

These Reels are excellent because they showcase the groomer’s work and care for her customers’ pets.

Pro tip: You can also repurpose content from TikTok or YouTube Shorts as Instagram Reels, but avoid any logos from other apps as that can cause the algorithm to show you video to fewer people.

6. Optimize your Instagram Stories Highlights.

Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours, but you can keep them up indefinitely by sorting them into Instagram Highlights. Highlights are especially useful if you have special, ongoing deals or offers.

Take a look at Sephora’s Instagram and how the company uses highlights to display current offers.

Sephora’s use of Highlights is a great example because the company’s highlights organize and display different categories of products, such as fragrances and hair care. Furthermore, they have a highlight showing the brand’s values.

Pro tip: When posting Stories, think of ways you can later archive them into Highlights.

7. Post meaningful content.

Post content that is relatable, authentic, and on-brand. This means posting content that highlights your products and services but doesn’t always feel like a direct advertisement.

Look at Dove’s official Instagram as an example. The company post Reels like “Choose a Dove Body Wash with Me” where viewers watch a person go through different body washes to start their morning.

However, the company also posts more heartfelt content, such as a Reel showing different mothers and daughters washing each other’s hair and playing together.

Both videos feature Dove products but in a more humanized and authentic way.

Pro tip: Keep tabs on trending topics, holidays, and social media trends to help you create meaningful and relevant content.

8. Keep a consistent content calendar.

To start posting on Instagram, download this social media content calendar template and plan your Instagram posts.

Over time, you’ll want to build up a backlog of photos for times of need, like the weekends or when you go on vacation.

Keep your target persona in mind when planning your posting schedule, as that can drastically change your posting timing and frequency — especially if you’re targeting an audience in a different time zone.

Optimizing your schedule for your specific audience might take time and experimentation.

According to our State of Social Media Report, the best times to post on Instagram are:

• 12 p.m. – 2:59 p.m.
• 3 p.m. – 5:59 p.m.
• 6 p.m. – 8:59 p.m.

Pro tip: For a United States audience, combine Eastern and Central time zones, as they represent almost 80% of the U.S. population.

For audiences outside the U.S., use whichever time zones your target audience uses.

9. Curate user-generated Instagram content.

Encourage your customers to post content using your products or services and tag your Instagram account.

This will alert you to a new tagged post, and you can repost the content on your own Instagram account or to your Instagram Story.

For example, camera company GoPro often posts content taken by athletes, stunt experts, and active influencers using GoPro cameras.

The Instagram photo below was taken by professional surfer Kai Jenny.

Pro tip: Create a brand hashtag customers can use when posting content of your products or services.

10. Optimize your captions for SEO.

Captions are integral to your Instagram because they can showcase your brand voice, double as a call to action, and contextualize your content.

They can also make your posts easier to find when optimized for SEO.

Instagram now allows users to search for content using keywords rather than just usernames or hashtags.

So, be sure to use keywords that align with your brand so your content is easier to find.

For instance, an influencer posted a Reel showing themselves using a concealer by Fyne Cosmetics. The caption included the word “concealer.”

As a result, it was one of the first videos I found when I searched “concealer” in Instagram’s search bar.

Pro tip: To help you find the right keywords, look at other brands within your industry to see what keywords they include in their posts.

11. Use relevant hashtags.

On Instagram, a hashtag ties the conversations of different users who wouldn’t already be connected into a single stream.

If you use relevant hashtags, your posts will get exposure to a broader audience than those who already follow you or know about your brand.

Research relevant hashtags in your niche or industry to find the hashtags your audience might be using. The easiest way to do this research is in the Instagram app, the “explore” tab.

Searching for one hashtag shows you a list of related hashtags at the top of your screen.

For example, I searched #shoes and was given other suggestions, such as #shoeslover #shoesaddict.

Pro tip: Look out for trending hashtags and find ways to incorporate them into your content or create content relating to the hashtag.

12. Interact with your followers.

The most natural way to draw attention to your Instagram account is by interacting with your followers. Like their comments and repost them whenever appropriate.

You should also consider following other accounts that fall within your niche. For example, Nike follows athletes like Grace Geyoro, Chris Mosier, and ShaCarri Richardson.

When another account is notified that you’ve followed them, they might check out your budget and decide whether to follow you.

You’ll also see their recent posts in your feed, so you can like their content and interact with them if you choose to.

Pro tip: As you build a following, celebrate your followers and show you appreciate them by responding to their comments, following them, and engaging with their posts.

13. Cross-promote your Instagram content.

Once you build a solid relationship with some of the folks behind these accounts with a similar audience, you might ask to co-promote each others’ accounts.

The more natural and less spammy you can make the content of these cross-promotions — especially the captions — the better.

It also helps to be picky about them and only cross-promote sparingly.

Below is an example of what that looks like from food blogger @sprinklesforbreakfast and the companies Sweets Indeed and Cookie Cutter Kingdom.

The food blogger posted a video using the companies’ products, promoted their official Instagram in the caption, and tagged them.

14. Run Instagram contests and giveaways.

Another great way to expand your reach while increasing engagement on your Instagram content is to publish a post promoting a contest or giveaway.

In that post, ask people to follow your account and like or comment on the image for a chance to win.

For example, Skinician, a skincare company, hosted a giveaway on its Instagram. To enter, people had to follow the account and tag a friend.

Pro tip: Consider collaborating with another account to run the giveaway. Doing so will introduce your brand to their audience as well.

15. Collaborate with Influencers.

Instagram is the most popular platform for influencer marketing. As mentioned earlier, influencers allow brands to tap into new audiences.

Once you have a strong enough presence on Instagram and you’ve built enough connections, look for influencers whose platform aligns with yours.

For example, if you’re a makeup company, look for makeup or beauty influencers who can promote your products.

If the idea of collaborating with an influencer sounds expensive, consider working with micro-influencers who have a following between 10,000 and 100,000 followers rather than large influencers with millions.

Pro tip: If you’re wondering how to find the best influencers for your brand, click here.

16. Make your Instagram profile easy to follow.

Place a follow button on your website homepage, “About Us” page, blog posts, and other places on your website. If your brand has brick-and-mortar locations, put out an excellent ol’ print call-to-action letting people know you have an Instagram account and encouraging them to follow you.

Also, promote your Instagram account on your other social media accounts. The folks who already follow you on Facebook and Twitter will follow you on Instagram without much prodding.

Let those followers know you’re on Instagram and encourage them to follow you by including a link to your Instagram account in the bios and posts of those other social media accounts.

You’re probably feeling a little overwhelmed. Don’t worry; that’s normal. Creating and managing a new Instagram strategy is a lot of work.

Thankfully, there are some great apps to help your Instagram posts stand out and plenty of apps to help you get followers. We’re going to talk about the latter in this section.

Crowdfire

Crowdfire is a helpful tool for pruning and growing your Instagram following. Pruning your list is as important as developing it, as it helps keep your engagement rates high.

Use Crowdfire to identify inactive followers, send automated direct messages, and discover new followers.

Price: Free

Hootsuite

Hootsuite can help analyze your competition, find the best times to post, and identify opportunities to increase engagement. Use this tool to manage your Instagram campaigns and measure your success.

Don’t miss its handy mobile app for Instagramming on the go.

Price: Paid, but you can try it free for 30 days

Iconosquare

Iconosquare is an all-in-one Instagram analytics, management, and scheduling tool. Use it to track comments on your Instagram profile (and others if you have multiple accounts) and organize a new and curated content library.

Iconosquare also offers an Instagram search engine you can use to discover influencers and cross-promotional opportunities.

Price: Paid, but you can try it free for 14 days

InstaTag

InstaTag shows you which hashtags are trending for the day.

Use this tool to power content with the hashtags most relevant to your brand and products to get your Instagram profile in front of new followers.

Price: Free

Repost

Repost is a “retweet” feature for Instagram; it allows you to easily repost other people’s content (hello, UGC!) while giving credit to the original account.

Repost is an excellent tool for resharing content from customers, followers, employees, and influencers.

Price: Free

Time to Watch Your Follower Count Go Up

Attracting genuine social media followers isn’t easy, but by following these tips and using a few additional apps, you’ll see an improvement quickly.

Give it a shot: Make a profile and start posting, testing, tweaking, and promoting your account.

Garnering a following on Instagram won’t happen overnight, but the stronger a foundation you create on your account in your niche Instagram community, the higher quality your followers will be.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Microsoft Excel know-how is so expected that it hardly warrants a line on a resume anymore. But how well do you really know how to use it?

Marketing is more data-driven than ever before. At any time you could be tracking growth rates, content analysis, or marketing ROI. You may know how to plug in numbers and add up cells in a column in Excel, but that’s not going to get you far when it comes to metrics reporting.

Do you want to understand what pivot tables are? Are you ready for your first VLOOKUP? Aspiring Excel wizard, read on or jump to the section that interests you most:

Table of Contents

• What is Microsoft Excel?
• Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Basics
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Pivot Tables
• IF Functions
• VLOOKUP
• INDEX MATCH
• Data Visualization

What is Microsoft Excel?

Microsoft Excel is a popular spreadsheet software program for business. It’s used for data entry and management, charts and graphs, and project management. You can format, organize, visualize, and calculate data with this tool.

How to Download Microsoft Excel

It’s easy to download Microsoft Excel. First, check to make sure that your PC or Mac meets Microsoft’s system requirements. Next, sign in and install Microsoft 365.

After you sign in, follow the steps for your account and computer system to download and launch the program.

For example, say you’re working on a Mac desktop. You’ll click on Launchpad or look in your applications folder. Then, click on the Excel icon to open the application.

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Basics

Sometimes, Excel seems too good to be true. Need to combine data in multiple cells? Excel can do it. Need to copy formatting across an array of cells? Excel can do that, too.

Let’s start this Excel guide with the basics. Once you have these functions down, you’ll be ready to tackle more pro Excel tips and advanced lessons.

Inserting Rows or Columns

As you work with data, you might find yourself needing to add more rows and columns. Doing this one at a time would be super tedious. Luckily, there’s an easier way.

To add multiple rows or columns in a spreadsheet, highlight the number of pre-existing rows or columns that you want to add. Then, right-click and select “Insert.”

In this example, I add three rows to the top of my spreadsheet.

Autofill

Autofill lets you quickly fill adjacent cells with several types of data, including values, series, and formulas.

There are many ways to deploy this feature, but the fill handle is among the easiest.

First, choose the cells you want to be the source. Next, find the fill handle in the lower-right corner of the cell. Then either drag the fill handle to cover the cells you want to fill or just double-click.

Filters

When you’re looking at large data sets, you usually don’t need to look at every row at the same time. Sometimes, you only want to look at data that fit into certain criteria. That’s where filters come in.

Filters allow you to pare down data to only see certain rows at one time. In Excel, you can add a filter to each column in your data. From there, you can choose which cells you want to view.

To add a filter, click the Data tab and select “Filter.” Next, click the arrow next to the column headers. This lets you choose whether you want to organize your data in ascending or descending order, as well as which rows you want to show.

Let’s take a look at the Harry Potter example below. Say you only want to see the students in Gryffindor. By selecting the Gryffindor filter, the other rows disappear.

Pro tip: Start with a filtered view in your original spreadsheet. Then, copy and paste the values to another spreadsheet before you start analyzing.

Sort

Sometimes you’ll have a disorganized list of data. This is typical when you’re exporting lists, like marketing contacts or blog posts. Excel’s sort feature can help you alphabetize any list.

Click on the data in the column you want to sort. Then click on the “Data” tab in your toolbar and look for the “Sort” option on the left.

• If the “A” is on top of the “Z,” you can just click on that button once. Choosing A-Z means the list will sort in alphabetical order.
• If the “Z” is on top of the “A,” click the button twice. Z-A selection means the list will sort in reverse alphabetical order.

Remove Duplicates

Large datasets tend to have duplicate content. For example, you may have a list of different company contacts, but you only want to see the number of companies you have. In situations like this, removing duplicates comes in handy.

To remove duplicates, highlight the row or column where you noticed duplicate data. Then, go to the Data tab, and select “Remove Duplicates” (under Tools). A pop-up will appear so that you can confirm which data you want to keep. Select “Remove Duplicates,” and you’re good to go.

If you want to see an example, this post offers step-by-step instructions for removing duplicates.

You can also use this feature to remove an entire row based on a duplicate column value. So, say you have three rows of information and you only need to see one, you can select the whole dataset and then remove duplicates. The resulting list will have only unique data without any duplicates.

Paste Special

It’s often helpful to change the items in a row of data into a column (or vice versa). It would take a lot of time to copy and paste each individual header.

Not to mention, you may easily fall into one of the biggest, most unfortunate Excel traps — human error. Read here to check out some of the most common Microsoft Excel errors.

Instead of making one of these errors, let Excel do the work for you. Take a look at this example:

To use this function, highlight the column or row you want to transpose. Then, right-click and select “Copy.”

Next, select the cells where you want the first row or column to begin. Right-click on the cell, and then select “Paste Special.”

When the module appears, choose the option to transpose.

Paste Special is a super useful function. In the module, you can also choose between copying formulas, values, formats, or even column widths. This is especially helpful when it comes to copying the results of your pivot table into a chart.

Text to Columns

What if you want to split out information that’s in one cell into two different cells? For example, maybe you want to pull out someone’s company name through their email address. Or you want to separate someone’s full name into a first and last name for your email marketing templates.

Thanks to Microsoft Excel, both are possible. First, highlight the column where you want to split up. Next, go to the Data tab and select “Text to Columns.” A module will appear with more information. First, you need to select either “Delimited” or “Fixed Width.”

• Delimited means you want to break up the column based on characters such as commas, spaces, or tabs.
• Fixed Width means you want to select the exact location in all the columns where you want the split to occur.

Select “Delimited” to separate the full name into first name and last name.

Then, it’s time to choose the delimiters. This could be a tab, semicolon, comma, space, or something else. (For example, “something else” could be the “@” sign used in an email address.) Let’s choose the space for this example. Excel will then show you a preview of what your new columns will look like.

When you’re happy with the preview, press “Next.” This page will allow you to select Advanced Formats if you choose to. When you’re done, click “Finish.”

Format Painter

Excel has a lot of features to make crunching numbers and analyzing your data quick and easy. But if you ever spent some time formatting a spreadsheet, you know it can get a bit tedious.

Don’t waste time repeating the same formatting commands over and over again. Use the format painter to copy formatting from one area of the worksheet to another.

To do this, choose the cell you’d like to replicate. Then, select the format painter option (paintbrush icon) from the top toolbar. When you release the mouse, your cell should show the new format.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Creating reports in Excel is time-consuming enough. How can we spend less time navigating, formatting, and selecting items in our spreadsheet? Glad you asked. There are a ton of Excel shortcuts out there, including some of our favorites listed below.

Create a New Workbook

PC: Ctrl-N | Mac: Command-N

Select Entire Row

PC: Shift-Space | Mac: Shift-Space

Select Entire Column

PC: Ctrl-Space | Mac: Control-Space

Select Rest of Column

PC: Ctrl-Shift-Down/Up | Mac: Command-Shift-Down/Up

Select Rest of Row

PC: Ctrl-Shift-Right/Left | Mac: Command-Shift-Right/Left

Add Hyperlink

PC: Ctrl-K | Mac: Command-K

Open Format Cells Window

PC: Ctrl-1 | Mac: Command-1

Autosum Selected Cells

PC: Alt-= | Mac: Command-Shift-T

Excel Formulas

At this point, you’re getting used to Excel’s interface and flying through quick commands on your spreadsheets.

Now, let’s dig into the core use case for the software: Excel formulas. Excel can help you do simple arithmetic like adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing any data.

• To add, use the + sign.
• To subtract, use the – sign.
• To multiply, use the * sign.
• To divide, use the / sign.
• To use exponents, use the ^ sign.

Remember, all formulas in Excel must begin with an equal sign (=). Use parentheses to make sure certain calculations happen first. For example, consider how =10+10*10 is different from =(10+10)*10.

Besides manually typing in simple calculations, you can also refer to Excel’s built-in formulas. Some of the most common include:

• Average: =AVERAGE(cell range)
• Sum: =SUM(cell range)
• Count: =COUNT(cell range)

Also note that series’ of specific cells are separated by a comma (,), while cell ranges are notated with a colon (:). For example, you could use any of these formulas:

• =SUM(4,4)
• =SUM(A4,B4)
• =SUM(A4:B4)

Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting lets you change a cell’s color based on the information within the cell. For example, say you want to flag a category in your spreadsheet.

To get started, highlight the group of cells you want to use conditional formatting on. Then, choose “Conditional Formatting” from the Home menu. Next, select a logic option from the dropdown. A window will pop up that prompts you to provide more information about your formatting rule. Select “OK” when you’re done, and you should see your results automatically appear.

Note: You can also create your own logic if you want something beyond the dropdown choices.

Dollar Signs

Have you ever seen a dollar sign in an Excel formula? When this symbol is in a formula, it isn’t representing an American dollar. Instead, it makes sure that the exact column and row stay the same even if you copy the same formula in adjacent rows.

You see, a cell reference — when you refer to cell A5 from cell C5, for example — is relative by default.

This means you’re actually referring to a cell that’s five columns to the left (C minus A) and in the same row (5). This is called a relative formula.

When you copy a relative formula from one cell to another, it’ll adjust the values in the formula based on where it’s moved. But sometimes, you want those values to stay the same no matter whether they’re moved around or not. You can do that by making the formula in the cell into what’s called an absolute formula.

To change the relative formula (=A5+C5) into an absolute formula, precede the row and column values with dollar signs, like this: (=$A$5+$C$5).

Combine Cells Using “&”

Databases tend to split out data to make it as exact as possible. For example, instead of having data that shows a person’s full name, a database might have the data as a first name and then a last name in separate columns.

In Excel, you can combine cells with different data into one cell by using the “&” sign in your function. The example below uses this formula: =A2&” “&B2.

Let’s go through the formula together using an example. So, let’s combine first names and last names into full names in a single column.

To do this, put your cursor in the blank cell where you want the full name to appear. Next, highlight one cell that contains a first name, type in an “&” sign, and then highlight a cell with the corresponding last name.

But you’re not finished. If all you type in is =A2&B2, then there will not be a space between the person’s first name and last name. To add that necessary space, use the function =A2&” “&B2. The quotation marks around the space tell Excel to put a space between the first and last name.

To make this true for multiple rows, drag the corner of that first cell downward as shown in the example.

Pivot Tables

Pivot tables reorganize data in a spreadsheet. A pivot table won’t change the data that you have, but it can sum up values and compare information in a way that’s easy to understand.

For example, let’s look at how many people are in each house at Hogwarts.

To create the Pivot Table, go to Insert > Pivot Table. Excel will automatically populate your pivot table, but you can always change the order of the data. Then, you have four options to choose from.

Report Filter

This allows you to only look at certain rows in your dataset.

For example, to create a filter by house, choose only students in Gryffindor.

Column and Row Labels

These could be any headers or rows in the dataset.

Note: Both Row and Column labels can contain data from your columns. For example, you can drag First Name to either the Row or Column label depending on how you want to see the data.

Value

This section allows you to convert data into a number. Instead of just pulling in any numeric value, you can sum, count, average, max, min, count numbers, or do a few other manipulations with your data. By default, when you drag a field to Value, it always does a count.

The example above counts the number of students in each house. To recreate this pivot table, go to the pivot table and drag the House column to both the row Labels and the values. This will sum up the number of students associated with each house.

IF Functions

At its most basic level, Excel’s IF function lets you see if a condition you set is true or false for a given value.

If the condition is true, you get one result. If the condition is false, you get another result.

This popular tool is useful for comparisons and finding errors. But if you’re new to Excel you may need a little more information to get the most out of this feature.

Let’s take a look at this function’s syntax:

• =IF(logical_test, value_if_true, [value_if_false])

• With values, this could be: =IF(A2>B2, “Over Budget”, “OK”)

In this example, you want to find where you’re overspending. With this IF function, if your spending (what’s in A2) is greater than your budget (what’s in B2), that overspending will be easy to see. Then you can then filter the data so that you see only the line items where you’re going over budget.

The real power of the IF function comes when you string or “nest” multiple IF statements together. This allows you to set multiple conditions, get more specific results, and organize your data into more manageable chunks.

For example, ranges are one way to segment your data for better analysis. For example, you can categorize data into values that are less than 10, 11 to 50, or 51 to 100.

=IF(B3<11,"10 or less",IF(B3<51,"11 to 50",IF(B3<100,"51 to 100")))

Let’s talk about a few more IF functions.

COUNTIF Function

The power of IF functions goes beyond simple true and false statements. With the COUNTIF function, Excel can count the number of times a word or number appears in any range of cells.

For example, let’s say you want to count the number of times the word “Gryffindor” appears in this data set.

Take a look at the syntax.

• The formula: =COUNTIF(range, criteria)
• The formula with variables from the example below: =COUNTIF(D:D,”Gryffindor”)

In this formula, there are several variables:

Range

The range that you want the formula to cover.

In this one-column example, “D:D” shows that the first and last columns are both D. If you want to look at columns C and D, use “C:D.”

Criteria

Whatever number or piece of text you want Excel to count.

Only use quotation marks if you want the result to be text instead of a number. In this example, “Gryffindor” is the only criteria.

To use this function, type the COUNTIF formula in any cell and press “Enter.” Using the example above, this action will show how many times the word “Gryffindor” appears in the dataset.

SUMIF Function

Ready to make the IF function a bit more complex? Let’s say you want to analyze the number of leads your blog has generated from one author, not the entire team.

With the SUMIFS function, you can add up cells that meet certain criteria. You can add as many different criteria to the formula as you like.

Here’s your formula:

• =SUMIFS(sum_range, criteria_range1, criteria1, [criteria_range2, criteria 2],etc.)

That’s a lot of criteria. Let’s take a look at each part:

Sum_range

The range of cells you’re going to add up.

Criteria_range1

The range that is being searched for your first value.

Criteria1

This is the specific value that determines which cells in Criteria_range1 to add together.

Note: Remember to use quotation marks if you’re searching for text.

In the example below, the SUMIF formula counts the total number of house points from Gryffindor.

IF AND/OR

The OR and AND functions round out your IF function choices. These functions check multiple arguments. It returns either TRUE or FALSE depending on if at least one of the arguments is true (this is the OR function), or if all of them are true (this is the AND function).

Lost in a sea of “and’s” and “or’s”? Don’t check out yet. In practice, OR and AND functions will never be used on their own. They need to be nested inside of another IF function. Recall the syntax of a basic IF function:

• =IF(logical_test, value_if_true, [value_if_false])
• Now, let’s fit an OR function inside of the logical_test: =IF(OR(logical1, logical2), value_if_true, [value_if_false])

To put it plainly, this combined formula allows you to return a value if both conditions are true, as opposed to just one. With AND/OR functions, your formulas can be as simple or complex as you want them to be, as long as you understand the basics of the IF function.

VLOOKUP

Have you ever had two sets of data on two different spreadsheets that you want to combine into a single spreadsheet?

For example, say you have a list of names and email addresses in one spreadsheet and a list of email addresses and company names in a different spreadsheet. But you want the names, email addresses, and company names of those people to appear in one spreadsheet.

VLOOKUP is a great go-to formula for this.

Before you use the formula, be sure that you have at least one column that appears identically in both places.

Note: Scour your data sets to make sure the column of data you’re using to combine spreadsheets is exactly the same. This includes removing any extra spaces.

In the example below, Sheet One and Sheet Two are both lists with different information about the same people. The common thread between the two is their email addresses. Let’s combine both datasets so that all the house information from Sheet Two translates over to Sheet One.

Type in the formula: =VLOOKUP(C2,Sheet2!A:B,2,FALSE). This will bring all the house data into Sheet One.

Now that you’ve seen how VLOOKUP works, let’s review the formula.

• The formula: =VLOOKUP(lookup value, table array, column number, [range lookup])
• The formula with variables from the example: =VLOOKUP(C2,Sheet2!A:B,2,FALSE)

In this formula, there are several variables.

Lookup Value

A value that LOOKUP searches for in an array. So, your lookup value is the identical value you have in both spreadsheets.

In the example, the lookup value is the first email address on the list, or cell 2 (C2).

Table Array

Table arrays hold column-oriented or tabular data, like the columns on Sheet Two you’re going to pull your data from.

This table array includes the column of data identical to your lookup value in Sheet One and the column of data you’re trying to copy to Sheet Two.

In the example, “A” means Column A in Sheet Two. The “B” means Column B.

So, the table array is “Sheet2!A:B.”

Column Number

Excel refers to columns as letters and rows as numbers. So, the column number is the selected column for the new data you want to copy.

In the example, this would be the “House” column. “House” is column 2 in the table array.

Note: Your range can be more than two columns. For example, if there are three columns on Sheet Two — Email, Age, and House — and you also want to bring House onto Sheet One, you can still use a VLOOKUP. You just need to change the “2” to a “3” so it pulls back the value in the third column. The formula for this would be: =VLOOKUP(C2:Sheet2!A:C,3,false).]

Range Lookup

This term means that you’re looking for a value within a range of values. You can also use the term “FALSE” to pull only exact value matches.

Note: VLOOKUP will only pull back values to the right of the column containing your identical data on the second sheet. This is why some people prefer to use the INDEX and MATCH functions instead.

INDEX MATCH

Like VLOOKUP, the INDEX and MATCH functions pull data from another dataset into one central location. Here are the main differences:

VLOOKUP is a much simpler formula.

If you’re working with large datasets that need thousands of lookups, the INDEX MATCH function will decrease load time in Excel.

INDEX MATCH formulas work right-to-left.

VLOOKUP formulas only work as a left-to-right lookup. So, if you need to do a lookup that has a column to the right of the results column, you’d have to rearrange those columns to do a VLOOKUP. This can be tedious with large datasets and lead to errors.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say Sheet One contains a list of names and their Hogwarts email addresses. Sheet Two contains a list of email addresses and each student’s Patronus.

The information that lives in both sheets is the email addresses column. But, the column numbers for email addresses are different on the two sheets. So, you’d use the INDEX MATCH formula instead of VLOOKUP to avoid column-switching errors.

The INDEX MATCH formula is the MATCH formula nested inside the INDEX formula.

• The formula: =INDEX(table array, MATCH formula)
• This becomes: =INDEX(table array, MATCH (lookup_value, lookup_array))
• The formula with variables from the example: =INDEX(Sheet2!A:A,(MATCH(Sheet1!C:C,Sheet2!C:C,0)))

Here are the variables:

Table Array

The range of columns on Sheet Two that contain the new data you want to bring over to Sheet One.

In the example, “A” means Column A, and has the “Patronus” information for each person.

Lookup Value

This Sheet One column has identical values in both spreadsheets.

In the example, this is the “email” column on Sheet One, which is Column C. So, Sheet1!C:C.

Lookup Array

Again, an array is a group of values in rows and columns that you want to search.

In this example, the lookup array is the column in Sheet Two that contains identical values in both spreadsheets. So, the “email” column on Sheet Two, Sheet2!C:C.

Once you have your variables set, type in the INDEX MATCH formula. Add it where you want the combined information to populate.

Data Visualization

Now that you’ve learned formulas and functions, let’s make your analysis visual. With a beautiful graph, your audience will be able to process and remember your data more easily.

Create a basic graph.

First, decide what type of graph to use. Bar charts and pie charts help you compare categories. Pie charts compare part of a whole and are often best when one of the categories is way larger than the others. Bar charts highlight incremental differences between categories. Finally, line charts can help display trends over time.

This post can help you find the best chart or graph for your presentation.

Next, highlight the data you want to turn into a chart. Then choose “Charts” in the top navigation. You can also use Insert > Chart if you have an older version of Excel. Then you can adjust and resize your chart until it makes the statement you’re hoping for.

Microsoft Excel can help your business grow.

Excel is a useful tool for any small business. Whether you’re focused on marketing, HR, sales, or service, these Microsoft Excel tips can boost your performance.

Whether you want to improve efficiency or productivity, Excel can help. You can find new trends and organize your data into usable insights. It can make your data analysis easier to understand and your daily tasks easier.

All it takes is a little know-how and some time with the software. So start learning, and get ready to grow.

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

Do you need to learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in web design when you can easily create websites with AI-powered tools? That’s a question that stopped me in the tracks because there’s no easy answer.

Still, for someone whose first taste of web design was with Macromedia Dreamweaver, I’ll say it helps to know how websites are put together.

Even if you’re creating landing pages with advanced tools like HubSpot’s AI website generator, you never know when you’ll need to manually change the font, layout, or animate a particular web element. And knowing the web fundamentals — specifically HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — definitely helps.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through each of them, explaining how each web technology works and why it’s important for developing modern websites.

Table of Contents

• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript at a Glance
• What is HTML?
• What is CSS?
• What is JavaScript?
• How to Use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Together for Web Design

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript at a Glance

Almost every modern website uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The fact that you’re able to read this blog, presented in an aesthetically pleasing layout, and see a slide-in pop-up after scrolling to a certain depth is due to all three web technologies.

The best way to understand each of them is to use the house analogy.

• HTML provides structure to a website, just like how beams and pillars support a house.
• CSS beautifies an otherwise plain web page, much like paints and wallpapers enhance the beauty of a house.
• JavaScript allows users to interact with a website by adding behind-the-scenes functionality. It’s like adding plumbing, electricity, and internet to a house.

If you’re not familiar with coding, they might look similar and confusing. But when you’re trained to look into the details, or specifically the syntax and semantics of each, you’ll be able to differentiate them.

What is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It structures a web page into logical parts so the web browser knows where the header, body, paragraphs, tables, images, and other elements are. For example, these are common elements that you can specifically state in an HTML document.

• contains metadata of the web page.
• consists of visible content that users can see.
• 
  

  the heading with the largest font size.

• starts a paragraph.

• bolds the text.

How does HTML work?

When you visit a webpage, the browser loads the associated HTML document from the web server. An HTML document organizes web content with a series of HTML tags. Then, the browser creates a Document Object Model (DOM), which it uses to understand how various web elements relate to each other. You can think of DOM as a building blueprint that explains a house’s structure.

Although HTML is not a programming language, I appreciate how it categorizes web elements with standard conventions. For example, if you want to underline a sentence, you mark it with and .

This is underlined text using the HTML u tag.

Just like how an architect uses a blueprint to construct a house, a web browser uses the HTML file to render the web content’s structure. Whether a text is a heading, paragraph, or belongs to a numbered list, it’s all clearly stated in the HTML file.

Here’s what the HTML structure looks like for a simple dialog box.

Hello World

Basic HTML content

Click me

You can copy the markup above, paste it into a text editor, and save it as an .html file. Then, open it in a browser and you’ll see a simple, plain web page like this. While you won’t see the HTML markup on the browser, they’re helpful for the browser to map information in ways the web designer intended.

Another important feature of HTML is that you can add attributes to the HTML elements. For example, if you want to turn a text into a hyperlink, you can add an attribute that describes the destination page.

Content

Here, href contains the destination file that you will be directed to when you click Content, which is the anchor text.

Understanding HTML5 in Modern Web Development

The first version of HTML was invented in 1991. Since then, HTML has gone through several major revisions. Today, many modern websites use HTML5, which is more flexible and supports features that modern web development needs.

For example, HTML5 provides semantic tags that better describe specific web elements. Let’s take the , which you’ll find in HTML. Basically, it tells the browser to render a particular text bold. While is still available in HTML5, you can achieve the results with . When you use , you’re also telling the browser the text is significantly important, which is helpful for assistive technologies.

HTML5 also provides better support for audio and video embedding. Remember the days when you had to download Flash to render videos on websites? With HTML5, you can embed videos with tags like and.

For more on the many features that HTML5 offers, read this article.

What is CSS?

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a rule-based language that lets you create an aesthetically pleasing webpage. You can change how every web element looks by applying CSS to override the browser’s default style. For example, if you want a different font, background colors, or margin size, you can write CSS code for the HTML document you created.

How does CSS work?

CSS follows a standardized syntax, which, in my opinion, even for non-coders, is easy to follow. Basically, you write CSS code by specifying the selector and declaration.

• Selector is the web element you want to modify. For example, a heading can be a selector.
• A declaration is the new properties that you want to assign to the web element. You use a { } pair to list the declaration, which consists of a property-value pair.

Let’s take the CSS code below as an example.

I’ve added several changes that override the original element’s style, including the background color, text color, and the padding. And here’s what the dialog box looks like with the CSS code.

Prettier, isn’t it?

But that’s not all. You can style web elements at different levels by placing the CSS code in different parts of your website.

• Inline: Write the CSS code within the HTML element using the attribute to limit the changes to one specific web element.
• Local: Place the CSS within the HTML file, usually in the header, to apply style changes for the entire web page.
• Global: Create a separate CSS file and link to it from your website’s header to enable global changes for the entire website.

For example, I can use a different font, color, and margin for landing pages by using local CSS without changing the default style for blog articles.

Responsive Web Design With CSS

CSS isn’t only for giving your website a beautiful facelift. It’s also important for enabling responsive design. CSS allows the browser to automatically adjust web elements, including font size, layout, and margin, according to the screen size.

I remember the days when smartphones were introduced. Back then, many websites looked awkward on small screens because responsive design was still in its infancy. These days, the browser can apply different styles based on the device you’re using in a method called CSS media queries. Essentially, CSS media queries define distinct sets of attributes for various screen sizes, including desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Another CSS technique that gives you flexibility is to use relative instead of absolute scale when declaring properties.

For example, instead of stating width: 200 px, I use width:70% so the browser can adjust the web element’s width accordingly. Besides %, you can also use relative units like em, rem, and vw with CSS to create responsive web layouts.

What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is a programming language that web developers use to add functions, animation, and integration into websites. It turns a plain, read-only web page into one that users can interact with. For example, it allows you to drag and drop files into a placeholder and view the upload progress in real time.

Since JavaScript was introduced, it has become a core technology that makes a website “livelier.” The automatic scrolling carousel, perfectly-timed pop-in dialogs, built-in rate calculator functions — basically anything that isn’t static is powered mostly by JavaScript.

That said, JavaScript is more than animating objects in modern web development. It’s also a critical technology that performs many intelligent backend services. For example, websites use JavaScript to send customer information submitted in a form to the backend server, which is later stored in a database.

How does JavaScript work?

JavaScript, like many programming languages, has its own rules and syntax. If you share a similar background with me in object-oriented languages like C#, Java, or Python, JavaScript will look familiar.

Initially, JavaScript was a client-side scripting language, which means it supports developing user-facing websites. These days, developers use JavaScript for both client and backend development. When you use JavaScript for client-side functions, the browser retrieves the JavaScript file from the server and runs the code in real time.

Let’s revisit the same example I used to explain HTML and CSS. If you click the button on your webpage, nothing happens. The reason is that there isn’t a “code” assigned to the button. With JavaScript, you can add a function to the button.

For example, what happens if I add the following JavaScript code to the button?

The result? You will see the button’s text changed to Clicked! and the dialog’s orientation shifted after you click it.

While JavaScript used to be associated with animating web objects, its role has significantly evolved. Now, JavaScript can also run backend functions. For example, you can create a function that automatically refreshes marketing analytics in real time from your CRM database. (I won’t be showing the entire example here because it takes more than a few lines of script to do that. Also, it’s better to use HubSpot Marketing Analytics if that’s what you want to do!)

Like CSS, you can include JavaScript inline, locally, or create a separate file.

Pro tip: Download my example HTML file here, which contains the CSS and JavaScript implementations. However, in actual projects, it’s better to store HTML, CSS, and JavaScript separately. Spending 10 years in application development taught me not to mix the user interface and the underlying function code together.

JavaScript and API Integration

An application programming interface (API) is a method that allows multiple software components, including web services, to reliably exchange data. Developers use an API to expose functions to the public, so you don’t have to build them from scratch. Instead, you call the API from your website to access those services.

Because JavaScript is popular for web design, you can use the script to access many APIs. And this includes browser APIs and third-party APIs.

• Browser APIs are services that are built onto the web browser itself. For example, you can access geolocation data, control audio volume, and capture images from your camera with browser APIs.
• Third-party APIs let you integrate external functions into your website. For example, you can stream live video to Facebook, access HubSpot CRM data, and use Google Maps with the APIs that these platforms provide.

Let’s check out the JavaScript below. It creates a Google Maps object with the google.maps.Map() constructor. A constructor is code that creates a new object that mimics the original blueprint. In this case, it creates the Google Map object.

Then, you can use API constructors like google.maps.Geocoder(), google.maps.Marker() and google.maps.InfoWindow() by including them in your JavaScript code.

Below is how I use the google.maps.Marker() API to mark a position on the map.

How to Use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Together for Web Design

So far, I’ve clarified the roles of each scripting and programming language. The question now lies in combining them together so that you have a beautiful, functional website with an organized codebase.

If you’re using web development tools like HubSpot’s website builder, you don’t need to worry about unifying, organizing, and maintaining the files. The tool does the heavy lifting so you can focus on creating a website your customers love.

However, if you decide to build your sites manually, you’ll need to create separate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.

Typically, the project folder of a single-page website looks like this.

• Project

• Index.html
• Style.css
• Script.js

To include the CSS file, place the following line in the of the webpage.

Meanwhile, for JavaScript, include the following line of code in the tag:

<script src="script.js“>

Depending on the use cases, you can also place the JavaScript in the , but for performance, I’d suggest using the async or defer attribute.

<script src="script.js” defer >

Pro tip: When building websites, I can be quite obsessive in keeping code maintainable, readable, and reusable. That’s why I don’t put all the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code in a single file.

Design with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Now, you’ve learned the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They’re core technologies that drive modern websites. And they do more than create beautiful sites – they also enable complex functions that enhance everything from website interactions to business transactions.

To master HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in web design, you’ll need to invest time, resources, and effort. But even with basic knowledge, you can still do wonders in your web design, provided that you’re using web development tools that bring them together.

When I started in content marketing in 2013, my digital marketing analytics strategy was refreshing Google Analytics to check if page views were up. Traffic climbing meant we were winning; traffic dropping meant panic mode.

Over many B2B SaaS roles, I learned that tracking traffic alone can‘t answer the question every exec asks: “Is our marketing actually working?” I’ve sat in countless meetings where no one had a clear answer.

Most teams are stuck in the “more traffic is better” mindset, but traffic only tells part of the story. If you want to know what’s really driving results, you need to go beyond the basics.

In this post, I’ll share the digital marketing analytics I rely on to make smarter decisions, prove impact, and confidently answer that executive question. Bookmark this guide and jump to what you need most.

Table of Contents

• What are digital marketing analytics?
• Digital Marketing Analytics vs. Web Analytics 
• What is a digital marketing analysis?
• How to Use Digital Marketing Analytics Effectively
• Digital Advertising Analytics

Digital marketing analytics help you make sense of what your audience is doing online — and whether those actions are helping your business grow.

I think of digital analytics as the thing that helps me read between the lines. It’s one thing to know someone clicked or filled out a form — but I want to know what that tells me about what’s working.

Web analytics mostly stick to site-level metrics — page views, bounce rates, and session times. But digital marketing analytics go further. They pull data from across your channels — email, ads, social — and help you understand how your overall marketing is performing and where it’s driving genuine results.

Digital Marketing Metrics to Know

Early on, I was glued to page views and social impressions. They looked great in a report — but didn’t tell me if we were bringing in leads, closing deals, or growing the business.

We were pulling in traffic and checking all the usual boxes — but none of it was turning into leads. At some point, I stopped trying to make the reports look good and started asking: is any of this actually working? That’s when I began focusing on metrics that showed real impact, not just movement.

Source

Below are the metrics I’ve found most valuable across different areas of digital marketing — starting with the basics.

Best Metrics for Website Marketing Analytics

These are the site-level metrics I track most often to understand how content and UX are performing:

Visitor

I focus on unique visitors because it shows me how many individual people are coming to the site — not just refreshes or repeat views. When I’m checking content performance, this is one of the first things I look at.

Page View

Every page load counts as a page view. It’s not the most insightful metric on its own, but it helps spot trends and identify content that’s getting attention.

Session

A session includes everything a person does on your site in one visit — clicking around, reading multiple pages, maybe filling out a form. It ends after 30 minutes of inactivity. I use sessions to get a sense of how deep someone’s engagement goes beyond a single page view.

Traffic

I rarely look at traffic in isolation. I track it over time and in context with other metrics — especially conversion rate — to understand if the traffic we’re getting is valuable.

Traffic by Channel

This shows where your visitors are coming from — search, social, email, direct, etc. I use it constantly to figure out which channels are performing well and where we need to shift focus.

Traffic by Device

This tells me whether people are browsing on mobile, desktop, or tablet. I always check this when optimizing content layout or troubleshooting drop-offs — especially if conversion rates are low on one device type.

Ratio of New Traffic to Returning Traffic

This metric compares first-time visitors to people who‘ve been to your site before, shown as percentages. I love this metric because it shows whether you’re growing your audience (new traffic) while keeping existing visitors engaged (returning traffic).

Time on Page

This metric helps me figure out if people are sticking around. If the time is high, it usually means the content is useful or engaging. If it’s low, I take that as a sign to revisit the intro, formatting, or value of the page.

Interactions per Visit

I look at how many actions people take on average during a session — clicking CTAs, downloading content, watching videos. It gives me a sense of whether we’re offering enough value or opportunities to engage.

Bounce Rate

I track bounce rate to see how many people leave after viewing just one page. Sometimes a high bounce rate is fine — like if someone finds exactly what they need on a landing page. But when I see unexpected spikes, it usually means there‘s an issue with the content or the page isn’t loading correctly.

Core Web Vitals

These are Google’s signals for user experience — things like load speed, layout shift, and responsiveness. I keep tabs on them not just for SEO reasons, but because no one sticks around for a page that loads like molasses or jumps all over the place.

Scroll Depth

I track how far visitors scroll down our pages to understand content engagement. If people aren‘t scrolling past the fold, I know the opening content needs work or the page design isn’t drawing them in.

Best Metrics for Lead Generation

These are the metrics I use to track my lead generation efforts:

Call-to-Action (CTA) Click-Through Rate

I look at CTA clicks to gauge whether the content is doing its job. It’s a quick gut check: If a post is getting solid traffic but no one’s clicking “Get the Guide,” that tells me something’s not landing — either the content didn’t connect or the offer needs reworking.

Submissions

Submissions count the number of people who complete a form after clicking a CTA. If we have high CTA clicks but low submissions, that usually points to friction — maybe the form is too long, or the offer doesn’t feel worth it.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate tracks how many people take a desired action (like signing up or downloading something) compared to total visitors. I track this across content types and channels to see what’s converting — not just what’s getting attention.

Cost Per Lead (CPL)

CPL tells me how much we’re spending to generate each lead. I break this down by channel and campaign to figure out which ones are efficient and which ones are draining the budget without results.

Lead Velocity Rate

This measures how quickly leads move through the funnel — from new lead to MQL, or from MQL to customer. If the pace slows down at a particular stage, I know it’s time to revisit our nurturing strategy or look for friction.

Free Trial Conversion Rate

If you’re running a free trial model, this one’s critical. It shows how many people who start a trial become paying customers. I use it to connect top-of-funnel content to actual revenue and flag where prospects might be falling off.

Pop-Up Conversions

Pop-up conversions track how many visitors fill out forms triggered mid-browse. While pop-ups can be annoying, I’ve found that well-timed, relevant ones can move the needle — especially when tied to intent.

Ratio of Generated Leads to Marketing-Qualified Leads (MQL)

This metric compares total leads to those that are actually a good fit. I track this to evaluate the quality of leads we’re bringing in and how well our content aligns with our ideal customer profile.

Leads to Close Ratio

The leads to close ratio shows what percentage of your leads turn into paying customers. It’s one of the clearest ways to gauge content effectiveness — if a certain offer or campaign brings in leads that never close, it’s time to pivot.

Best Metrics for Email Marketing

Email’s been one of the most consistent performers in every role I’ve had. It’s straightforward, flexible, and still delivers when done well. These are the metrics I look at to figure out if an email campaign is doing its job.

Open Rate

This tells me how many people opened an email out of everyone I sent it to. I use it to test subject lines and timing. If open rates dip below our usual baseline, I dig into whether the content felt relevant — or if it even made it to the inbox. For B2B SaaS, I generally aim to hit at least 20%.

Opens by Device

This shows which devices (mobile, desktop, tablet) people are using to read emails. Most folks check email on their phones, so I always make sure our design works well on mobile first.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR tracks how many people clicked a link inside the email. I’ve seen huge differences here based on personalization and list segmentation. The more targeted the message, the better this number usually looks.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate tracks how many emails didn’t make it to someone’s inbox. I watch it to catch list issues early. If it spikes, I remove outdated or bad addresses.

Unsubscribe Rate

If more people are leaving than joining, I take it as a sign we’re either sending too often — or just not giving folks a good enough reason to stick around.

List Growth Rate

This metric shows whether our list is trending up or down. If more people are unsubscribing than signing up, I take a closer look at our content or our sending frequency.

Best Metrics for Social Media

Follower counts might look impressive in a slide deck, but they don’t pay the bills. Here are the social media metrics I track to understand whether our efforts are working:

Engagement Rate

I calculate this by taking all the likes, comments, shares, and clicks, then dividing by our total followers. A high engagement rate tells me people aren’t just seeing our content — they care enough to interact with it.

Follows and Subscribes

This metric tracks how many people choose to follow your social accounts because they want to see more of your content. While follower count isn’t everything, I track growth to understand whether our content strategy is attracting the right audience.

Shares

Shares are one of the strongest signals of content value. If someone’s willing to repost something under their name or brand, that means it hit the mark.

Audience Growth Rate

I use this to track how quickly our following grows over time. I calculate it by dividing new followers by total followers, then multiplying by 100. It’s a more honest view than just watching the number tick up.

Post Reach

Post reach tells me how many people saw a piece of content. I track this as a percentage of total followers to get a sense of how well we’re navigating platform algorithms and timing.

Potential Post Reach

This metric estimates how far our content could go based on who shared it and the size of their audiences. I don’t put too much stock in this number alone, but it helps measure brand amplification. Potential reach is typically 2-5% of this total.

Share of Social Voice

This metric compares how often people mention us versus competitors. I track both direct mentions (with @handles) and indirect ones (brand name only) to see how we’re showing up in conversations that matter.

Approval Rate

Likes are the simplest form of validation, but they still matter. I use this metric to track positive reactions across campaigns and make sure our tone is landing as intended.

Best Metrics for Ecommerce

Even if you’re not running a full-on online store, these metrics still matter if you’re selling anything through your website:

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate

I track how many people add items to their cart but don’t complete the purchase. When this number creeps up, it usually means something’s off — maybe the checkout process is clunky, or the pricing catches people off guard at the last step.

Sales Conversion Rate

This shows me how many site visitors become customers. I also pay attention to micro-conversions — like product page views or add-to-cart actions — to see where people are dropping off or getting more serious about buying.

Email Marketing Opt-in

I track how many people sign up for emails while browsing or checking out, and I break that down by traffic source. It’s an easy way to spot which channels are bringing in subscribers who want to hear from us again.

Customer Acquisition Cost

Customers don‘t always come cheap. I calculate our total marketing spend divided by the number of new customers acquired to understand our actual cost per customer. The higher the number, the more we’re spending and the narrower our profit margins.

Average Order Value

This one’s simple: total revenue divided by number of orders. I use it to see if people are buying more expensive items or adding extras to their cart. Sometimes, just tweaking bundles or offering free shipping thresholds can help bump it up.

Revenue by Source

This metric tells me which marketing channels are driving sales — not just traffic. Social might bring in volume, but if search or email drives more purchases, that’s where I double down.

These metrics cover the most important digital marketing analytics across different channels. Depending on your marketing tools and channels, you might track additional metrics specific to your business.

But why are digital marketing analytics so much more powerful than basic web analytics?

Digital Marketing Analytics vs. Web Analytics

The most significant difference between web analytics and digital marketing analytics comes down to scope.

Web analytics tell you what’s happening on your website — page views, bounce rate, time on page. That’s helpful, but it doesn’t tell you whether those visits are turning into leads or customers.

Digital marketing analytics go further. They help you connect all your marketing efforts — email, social, ads, blog content — and see how they work together to drive results. Instead of just looking at what people do on your site, you get a clearer view of how they found you, what influenced their decisions, and what led to revenue.

I’ve seen teams get stuck optimizing for web metrics that look good on paper, but don’t lead to any business outcomes. I’ve done it myself — spending months trying to improve blog performance based on time on page, only to realize those posts weren’t attracting the right audience or creating meaningful engagement.

If we’d been using digital marketing analytics from the start, we would’ve seen that we hadn’t aligned our content with our goals — or the buyer’s journey.

That’s why I always come back to the marketing and sales flywheel. It’s not just about top-of-funnel traffic. It’s about how everything works together — attracting, engaging, and delighting people at every stage. Digital marketing analytics make it easier to track that cycle and figure out what’s legitimately helping your business grow.

Web analytics gives you the puzzle pieces. Digital marketing analytics help you put them together.

Source

A digital marketing analysis is the first step to developing a strong digital marketing analytics strategy. I use this process to structure a business goal into outcomes based on three broad categories:

1. The relationship between different marketing channels
2. People-centric data on the buyer’s journey
3. Revenue attributed to specific marketing efforts

Download our free ebook on inbound marketing analytics — the key metrics your executives really want to see.

Let’s highlight these main differentiators.

1. The Relationship Between Marketing Channels

Digital marketing analytics provides a solid look into the direct relationships between your marketing channels. It‘s great to be able to see how each of your channels (e.g., social media, blogging, email marketing, and SEO) is performing. Still, the true power of analytics comes into play when you can easily tie the effect of multiple channels’ performances together.

For instance, let’s say you sent an email to a segment of your database. Digital marketing analytics not only tells you how many people clicked through from your email to your website, but also how many of those people converted into leads for your business when they got there.

Furthermore, you can compare the impact of that individual email send with other marketing initiatives. Did that email generate more leads than the blog post you published yesterday? Or was the content you shared via Twitter more effective?

2. People-Centric Data on the Buyer’s Journey

As we mentioned earlier, a key differentiator between web analytics and digital marketing analytics is that the latter uses the person — not the page view — as the focal point.

Digital marketing analytics enables you to track how your prospects and leads are interacting with your various marketing initiatives and channels over time. How did the lead first come to find your website? From Google? Facebook? Direct traffic? Is that lead an active part of your email subscriber base, clicking and converting on marketing offers presented via email? Do they read your blog, and have they downloaded any content offers that could indicate an interest in your products/services?

Full-stack digital marketing analytics can tell you all of this and more, providing you with extremely valuable lead intelligence that can help inform the direction of your future campaigns.

Looking at all of this information in aggregate can help you understand trends among your prospects and leads and which marketing activities are valuable at different stages in the buyer’s journey.

Perhaps you find that many customers’ last point of conversion was on a certain ebook or white paper. Having this data makes it possible to implement an effective lead management process, enabling you to score and prioritize your leads and identify which activities contribute to a marketing-qualified lead (MQL) for your business.

3. Revenue Attributed to Specific Marketing Efforts

One of the most valuable functions of marketing analytics is its ability to attribute specific marketing activities to sales revenue. Sure, your blog may be effective in generating leads, but are those leads turning into customers and making your business money? Closed-loop marketing analytics can tell you.

Download our free ebook on closed-loop marketing and take your digital marketing analytics to the next level.

The only requirement here is that your digital marketing analytics system and customer relationship management (CRM) platform are connected.

Having this closed-loop data can help you determine whether your marketing initiatives are contributing to your business’s bottom line. Through it, you can decide which channels are most critical for driving sales.

Perhaps your blog is your most effective channel for generating customers, or conversely, you see that social media is only as powerful as an engagement mechanism, not a source of sales.

You’ll set better, more outcome-driven goals when you measure how your channels work together, track behavior across the buyer’s journey, and connect revenue back to specific marketing efforts.

Now, let’s talk about how to use these marketing analytics effectively.

How to Use Digital Marketing Analytics Effectively

I’ve had campaigns with solid traffic and decent engagement — but nothing to show for it. That’s when I realized surface-level metrics weren’t telling me what I truly needed to know.

I’ve been there. The dashboards look fine, but when someone asks, “Is it working?” — I don’t always have a clear answer.

For me, it usually means one of two things: the goals are fuzzy, or we’re measuring things that don’t matter.

Here’s how I’ve learned to cut through the noise and use analytics to make better, more confident decisions.

Master SMART Marketing with our free, goal-setting Excel template.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

I’ve spent way too much time staring at dashboards without really knowing what I was supposed to take away from them. Traffic’s up — so what? If I can’t explain what that means for the business, the number doesn’t help me much.

Before diving into data, I try to get specific about what I’m aiming for. “More traffic” isn’t a real goal — something like “grow organic visits from X pages by 20%” gives me a direction and something I can check back on.

I use the S.M.A.R.T. framework to shape goals that are actually useful:

• Specific – Instead of “get more traffic,” I’ll set a goal like “increase organic traffic from our target keyword group by 25%.”
• Measurable – If I can’t put a number on it, I won’t know if I’m making progress. I always establish a baseline first.
• Attainable – I try to stretch, but not to the point of setting myself up to fail. Past performance helps me stay realistic.
• Relevant – I tie every goal to a bigger outcome — whether it’s generating pipeline, improving retention, or increasing revenue.
• Timely – Every goal gets a deadline. Otherwise, it’s just a wish list.

A good goal gives me something to measure, something to optimize toward, and something to share when someone asks, “How’s that campaign going?”

In my experience, most marketing goals fall into one of three buckets:

• Traffic growth and channel diversity – Bringing in consistent visitors from multiple sources
• Lead generation – Turning that traffic into real prospects
• Revenue attribution – Tracking which marketing efforts contribute to actual sales

Getting to those insights isn’t always easy. Most teams — mine included — are pulling data from five or six different platforms: email metrics from one tool, social stats from another, blog performance from the CMS, and so on.

When everything’s scattered across different tools, it’s tough to connect the dots — or figure out where to spend your time.

I’ve found it way easier to get clarity when I use an all-in-one marketing and reporting platform that brings all our reporting together. Instead of bouncing between tools, I can see the full picture and make quicker calls about what’s worth doubling down on — or ditching.

Campaign Reporting

Instead of looking at each traffic source or channel in isolation, I use custom reporting capabilities to build campaign-level views. That way, I can see how a campaign performs across all platforms — not just how one blog post or email did. I want the whole picture, from first touch to final conversion.

Source

I’ve used HubSpot’s Marketing Hub to create campaign-level views that combine data from blog posts, emails, CTAs, landing pages, and ads. These reports have helped me spot what’s driving results and what needs adjusting.

Here are a few I rely on most:

Web Traffic by Original Source

I use this to see where visitors are coming from — search, email, social, etc. — and how those sources perform over time. It’s invaluable for spotting which channels are most effective at turning traffic into leads or customers.

For example, I might discover that while social media drives a lot of traffic, search engine traffic converts to leads at three times the rate. That insight completely changes how I approach content distribution strategy.

First Conversion by Original Source/Persona

This report shows me which content offers or CTAs led to someone’s first conversion — and where they came from. I also segment by persona when I can. That helps me understand which audience groups respond to different types of content.

Contacts Funnel Report

This report helps me track how leads progress through the funnel — from contact to MQL, SQL, and eventually customer. If a large percentage of leads are stalling at one stage, it usually means something’s missing — like a nurture email, better content, or a clearer handoff.

Marketing Contribution to Revenue

This report is key to connecting the dots between marketing and closed revenue. I use lifecycle stages to see which leads became customers and their value. If I can tie a blog series or campaign to revenue, that’s the kind of stat leadership pays attention to.

Customer Acquisition Cost

You can track customer acquisition cost in HubSpot using calculated fields or custom properties to show total marketing spend per new customer.

Content marketing often comes with higher upfront costs, but over time, I’ve found it leads to lower acquisition costs compared to paid channels. These closed-loop reports help me track business outcomes — not just vanity metrics. But all the insights in the world don’t mean much unless you use them.

The real value of digital marketing analytics isn’t just proving marketing’s worth to leadership — it’s using those insights to optimize your performance across every part of your system.

With closed-loop reporting, I can also show how marketing supports sales — by delivering leads that are more likely to convert.

Digital Advertising Analytics

I’ve worked with companies that poured serious budget into paid ads — but couldn’t say whether those ads were bringing in qualified leads or just clicks. And I get it. It’s easy to report on impressions or cost-per-click. It’s a lot harder to track what happens after someone clicks.

According to the Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey, digital channels now account for 61.1% of total marketing spend, with seven out of 10 sectors investing more than 60% of their budget in online channels.

Source

But surface-level metrics like click-through rate only tell part of the story. You can’t measure actual performance unless you connect ad data to outcomes — leads, customers, revenue.

To avoid that blind spot, I always make sure our ad data connects directly to the CRM.

One thing that surprised me early on was how differently various ad types behave. Paid search and social media ads might drive fast conversions, but display ads are more about visibility and long-term brand awareness. People might not click at all — but later, they’ll search for your brand or come back directly. If you’re only measuring direct clicks, you’re missing the impact.

The biggest shift in my overall digital marketing strategy came when I stopped treating ads as a silo. Now, I look at them as just one part of a larger, integrated marketing system. When I measure them in context — alongside content, email, and everything else — I get a much clearer picture of what’s working and how to spend smarter.

Grow better with digital marketing analytics.

After more than a decade in marketing, I’ve learned that traffic and clicks only tell part of the story.

What I care about now is whether our work is creating momentum — bringing in the right leads, shortening the sales cycle, and supporting the bigger business goals. That’s where digital marketing analytics come in.

I use them to spot what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus next. It’s less about building perfect dashboards and more about having enough clarity to make good decisions and explain them to the team (or your boss).

For me, it starts with clear goals, simple reporting, and metrics that actually tie back to outcomes I care about — like leads, revenue, or customer retention.

And once I can see how our efforts connect across channels, it’s so much easier to plan our next steps.

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

There’s a challenge brewing for businesses everywhere.

Content is becoming virtually indistinguishable online, and it all boils down to the latest industry disruptor: AI.

It’s no secret that AI adoption is reaching top speed across many aspects of life and work. Forbes predicts that by the end of this year, 378 million people will be using AI.

While these tools are more accessible than ever, this also defines a growing problem — everyone has access to the same resources. The universal ability to prompt ChatGPT or your favorite LLM for the same output, over and over again.

Unremarkable AI-generated content is flooding our screens as a result, creating a phenomenon known as the Sea of Sameness — a world where inboxes are full of nearly identical emails, all sites are curating the same portable vacuum cleaners or publishing the same pumpkin bread recipes, the hosts of the videos you’re watching are all selected from a preestablished bench of avatars, and all digital ads start to look the same.

To break through the noise, taste and authenticity are everything. Brands that harness their unique value proposition — that X-factor that makes them stand out from the rest — are winning in the AI era.

And they’re using AI to help build the foundation.

Navigating the Sea of Sameness

Business leaders want fast results. Naturally, this makes AI seem like a panacea for idea generation and content production.

You ask a tool like Claude to help you draft an email to appeal to prospective customers, and you get something like the following in seconds:

Input: You’re a marketer at a software company. Create a lead generation email for cold outreach.

Output: Here’s a lead generation email template:

Subject: Quick idea for [Company Name]

Hi [First Name],

I noticed [something specific about their company/role — e.g., “your team has been growing quickly” or “you recently launched a new product”]. That’s exciting!

I work with [type/size of companies, e.g., “small businesses”] to help them [main benefit, e.g., “generate more qualified leads on a limited budget”]. On average, our clients see [insert short, tangible result, e.g., “a 30% lift in inbound demo requests within 3 months”].

Would you be open to a quick 10-minute call next week to see if this might be useful for [Company Name]?

Best,

[Your Name]

[Your Role]

[Your Company]

[LinkedIn link or website]

Speed can be an advantage, but keep in mind that a company on the other side of the globe, or a competitor in your backyard, could use a prompt like this and yield a similar result. Because, as you know, everyone has access to the same tools.

Quality in, quality out. The difference lies in what you feed them.

Churning out content at scale has never been more attainable, but that’s yesterday’s strategy. To navigate the Sea of Sameness, you need to focus on taste, not tactics.

While AI has lowered the barrier to entry for content production, the volume of content available for consumption is at an all-time high. Anyone who scrolls through Instagram knows there’s a constant stream of posts from brands and creators.

Not to mention, customer attention is spread thin. From email to websites. Instagram to YouTube. And even Threads to Lemon8. Your audience is now spending time on platforms that in some cases didn’t exist five, ten years ago. And they’re turning to AI search and forums like Reddit for product discovery.

Traditional marketing tactics, like SEO, aren’t working as well as they used to. Search Engine Land found that 60% of Google searches today end in no clicks.

We’re at the cusp of a generational shift in how people shop for products, and brands need to adapt to a world reshaped by AI. HubSpot calls this new way of acting Loop Marketing — more on that later.

Why Taste Beats Tactics

Driving traffic to your website used to be the easy part. Now, businesses need to adapt to a world where buyers are everywhere except your website, and AI answers questions before they click.

HubSpot research shows that most consumers prefer social media to discover new products, and one in four users bought a product on social media in the past three months.

Plus, 74% of those who have tried generative AI tools have already used them for a shopping-related purpose, such as researching products, pricing, or reviews.

These shifts in how people discover and evaluate products raise the stakes for businesses. With discovery happening off your site and decisions being shaped by algorithms, the question isn’t just how to get in front of buyers — it’s how to stand out when you do. That’s where taste comes in.

Taste is rooted in understanding how to deliver the right message to the right person at the right moment. It’s human. It’s difficult to imitate. It’s a team effort between defining your unique brand identity and leveraging AI to make the customer go, “Was this message written just for me?

Achieving this requires a thoughtful effort to figure out what differentiates your brand from competitors — and to codify it. The reality? Less than half of businesses have this information documented.

How to Express Your Brand Identity

The starting point for tackling this new AI-driven era of marketing is to Express your unique brand identity — at least according to the Loop Marketing playbook (told you this was coming back around).

Before you tap AI to help you create content, use what you know about your audience, like customer data, to define who you are and how you want customers to perceive you. Then, bring in AI as a brand identity concierge to help you produce content that actually connects with your audience and, most importantly, looks and sounds like you.

This Express stage is measured in efficiency. How well does your business story match how buyers need to experience it? In this stage, it’s the data, context, and point of view you give the AI that gives you a competitive advantage.

It’s worth repeating that because it’s crucial to your success: Only you can give AI the context it needs to tell your story.

That’s the difference between using AI as a shortcut and using it as a true amplifier for your business.

Here’s the breakdown.

1. Define your audience.

The first step in building a strong brand identity is outlining your audience profile. Who are they? What do they care about? Figure out what goals they’re chasing and what obstacles stand in their way.

The more you know about who you’re talking to, the easier it is to create messages and experiences that actually land.

Let AI handle the busy work. Instead of manually combing through customer reviews, call notes, and social chatter, ask your favorite tool — whether that’s Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Breeze — to summarize these insights for you. Something like: “Tell me about our most successful customers. What are the biggest pain points that they have expressed in their feedback? Give me the history of our best deals.”

In return, you’ll get a clear customer profile that guides your strategy and ensures your content resonates at every connection point.

2. Craft your style guide.

Knowing who you’re talking to is only part of the equation. You also need to articulate why you’re the right choice for them. That means defining what makes you cooler than the competition.

Drop those details into a simple, shareable style guide that captures your mission, tone, and brand POV. Then, upload that style guide into your AI agent to ensure your brand identity is embedded into every campaign, conversation, and piece of content you create.

3. Generate your concept.

A style guide defines how you show up, but the real power comes from turning those guardrails into a story buyers can rally around.

This is where you build the foundational, customer-driven narrative that defines who you are and why you’re the best option. You can then use that narrative to generate the creative concepts that will carry it into market.

Start by translating your brand story into themes, angles, or key messages that matter most to your customers. Then, use AI to expand on those themes by using prompts like: “Create three campaign concepts with key messages for our target customers,” or “List five content ideas based on our core brand themes.”

In the process, you’re building a bank of audience-informed, story-driven content ideas that your marketing team can pull from and begin riffing off of.

4. Build your content strategy.

A strong narrative is only as good as how it comes to life across formats. You have to deliver it in all the right places, whether that’s YouTube videos, ads, emails, text articles, or social media.

Create a campaign brief that maps your key messages to the channels where your audience spends their time the most. Maybe they’re heavy email users or deep into forums. Then, outline the mix of assets you’ll need to bring it all together. In this case, newsletter content and a Reddit response bank.

Once your assets are created, test and refine them before hitting “send” or pressing the “publish” button. You can use AI to get specific recommendations on what to keep or refine based on the context — customer insights, style guide, and brand narrative — that you provide.

Putting it all together turns raw data into actionable marketing. It’s a repeatable system for reaching the right people with the right story, every time.

The Bottom Line

The Sea of Sameness is rising faster and faster as AI adoption accelerates. But sameness doesn’t have to be inevitable. Instead of drifting along, you can chart your own course, one where every message feels like it was written just for your audience.

That starts with expressing your identity clearly and consistently. It means using AI as a partner to amplify your voice and scale without losing what makes you unique. When you harness AI with intention, you build a foundation that transforms it from a content factory into a true growth engine.

In a world where everyone has access to the same tools, trust, taste, and authenticity become the only competitive advantage.

When I set out to build an email list from scratch for MarketingIdeas.com, I didn’t have a product. No pricing page. No polished brand. Just a one-liner and a waitlist.

Within a few weeks, that waitlist had grown to hundreds of people, and that list became the foundation for everything that followed. Since then, I’ve helped others build email lists from scratch using straightforward, repeatable tactics that don’t rely on paid ads or massive audiences.

Building an email list gives you something most platforms can’t: a direct, lasting relationship with the people who want to hear from you. No algorithms. No middlemen.

In this post, I’ll walk through email marketing strategies that have worked best for me and how you can use them to grow your own list, even if you’re starting from zero.

Table of Contents

• Qualities of a Great Email List (When Building from Scratch)
• How to Build an Email List From Scratch
• Best Email List Builders

Qualities of a Great Email List (When Building from Scratch)

Before we jump into tactics, let’s set the foundation. Not all email lists are created equal. In my experience, a bad list (low engagement, no targeting, high spam complaints) is worse than no list at all. Here’s what makes a list valuable:

1. People asked to be there.

If you take away one thing, let it be this: never buy a list. Every subscriber should have explicitly opted in. That’s not just a legal thing. It’s a trust thing. If someone didn’t ask to hear from you, they probably won’t open your emails, and they definitely won’t buy anything from you.

2. Emails are valid and up to date.

I run regular cleanups to remove bounces, invalid addresses, and zombie subscribers. Tools like NeverBounce or Bouncer can help, but even just tracking open/click data in your email platform is a solid start. A smaller, clean list will consistently outperform a bloated one.

3. You have the right audience (who actually engages).

If I‘m sharing growth tips and half my list only cares about crypto memes, I’ve failed. Your subscribers should want what you‘re offering. That means getting specific about who you’re talking to, and keeping your content focused.

But relevance alone isn‘t enough. I’d rather have 1,000 people who open, click, and reply than 10,000 who don‘t. Engagement matters — not just for deliverability, but for momentum. If your audience is both aligned with your content AND actively participating, you’ll get replies, shares, and referrals without asking.

The sweet spot? When someone sees your email and thinks, “This is exactly what I needed right now,” and then acts on it. That‘s when you know you’ve got the right people on your list.

Pro tip: I email new subscribers when I can (more on that later). If you’re using a tool like HubSpot’s free email tracking software, it’s easy to spot your most engaged subscribers, which helps you prioritize who to follow up with first.

4. You can segment it easily.

At some point, you’ll want to send different messages to different groups by topic, company size, location, whatever. That’s hard to do if all you’ve collected is an email address. Even one or two extra data points (like industry or role) go a long way.

5. It’s constantly growing (with quality control built in).

A good list compounds. I like to aim for 3 to 5% monthly growth, whether that’s from new lead magnets, social posts, or guest appearances. The key is having one or two always-on sources driving traffic to a signup.

But here’s the counterintuitive part: making it easy to unsubscribe actually helps your growth. I know that sounds backwards, but hear me out. When someone can leave with one click, it builds trust and improves your list quality. You only want genuinely interested subscribers anyway.

If someone doesn‘t want to hear from you, that’s fine. Better to lose the contact cleanly than have them mark you as spam or just ignore your emails forever. A smaller, engaged list will always outperform a bloated, uninterested one.

So yes, grow aggressively, but keep the exit door wide open. The people who stay are the ones who want to be there.

Once you know what makes a list valuable, the question becomes: how do you build one? Here are the exact tactics I’ve used to grow lists from nothing to thousands of engaged subscribers.

How to Build an Email List From Scratch

When I started building my email list from scratch, I didn’t have a product, a newsletter, or even a lead magnet. Just a few things I’d learned the hard way and a sense that others might find them useful. You don’t need a polished setup to get going. Some of the most effective list-building tactics are surprisingly low-lift.

These are the exact tactics I’ve used to grow lists from nothing to thousands of highly engaged subscribers.

1. Build an email list from scratch with a waitlist (even pre-launch).

One of the easiest ways I’ve grown an email list from scratch is by launching a waitlist, even before I had a finished product. Whether it’s a product launch, course, service, or event, all you need is a simple landing page with one compelling line:

“The sooner you join, the sooner you’ll get access.”

Source

That’s it. No incentives, no ebook, no “free guide,” just a feeling of early access. Then shamelessly plug the waitlist everywhere, like speaking gigs, social posts, networking events, even DMs. Aim for 500–700 signups before you launch anything.

It doesn’t even matter what you’re launching. The waitlist gives you a head start and an email list you’ll actually own. That’s exactly how I grew my first 700 subscribers before launching MarketingIdeas.com.

Pick something you‘re working on and throw up a simple landing page this week. You’ll be surprised how many people want early access.

 

2. Send a personal “heads-up” email to your network.

One of the fastest ways to build early momentum is to email 50–100 friends or colleagues with a quick personal note:

• Hey, I’m working on a new [project/product/service] that I think you’d find useful because [specific reason]. Want me to add you to the list and keep you posted?

This kind of personal touch converts 10x better than a cold blast. It’s casual, human, and gives people context before you ask for anything.

And bonus: People who join your list early are often the most engaged. They’ll open your emails, reply, and sometimes even pass them along to others. That kind of energy is hard to fake and is super helpful when you’re still figuring things out.

3. Create a lead magnet that solves one urgent problem.

I’ve seen a lot of lead magnets fall flat when people are trying to grow their email list, usually because they try to do too much. I learned this the hard way after creating a 50-page “ultimate guide” that nobody downloaded. Turns out, people want solutions, not dissertations.

A better approach is to focus on one specific problem your audience is actively trying to solve. For example:

• A salary negotiation email template for job-seekers
• A “starter pack” of prompts for someone launching a newsletter
• A decision-making flowchart for founders choosing between two tools

The best-performing ones I’ve seen are simple, fast to use, and feel like they were made by someone who gets it. And with vibe coding tools, they’re easy to create. Start with one problem you solve repeatedly in conversations, and turn that into a simple template or checklist.

I usually gate the lead magnet behind a simple form, just an email field, maybe a first name. Then I promote it everywhere: in social bios, in blog post CTAs, in community forums, even in replies to relevant questions on X or Reddit. The key isn’t just creating a great resource. It’s putting it in front of the people who need it.

4. Start simple, then get smarter with progressive profiling.

Most marketers ask for too much, too soon — email, name, company, role, industry, favorite pizza topping. That’s a fast way to kill conversions.

I like to keep things light at the start. For lead magnets, I usually just ask for an email. That gets people in the door. Then, I layer on additional context gradually, a practice called progressive profiling.

Here’s what that can look like:

• Step 1: Just ask for an email to access the free resource.
• Step 2: On the download confirmation page, ask for the company size.
• Step 3: In a follow-up email, prompt them to tell you more, or offer a 2-question survey about their biggest challenge.

The benefit? You lower the barrier to entry but still gather the intel you need to segment and personalize later. And since these prompts come after someone has already shown interest, completion rates are much higher.

Plus, it feels natural. You don’t learn everything about someone in five minutes. Why should email signup be different?

5. Publish one share-worthy piece of content per month.

When building an email list from scratch, I try to publish something each month that makes people think, “Wow, I need to share this.” It could be a case study with real numbers, a contrarian take, a step-by-step tutorial, or just my best advice from the trenches. Sometimes it’s behind-the-scenes stuff or quick industry observations I post on LinkedIn or X.

For example, I shared the results of a super simple A/B test, just adding a blurred screenshot behind our signup form. That’s it. No fancy design, no long explainer.

Source

That post got shared like crazy because it was so simple yet effective. The trick is to make sure the content stands on its own. Then, close with a clear CTA like: “More tips like this in my newsletter: [Insert URL]”

You don’t need an elaborate funnel. Just share something helpful and give people a simple next step if they want more.

One more thing: if you’re struggling to figure out what to write about, look for where people are already asking questions, like Reddit, Slack groups, X threads. Then, answer one of those with more depth than anyone else has.

6. Personally engage with every new subscriber (at least for the first 1,000).

When someone joins your list, don’t just let the confirmation email do the talking. For my first 1,000 subscribers, I sent a quick note within 24 hours, thanking them and asking what they were working on or where they needed help.

It wasn’t a campaign or automation. It was just a genuine message from me.

That simple gesture led to honest conversations, consulting gigs, loyal readers, and more than a few referrals. People remember when you treat them like a human, not just a data point.

It doesn’t scale forever, but if you’re just getting started, nothing beats personal connection.

Even as my list has grown, I‘ve kept that same energy in my welcome emails. I can’t personally reply to every new subscriber anymore, but I make sure they get immediate value and feel like they’re joining something real, not just another newsletter.

Instead of a boring “Thanks for subscribing!” message, I send new subscribers straight into the good stuff. That means real marketing tactics they can use right away, plus that sense of being part of a community of people who actually get it.

7. Make your pop-ups helpful (not annoying).

I used to think pop-ups were annoying by default. But once I started triggering them based on behavior, they felt a lot less intrusive. In some cases, they even helped.

The offer is everything. “Subscribe for updates” won’t cut it. But something like “Want the exact checklist I used to get 1,000 subscribers? Grab it here” gives people a real reason to say yes.

Here are a few formats I’ve seen work:

• Exit-intent popups that show up right as someone’s about to leave the tab
• Scroll-triggered popups that appear once a reader hits a certain point in the post
• Content upgrades that feel like a natural next step after reading

The Gamification Twist

Now, here‘s where it gets interesting. I was skeptical at first. A spin-to-win wheel felt like something I’d see on an e-commerce site selling phone cases. But then I looked at the data: 13.23% conversion rate, compared to 3–5% for standard popups.

So I tested it.

I set it to show after someone had been on my site for 100 seconds, enough time to signal genuine interest. Instead of a boring “Sign up for updates” CTA, they got to spin for something valuable: a 15-minute consult, a swipe file, or a behind-the-scenes teardown.

Not only did it increase conversions, but it made the whole signup experience feel more fun and memorable.

Source

These gamified versions work best for consumer-facing brands or SaaS tools with free plans, but I’ve even seen creators use them effectively for newsletters. If you want to try it, tools like OptinMonster and Wheelio make setup easy.

The key with any pop-up: Keep your prizes genuinely helpful, make it feel like a bonus (not a trick), and never interrupt the experience. It should feel like a natural next step, whether it’s a simple overlay or a spinning wheel.

8. Match your CTAs to what people are actually reading.

Generic CTAs convert like generic advice: poorly. I’ve tested this over and over, and the results are evident. If your CTA matches the content someone’s already reading, conversion rates jump.

If someone’s reading a blog post about email marketing, why not show them a CTA that says, “Want the exact template I used to get 1,000 email signups? Grab it here.” That message is way more relevant than a generic newsletter pitch.

I’ve seen personalized CTAs outperform basic ones by a long shot. HubSpot found that personalized CTAs convert 202% better. In my experience, that tracks.

That stat stuck with me, so I started keeping my setup simple, just more intentional.

I don’t overthink this part. First, I check which pages are getting the most traffic, usually in GA4. That gives me a solid starting point.

Then I ask myself: why is someone on this page in the first place? Are they looking for a how-to? Comparing tools? That context shapes what kind of CTA makes sense.

Sometimes I tweak the headline or swap in a more relevant offer. Other times, I’ll get a little fancier and trigger something based on behavior, like when someone scrolls most of the way down or visits the page more than once. HubSpot’s smart content and Optimonk both come in handy there.

9. Build email subscribers through free workshops and demos.

I’ve built some of my best email lists off the back of a simple, free workshop. Most marketers overthink this one. You don’t need a webinar series with custom slides and paid ads. You just need one good idea and a calendar link.

No fluff, no hard sell. Just something genuinely useful that solves a problem for the right audience.

Even if only 20% of attendees convert, those subscribers are high intent. They already spent time with you, learned from you, and saw the value you bring. That kind of engagement is worth way more than a cold email address.

Bonus tip: after the workshop, send the recording and slides only to attendees who joined your list. That adds exclusivity and drives more opt-ins post-event.

10. Guest post or appear on podcasts.

When I started building my email list from scratch, I didn’t have a big list. But I knew how to write, and I had a few strong opinions. So I pitched a handful of newsletters and blogs in my space, and one guest post brought in over 400 subscribers in a week.

The trick? Go where your audience already hangs out.

If you write for a blog or newsletter, include a byline like: “Tom Orbach writes MarketingIdeas.com, a free newsletter for marketers who hate fluff. Get it here.”

If you’re on a podcast, ask the host to include your signup link in the show notes. Say something like, “If you liked this conversation, I break down stuff like this every few weeks. Link’s in the notes.”

And if you’re just getting started, pitch creators are just one or two steps ahead of you. They’re usually more open to collaborating, and their audience is likely to connect with where you are right now.

One solid guest appearance can bring in 200–500 subscribers. That’s how Lenny Rachitsky — author of the wildly popular product and growth newsletter, Lenny’s Newsletter — famously built his list. It’s how I grew mine, too.

11. Grow your email list by adding value in comments.

If you don’t have time to create content consistently, commenting on other people’s posts can still build visibility and grow your list. Most marketers overlook this tactic, but it works.

Take Ben Tossell, creator of Ben’s Bites, a daily newsletter covering the latest in AI. Early on, he consistently replied to tweets about AI tools with one line: “Shouting this out in tomorrow’s newsletter!”

It was simple, straightforward, and frequent enough that people noticed. When he replied to a tweet from Google’s CEO, it got nearly 26,000 views and led to hundreds of new subscribers.

You don’t need to copy Ben’s exact approach, but I’ve seen results just by:

• Clarifying a point or adding a useful stat
• Sharing a relevant link (if it genuinely helps)
• Dropping a quick stat or lesson

Pick a few people your audience already follows and comment consistently. This isn’t to promote yourself but to add something useful. Your replies should make people think, “Who is this?” That’s the start of awareness.

12. Ask at checkout, but make it optional.

If you sell anything online, your checkout flow is a goldmine for qualified email signups.

I’ve added a simple checkbox that says: “Yes, I’d like to get updates and offers.”

I always leave it unchecked by default and clearly explain what subscribers will get. No fine print, and no surprises.

In my experience, these subscribers often outperform others in open and click rates. They’ve already made a purchase or shown serious intent, which makes them some of the most valuable people on your list.

13. Leverage your existing networks (even the small ones).

You don’t need a massive following to start building your list. I learned this early on. Sometimes, your best subscribers come from the connections you already have.

If you‘ve got even a small following on Twitter, LinkedIn, or anywhere else, mention your list there. Not in a pushy way, but casually: “Started a weekly email with marketing insights that don’t make it to social. Drop me a DM if you want in.”

And here‘s something most people overlook: your email signature. I added a simple line to mine (“PS: I send weekly marketing breakdowns to 2,000+ people. Join here: [link]”), and it’s brought in dozens of subscribers from everyday work conversations.

You‘re already talking to people who know and trust you. Give them an easy way to get more of what you’re sharing.

14. Create landing pages for every major topic you cover.

Here‘s something I wish I’d done earlier: instead of sending all my traffic to one generic signup page, I started creating specific landing pages for different topics I write about.

When I guest post about email marketing, I send people to a landing page specifically about email tips. When I‘m on a podcast talking about content strategy, there’s a different page for that. Each one speaks directly to what brought them there in the first place.

HubSpot found that companies see a 55% bump in leads when they go from 10 to 15 landing pages. It makes sense. If someone found you through a specific topic, they want to know you’ll keep talking about that topic.

It’s like having different conversations with different people instead of giving everyone the same pitch. Way more personal, way more effective.

15. Turn your best subscribers into recruiters.

Once you have a few hundred engaged subscribers, some of them will love what you’re sending enough to share it. Why not make that easier for them?

I started including a simple line in my best emails: “Know someone who’d find this useful? Forward this their way. They can subscribe here: [link].”

But here‘s where it gets interesting: you can offer something in return. I’ve seen creators give their subscribers a month of free, exclusive content, or even small rewards for successful referrals. One newsletter I follow gives you a $10 coffee shop gift card for every three people you refer who stay subscribed for a month.

The key is making it feel like you’re asking for help, not running a pyramid scheme. Your best subscribers already want to share your stuff, just give them a reason and an easy way to do it.

Best Email List Builders

Now that we’ve discussed the most effective ways to grow your email list, here are a few tools that can help with the process. As I mentioned previously, you should only use these tools to build a list of subscribers who have consented to receive email from you.

1. HubSpot’s Email Tool

Best for: Crafting email templates, designing landing pages and CTAs, and managing the customer lifecycle.

You’ll be happy to know there are solutions for growing your email list without breaking the bank. HubSpot offers both paid and freemium versions of its email tools to help you get started quickly.

Additional Marketing Hub capabilities include:

• Landing page creation
• Pop-up and stand-alone CTA form templates
• All-in-one solution

With HubSpot, you can boost your open and click-through rates, tailor emails to recipients, and segment your list without design or tech help. It’s easy to use, intuitive design will have you mastering email lists and campaigns like a pro.

2. Mailchimp

Best for: Designing marketing campaigns for email and landing pages that convert.

Mailchimp is another option on the market that offers email tools that range from free to paid enterprise level. This tool comes with ready-made email templates, scheduling tools, and email automation options.

Its premium offerings will help you focus on and extract the most value out of your most loyal subscribers.

3. Constant Contact

Best for: General email management and building lead generation landing pages.

Constant Contact is known as an all-in-one digital marketing platform, but it does offer a decent selection of email tools that can help your campaigns stand out and get more signups. This paid service allows users to quickly drag and drop selected images and template features into custom emails, use ready-made email templates, send automated welcome and abandoned cart emails, and analyze results with email tracking.

4. Get Response

Best for: Performing segmentation based on user behavior.

Get Response comes with what you’d expect from email marketing software with the bonus of lead scoring and landing pages built into the platform. However, this platform is not as user-friendly as the others on this list and will require a bit of a learning curve to take advantage of all the software has to offer.

Features include:

• Contact management
• Automation and scheduling
• Industry-specific templates
• Reporting
• Landing Pages and Lead Scoring

These advanced features do come at a premium, so if you’re looking to dive deep into segmentation, you’ll need to upgrade from the free version.

5. Optimonk

Best for: Growing email, messenger, and SMS signups.

If you’re looking to upgrade your current marketing tactics for a more personal approach that gets leads, look no further than Optimonk. This platform has several integrations, including HubSpot, so chances are it will work with your existing CRM.

One of the standout features of this tool is its subscriber recognition tool, which allows you to target pop-ups only for visitors who haven’t subscribed yet.

Features include:

• Subscriber recognition
• A/B testing
• Optimized for mobile
• CTA and email templates

Best of all, they offer a free-for-forever option so you can build your list on a budget.

More Value, More Sign-Ups

You don’t need a million-dollar tool or a viral thread to build an email list from scratch. You need consistency, relevance, and a genuine desire to help your audience solve a problem.

That’s what drives sign-ups.

If you offer value, people will stick around. And if you stay curious, experiment often, and learn from what works (instead of just following trends), your list will grow faster than you think.

I treat my list like a long-term relationship. Not a transaction. Not a funnel. It’s a place where trust builds over time, and that trust pays off in more ways than clicks and opens.

Start small. Be useful. Keep going. And remember, your first 100 subscribers matter more than your first 10,000. Treat them like gold, and they’ll help you find the rest.

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

A couple years ago, a YouTuber and artist known as Ten Hundred reached his $10k Kickstarter funding goal in 3 minutes.

That’s 180 seconds, y’all. It took longer than that to write this intro.

Brandon Smithwrick, Kickstarter’s then-director of content and creative, told me more about this campaign, which ultimately raised over $2 million.

The project? A deck of playing cards featuring his artwork.

Smithwrick shared some of Ten Hundred’s secrets (and some other hard-won wisdom) so you can turn your own (metaphorical) deck of cards into (literal, 🤞🏽) millions.

Meet the Master

Brandon Smithwrick

Founder, Content to Commas

Claim to fame: Brandon was selected by Forbes for its “30 Under 30” list in 2024

Lesson 1: Build your audience — before you need to monetize.

“I started making content three years ago, part-time, before I even saw myself as a creator,” Smithwrick says.

The day we spoke, Smithwrick had just announced that he was leaving Kickstarter to run his new media company. Three years is what it took to build an audience that could support his full-time efforts.

In fact, Smithwrick hadn’t even considered at first that this could be a money-making venture. “I was just sharing my perspective, sharing my thoughts on LinkedIn.” Soon enough, the brands came knocking — a $300 deal here, a $900 deal there.

“Wait,” he thought, “you can make money doing this?”

Smithwrick describes those early deals as “validation and proof points,” but emphasizes: “It took me three years of building that foundation to say, you know what, it’s time for me to leave my full-time job.”

Lesson learned? “People don’t do enough to build hype,” Smithwrick says. “This is something that I’m trying to get a lot of people to understand. Before you begin to monetize your audience — sell to them, promote something — just start building an audience. You never know when you might need that in your back pocket.”

(Secret #1 from Ten Hundred’s successful Kickstarter: Seriously, don’t underestimate this step — Ten Hundred currently has 826k YouTube subscribers, and he collaborated with literally thousands of his fans while designing the deck.)

Lesson 2: Don’t be afraid to go hyper-niche.

At Kickstarter, Smithwrick says, “we discovered that the general content didn’t really perform as well as the hyper-niche content.”

For instance, “games” or “comic books” aren’t nearly specific enough to reach an enthusiastic, engaged audience. “Within gaming, there‘s tabletop games, there’s role-playing games, there’s video games.”

In other words, your audience isn’t just “comic books” — maybe it’s gekiga manga or graphic novels about poodles. Getting this specific may “feel like you’re leaving out people who could be your clientele,“ but speaking to a particular niche feels more like a direct conversation, and it “only shapes your brand for the better.”

Smithwrick tells me of a conversation he had with somebody who runs an influencer agency, but only for upcycling and recycling creators. (Remember that commercial where Martha Stewart retiled her pool with old credit cards? That’s what I’m imagining here.) That’s the kind of specificity that wins.

Plus, “it really gets your client or your customer very clear on how you’re going to serve their needs.”

(Secret #2 from Ten Hundred’s successful Kickstarter: His audience wasn’t art lovers or even euchre enthusiasts. It was the custom playing card–collecting community. Say that 10 times fast.)

Lesson 3: Never skip leg day.

Smithwrick speaks an uncomfortable truth: “I can’t just have a good product to sell. I also have to have a knack at being a creator, at creating a good hook.” He wrinkles his nose, and I can hear the frustration in his voice.

“If you’re not good at social media, for a large majority, truthfully, it means your product won’t be seen by the masses.”

So what’s the solution for overwhelmed marketers?

First, recognize that “founders need to be the microphone for those brand wins.” Smithwrick acknowledges the inherent challenge: “when you’re a founder, you’re running the company.” But can you “take 30 minutes and say, look at all the wins my team sent me in this email — how can I turn this into content?”

It’s a muscle, Smithwrick tells me. And you know what they say: Never skip leg day.

“Train that muscle. Because you don‘t have to run an ad to get leads. Your organic channels can be a lead generation flywheel — you just have to let people know about the amazing work you’re doing.”

To make that more manageable, Smithwrick says he “schedules everything — it’s impossible to be posting on this cadence and not schedule out.”

Aside from that consistency, he’s also trying to “provide as much value as possible to my community.” No “promotion, promotion, promotion,” no “buy, buy, buy” — just value, consistently delivered. Three years of building this up part-time proved the model, and now, he’s betting his career on it.

(Secret #3 from Ten Hundred’s successful Kickstarter: As a muralist, Ten Hundred could have gone a more conventional monetization route, like soliciting commissions. Instead, he connected with his community to provide something of value to them. P.S. You can read about Ten Hundred in this case study.)

Lingering Questions

This Week’s Question

What’s a marketing strategy or trend that you think is widely overlooked but has high potential for impact right now? —Lindsey Gamble, Creator economy consultant; Creator of the Lindsey Gamble newsletter

This Week’s Answer

Smithwrick: One strategy I think is often overlooked is using social media to drive exclusive offers directly within the community you’ve already built. For example, teasing a promotion through Instagram Close Friends can give you a sense of traction before launch.

Tools like ManyChat also make it easy to create DM-only offers that feel special, such as “DM me ‘KEYWORD’ and we’ll send you our bundle pack before the public sale.” I’ve even seen brands experiment with Instagram broadcast channels, dropping discount codes for whoever acts first, turning promotions into a game of speed and scarcity. These approaches not only reward your most engaged followers but also create urgency and exclusivity, all without needing a traditional LP.

Next Week’s Lingering Question

Smithwrick asks: What’s a creative hot take that will make a marketer second-guess how they work with creatives?

Choosing the right AI project management tool for your team can help you save hundreds (even thousands) of dollars per year.

I’ve managed projects across a variety of businesses — scrappy startups, agencies with 50+ team members, and enterprises like Dell. Regardless of the company’s scale, I noticed a common problem: rapid growth without proper infrastructure.

This often costs businesses far more than they realize. Projects running late, managers being stressed about deliverables, and tasks falling through the cracks. While the team was in firefighting mode, the next project would trickle in. And then, it would be a complete disaster with zero project visibility and fragmented ownership.

The result? Lost revenue, terrible client retention, and lower employee motivation.

AI project management tools help you avoid this scenario through effective tracking, accountability, and automation. This article will walk you through the top eight AI project management software for your business.

I’ve extensively tested each tool for hours and included my review, how I found it, the cost, and who I think it’s best for.

Table of Contents

• What does AI project management software do?
• How I Tested the Best AI Project Management Software
• 8 AI Project Management Software

What does AI project management software do?

Before we dive into AI project management software, I’d recommend checking out this quick refresher video on how to successfully manage a project.

Done? Now, let’s put all that good advice into action.

AI project management tools organize projects, teams, and dare I say, lives. Instead of spending hours with more spreadsheets you can handle, chasing team members, or searching for a file, these tools can help you centralize projects in one central hub.

Once centralized, you can leverage AI-powered tools to understand the entire project context and automate workflows. I’ve set up AI workflows for my team that send deadline reminders, update spreadsheets when tasks are completed, and even schedule meetings directly within the management tool.

Thus, AI takes over the mundane aspects of project management, allowing you to focus on building and nurturing client relationships and delivering results faster.

So, which AI project management software should you choose? Well, that depends on your team size, budget, industry, and which department you want to organize first. My tests are based on real-world scenarios to help you decide the best one for your company.

How I Tested the Best AI Project Management Software

Since I work with multiple clients, I’ve used the vast majority of the project management tools in the industry at least once. For instance, my enterprise clients (like HubSpot) use Asana for content management, so I’m very familiar with the interface. Similarly, Notion and Trello are popular choices among the agencies I work with.

However, most tools have released new AI features in the last year, which is what I was excited to try out.

When I’m testing AI project management tools, I want a tool that:

• Feels intuitive to use.
• Manages projects, tasks, and sub-tasks well, with clear task ownership and dependency tracking.
• Tracks accountability and sends task reminders.
• Integrates with other tools like calendars, design software, etc., so everything is in one place.
• Makes my team feel happy (and not overwhelmed!).

With that in mind, let’s look at how I tested these tools.

The Scenario

The scenario I chose is close to my actual life as a marketer. I tested (or have earlier used) each tool from the perspective of a remote marketing team that communicates in an async manner.

My AI project management software should be able to track a remote workflow effectively. All team members should have the ability to add comments, assign tasks, and update task status. The tool should also have an accountability system to keep the project moving.

Finally, I should be able to automate elements of the project via the AI project management tool. For instance, marking a task as complete and moving it to the appropriate list. Basically, anything that is repeatable should have the ability to be automated.

The end goal? Help the remote team work more efficiently in a central location.

8 AI Project Management Software

Project management tools are worth every penny and will pay for themselves in productivity. But if you’re worried about budgets, plenty of brilliant free project management tools exist.

Here are my top eight recommendations for project management software with AI capabilities.

1. ClickUp

Source

I’ve used ClickUp in the past, and back then, I didn’t find it too different from the other tools. However, it has recently gained popularity within my agency network. So, I decided to give it a shot, especially for its AI features.

ClickUp is cheaper than most tools on this list. It also has a handy calculator on its pricing page to estimate how much it’ll save you.

How I Discovered ClickUp

I first used ClickUp for a social media client. They ran their operations exclusively on ClickUp, so I had to learn the ropes. The overall experience was quite intuitive.

How ClickUp Supported My Project Management

I used ClickUp to coordinate between writers, designers, and founders and keep projects on track. Like Asana, ClickUp helps manage remote teams in different time zones via a card-based task interface. You also have personalized dashboards, goal and timesheet tracking, and more.

Overall, I find Clickup’s UI to be slightly better than Asana.

My Favorite AI Features

Note: All the AI features I’ve tested below are not available on free plans.

ClickUp Brain

Brain is ClickUp’s amazing built-in AI assistant. Honestly, I love both the name and the experience.

You can access Brain in two ways: either by tagging @brain in a task or directly in the “Brain” tab. After activating the AI assistant, you can use it for a variety of things, from task creation, help using ClickUp, generating images, deep research, and more.

I largely use Brain for quick briefs, images, meeting summaries, and creating custom autopilot agents (which we will talk about next).

ClickUp Autopilot Agents

Autopilot agents are another cool feature I found on ClickUp. Think of these as independent AI agents integrated into your project dashboard, acting on specific triggers. For instance, I created a custom agent for my hiring process using Brain.

My agent evaluates their qualifications and cover letters, and ranks the top candidates in order for me. Then, it creates a ClickUp task for each candidate interview with suggestions for interview dates, follow-ups, etc.

Pricing

• Get started for free, unlimited members and tasks with up to 60 MB in storage.
• Unlimited package is $7/user/month, paid annually.
• Business is $12/user/month, paid annually

AI features are add-ons at $9/member/month.

Best For

• Teams that want advanced AI features on a budget.
• Brands that want to customize their tracking system heavily.
• Complex project tracking.

2. Trello

Source

I’ve been using Trello for years now. As a content marketer, I find Trello to be the simplest project management tool to get started on. While I have tried other tools for specific use cases, I do use Trello quite regularly for small or one-off projects.

Trello organizes projects in workspaces, allowing you to create up to 10 boards in each workspace for free. Boards keep individual projects separate. For instance, if my company is launching a service while also building a product, I’d manage these two initiatives in separate boards to avoid confusion.

How I Discovered Trello

I got introduced to Trello during my first internship in 2018. The company used it to organize my two-month internship, assigning tasks for the week with checklists and deadlines. It completely changed how I perceived project management.

Fast forward to today, I’ve used Trello for multiple things: managing content, backend business operations, and even my to-do (and grocery) lists.

How Trello Supported My Project Management

I love Trello because it is simple. You have all the essential features, onboarding is straightforward, and the free package allows up to 10 workspace members per board. I don’t think Trello suits companies looking to scale, but it’s perfect for small projects or teams.

Here’s the Trello system I used to manage the content pipeline of a website in the dog niche:

As you can see in the image, I have a list where I’ve templatized article outlines. If I needed to assign a new article, I simply head to the “outline structure” and press “create card from template.” This gives me a base to work from for the next card.

My Favorite AI Features

Butler Automation

I’ve used Butler extensively for Trello automation. You can create automated rule-based actions, custom buttons, and email reports via Butler. Here’s an example:

My rule assigns a checklist to each new article, adds the specific members responsible for it, and also sets a value for the custom field. At scale, this automation can save hours of work each week.

Trello’s “Suggestions” feature helps you identify more rules based on actions you take frequently on the board.

Power-Ups

A lot of the AI functionality in Trello is buried within power-ups. For instance, Zapier has a dedicated power-up for Trello. Another good one is Strategy AI, which helps you organize tasks based on business priorities.

But note: third-party and premium power-ups can include an add-on cost to your total subscription. It’s almost like signing up for a new SaaS tool to integrate with your management platform.

Pricing

Trello is one of the cheapest project management tools. Here are the costs (billed annually):

• Free plan (10 members per board).
• Standard is $5/user/month.
• Premium is $10/user/month.
• Enterprise is from $7.38/user/month to $17.50/user/month, depending on the number of seats.

Best For

• Small teams and projects (<10 members).
• Content management workflows.
• Social media management pipelines.
• Teams that don’t need advanced features like time tracking, detailed reporting, etc.

3. Notion

Source

I know many agencies and marketers who would swear by Notion. Personally, I find Notion’s learning curve somewhat challenging, and the interface is slightly laggy for me. However, I must say that Notion has some great organization features, solid templates, and community resources.

For instance, I was very impressed by the Notion-based client onboarding workflow of an agency I collaborate with.

As you can see, the agency has organized each project phase as separate categories that link to this master page. There’s also an embedded walkthrough video.

How I Discovered Notion

I first came across Notion through a client a couple of years back. While I wasn’t a fan initially, it grew on me. I loved how I could select pre-made templates to simplify the setup process.

While I won’t choose Notion for simple task management or one-off projects, it is great for larger, complex projects, especially client-facing ones.

How Notion Supported My Project Management

I create a lot of content on Instagram about freelancing. Notion was incredibly helpful to organize my ideas and inspiration sources in one central hub.

I added other team members to the Notion workspace to help with the content strategy and execution. The calendar view was also super helpful for me to visualize our posting timeline.

Pro tip: If you want to add members to your Notion free plan without triggering charges, invite them as guests and disable the team spaces feature.

My Favorite AI Features

Ask Notion

Need to quickly catch up on a project you recently joined or figure out a specific Notion feature? Notion AI makes getting answers super easy via its chatbot.

Instead of spending hours combing through data, you can just prompt Notion AI to go through your project files and give you contextual answers. I frequently use this feature to compile progress reports, summarize deliverables, or get a bird’s-eye view of the overall project.

Write With Notion’s Generative AI

While I do prefer Claude’s chatbot over Notion for creative writing, I find Notion AI convenient for quick summaries and light research.

George Chasiotis, co-founder of Restartt, shared his experience with Notion AI with me:

“We use [Notion AI] to summarize meeting notes, generate quick proposals, and even draft follow-ups after strategy calls. I’ll drop a client brief in, and Notion AI gives us a rough structure to build from; it saves me at least 30–40 minutes per doc.”

Pricing

• Free to get started. AI features are trial-only.
• Plus is $10/month/user, billed annually. AI features are trial-only.
• Business is $20/month/user, billed annually. AI features included.

Best For

• Social calendars.
• All in one hub for business documents.
• Onboarding flows.
• Knowledge-heavy project management.

4. Asana

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Asana is one of the oldest project management tools in this roundup. While it’s been around since 2008, I’ve recently started using it more consistently.

I turn to Asana for projects I can’t handle on Trello, but which don’t require a more robust solution like Notion or Monday. Asana has over 300+ integrations and connects seamlessly to just about any app (which makes sense given how long it’s been around).

How I Discovered Asana

Like I mentioned earlier, I was invited to Asana through HubSpot’s content management team. I was pretty impressed by how smoothly their remote operations ran on Asana. Asana made coordinating publishing times, editorial calendars, and keeping stakeholders aligned super simple. That’s when I knew I had to try it for other clients.

How Asana Supported My Project Management

I use Asana when I have multiple stakeholders and complex tasks with dependencies. Asana has built-in dependency tracking and custom fields.

You can manage projects and tasks efficiently, and communications related to projects take place within the app. This functionality is ideal for longer-term projects where different team members dip in and out.

I also think Asana’s timeline feature has the cleanest interface I’ve seen so far.

Another cool Asana feature is the ability to add goals and share them with other team members. You can create strategy maps, team goals, and personal goals.

My Favorite AI Features

Asana AI Studio

Asana AI studio helps you design custom AI workflows that take draining human tasks and automate them. Simply trigger a workflow after an action (like moving a card from one column to another), and Asana will do the rest.

Here’s what Phil Portman, CEO of Textdrip, told me about his Asana workflows:

“The AI Studio Basic feature has been especially useful. We now use it to automate repetitive workflows, like routing tasks based on priority or automatically assigning ownership based on workload. We’ve also started using custom work schedules to get a clearer picture of actual capacity across time zones.”

Pricing

• Individuals get started for free (up to 10 members per project).
• The starter package is $10.99/user/month, billed annually. Asana AI is available from this plan onwards.
• The advanced package is $24.99/user/month, billed annually.

Best For

• Traditional project management without customization.
• Small teams and individuals.

5. Monday

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Monday is an enterprise-grade project management tool used by Fortune 500 companies like Adobe and Hulu. Apart from project management, brands can also manage their Sales CRM on Monday.

If you have a complex project with multiple departments and layers, Monday’s robust interface might be the solution for you. Personally, I felt Monday’s features were a bit overwhelming.

How I Discovered Monday

I had heard of Monday in freelancer circles, but I tested it for the first time for this article.

How Monday Supported My Project Management

Monday’s core philosophy is simplicity, and honestly, I get it. If you’re trying to drive productivity across multiple departments, you want the focus to be on the work, not the tool.

Monday walks you through the entire process of setting up your project, priority, notes, etc. I’m not a huge fan of the overall interface, but you can’t deny that it works.

My Favorite AI Features

Product Power-Ups

This is one of Monday AI’s upcoming features.

Monday’s AI can auto-assign tasks to the right person based on project priorities, workloads, and skills. It can also help flag risks due to task ownership or timeline delay, giving project managers complete clarity on where they are at in the project.

Of course, I expect a bit of back and forth initially as you train the system and document everyone’s skills. However, if executed right, it can be a great sidekick to a project manager.

Generative AI

Like other tools on this list, Monday also offers generative AI capabilities. It uses OpenAI’s APIs to power features like translations, summaries, sentiment analysis, summaries, and more. I find the output similar to that of Notion or ClickUp, so there isn’t much to write about.

Pricing

Monday’s pricing structure is more rigid than ClickUp and Asana, and if you add things like the sales CRM, the price (rightfully) increases. For this article, the prices below are for project management and AI features.

• Start for free with three boards and two seats.
• Basic is $9/month/user, billed annually (minimum three seats, so that’s $27 a month). 500 AI credits from this plan onwards.
• Standard is $12/month/user billed annually (minimum three seats, so that’s $36 a month).
• Pro is $19/month/user billed annually (minimum three seats, so that’s $57 a month).

Additional AI credits are available as add-ons for Standard, Pro, and Enterprise plans.

Best For

• Large enterprise teams with highly complex projects.
• Brands that want their project management, sales, dev, and service CRM in one familiar interface.

6. Basecamp

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Out of all the tools I tested, Basecamp had the most personality by far. Everything from the engaging copy to the amazing visuals pulled me in.

Basecamp is great for complex projects that generally require multiple channels of coordination. You get kanban boards (Asana/Trello style), Slack-like direct messaging, and Notion’s document handling capabilities, all in one tool.

I also like the price point of Basecamp. While the monthly price of $299 (annual billing) may be a sticker shock, it’s the most affordable option for teams of more than 57 people.

How I Discovered Basecamp

I hadn’t used Basecamp before this article, but I’m glad I got to test it out. It’s definitely a tool I’d recommend to larger teams. The onboarding process was smooth, and the sample project looked like I could get everything done in one place. I found the interface to be quite intuitive as well.

How Basecamp Supported My Project Management

I love how Basecamp has gamified the tracking process for tasks. This helps keep everyone on the same page and eliminates the need for check-ins to some level.

Another cool feature I see myself using is Lineup and Pings. I’ve always hated the constant switching between tasks and chats. So, if I can get people to stay active on Basecamp, that could streamline communication. Easier said than done, of course.

My Favorite AI Features

Project Visualization

Basecamp excels at using AI to visualize project completion and performance. With Basecamp’s Move the Needle and Mission Control and Hillchart feature, you can gauge a project’s performance without manually piecing together all the details.

The project management tool will pull the data together and provide a warning for projects that are potentially “at risk” or “concerned.”

Pricing

• Free for one project.
• $15 a user per month.
• If you reach 20 members, you’ll benefit from the unlimited pro plan at $299 a month.

Best For

• Larger businesses with >20 employees.

• Brands that want a one-stop solution to handle internal comms and projects.

7. Slack

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Love it or hate it, Slack has its uses in project management. While I’ve personally struggled a bit with Slack notifications, it’s helpful for catching a team member’s attention and getting things actioned ASAP.

I like Slack’s channel interface for organizing conversations. While other tools require separate boards or projects to control access, Slack offers built-in private channels, easy setup of group conversations, and handy integrations with other tools.

The downside? Slack can get expensive fast, especially if you want to collaborate with other organizations and have a large team. Free plans have a 90-day message limit, which means I can’t look up a past project. Slack Connect used to run up expenses significantly at my last organization.

How I Discovered Slack

Slack was the communication tool of choice at Dell, where I worked as a part of the development team. Additionally, when I started freelancing, I found that many business communities and courses use Slack communities.

How Slack Supported My Project Management

I treat Slack as the main communication hub that syncs into other project management tools or apps. So, for instance, if I am working on a website design project, I’ll create a private channel for the designer, copywriter, and product manager.

We’ll first break down the project into phases and create separate threads for discussing each phase. Once we’re aligned on the action items, I create tasks directly via Slack through the Trello or Asana integration.

My Favorite AI Features

AI Search

Out of Slack’s recent AI updates, like workflows and translations, my favorite is the search feature. Instead of just pulling up responses based on keywords, Slack AI behaves like a chatbot. It uses public conversations (not DMs) and shared files to give me a contextually relevant AI overview of the topic. I find it incredibly helpful for client deadlines and conversations.

Note: AI search is available only on the Business plan of Slack.

Thread Summaries

Like I mentioned earlier, Slack’s thread feature is great to tidy conversations within channels. While useful, threads can get messy; it’s like reading an entire email chain you didn’t need to be cc’d into.

That’s where Slack’s AI summaries help. It cuts through the noise and presents the important highlights and actionables, in a digestible manner.

I spoke to Roy Andraos, the CEO of DataVLab, about how they use AI in Slack: “In Slack, we’ve integrated an AI summarizer (using a custom Zapier + GPT workflow) that automatically distills long internal feedback threads into concise summaries at the end of each day.”

Pricing

• Free plans are available, but with a 90-day limit on messages.
• Pro plans are $7.25/user/month, billed annually.
• Business+ plans are $15/user/month, billed annually.

Best For

• Instant communication on projects.
• Collaborate with other organizations, without adding them to your project management tool.

8. Loom

Source

Powered by Atlassian (the company behind Trello), Loom is an AI-powered video tool. The premise of Loom is simple: You can record videos with a selfie camera view and screenshare.

I find Loom to be a huge timesaver when I have to give feedback to my team or walk them through a new task. I’ve also seen other marketers use it to walk clients through dashboards or even YouTube tutorials.

In the interest of transparency, I must admit that Loom can get glitchy. I’ve experienced issues with the Chrome extension not opening the selfie video and videos not uploading. However, these bugs are usually temporary.

I’m also particularly excited about Loom’s plan to launch AI videos and avatars. I use Loom for outbound cold pitches, and AI could help me personalize at scale.

How I Discovered Loom

I discovered Loom when I was applying for a job about 3-4 years ago. The company wanted me to record an introduction video for a digital project manager position (I know, the irony!). Given that I was camera-conscious at the time, taking a selfie video was slightly difficult. However, after many takes, I finally got comfortable with it. I haven’t looked back since.

How Loom Supported My Project Management

As an introvert, I’m not a huge fan of meetings. Loom helps cut down the number of meetings, while getting the point across.

For instance, if I am onboarding a new team member, I use Loom videos for the “demo” part of my SOPs. Since onboarding is fairly repetitive across new hires, this cuts down hours of repetitive questions. Plus, new members can watch at their own pace, pause or rewatch if needed and take notes.

Now, I have Loom videos for most of my agency’s key processes: content reviews, educational modules, onboarding, and more.

Here’s a peek at my video library:

My Favorite AI Features

Video Editing

One of my favorite features about Loom is that it auto-enhances the video quality of shot videos. It cuts down noise and filler words to make the video more impactful and help save time.

Plus, Loom AI auto-recommends an ideal speed to watch my videos on, so I don’t have to keep asking people to watch at 1.5x.

Summaries and Tasks

After I record a video, Loom AI automatically creates a video title, written summary, and timestamps for important sections of the video. It even highlights any tasks mentioned in my video, so that I can easily transfer them to our project management software or flag them for team members.

Basically, all the grunt work is done for me. I just have to cross-check the accuracy of the generated content and then ship the video.

Pricing

• Free for 25 videos (5 minutes each).
• $18/user/month for the Business Plan (without AI).
• $24/user/month for the Business + AI Plan.

Best For

• Asynchronous meetings.
• Screenshare videos.
• Training and educational videos.

So, are AI project management tools worth it?

Yes, AI project management tools are worth it, and I urge you to try them.

If you’re not using them, or if you’re using the tools but not the AI, you are a) missing out and b) working harder than you should be.

Confused about where to get started? When I spoke to Chasiotis, I liked his thought process behind integrating AI into project management tools:

“Each tool plays a role: Notion for thinking and planning, Slack for talking, Loom for showing, and Monday/Asana, in the past, for doing. Integrating AI where it actually helps, not just for the sake of it, has helped us stay lean, responsive, and focused on execution.”

Start onboarding your team to these tools, and I’m confident you’ll be grateful you did.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2024 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Small business owners are all saying the same thing: “My website traffic is tanking, and the stuff that used to work just doesn‘t anymore.” And they’re right. Nearly 60% of searches don’t end in a click — people are getting answers from AI and never visiting your site.

But here‘s what’s crazy: The same AI that‘s killing your traffic? It’s also your best opportunity to leapfrog the competition.

If you’re like most marketers, you’ve read the subreddits and you know it‘s been pretty bleak. Traffic’s going down, and the same amount of work is getting worse results. HubSpot surveyed more than 500 marketers, and they feel the same way. Customers are wondering, “How do we do marketing when AI is consuming our traffic?”

So you’re a business owner, your traffic’s down the drain, and you’re wondering, “What the heck do I do?” If you’re curious and willing to take action, this is the best time ever to be a small business. You have tools at your fingertips that used to require expensive agency contracts. You just need a blueprint on how to use them.

HubSpot is calling this new growth playbook, Loop Marketing, and anyone can use it. At the center of this guide is a new kind of partnership that combines AI efficiency with human authenticity to drive growth to your business.

HubSpot has given the Loop an extensive test drive. It works. Let’s dive into the four steps of implementing this playbook in your business. They are: Express, Tailor, Amplify, and Evolve.

Express: Tell Your Story Like a Human, Scale It Like a Machine

The first thing you want to do is express who you are — define your taste, tone, and point of view before you bring in AI.

A lot of businesses are missing this crucial step. HubSpot research shows that nearly 6 in 10 don’t actually have their unique value proposition documented.

Look at these numbers — that’s a lot of people who don’t have a clear idea on their company’s brand story. Worse, an overwhelming majority of the respondents in this survey, just over three-quarters, said that teams without a clear value prop “moderately to highly” miss their goals. That’s tough for morale and for your bottom line.

What a lot of those teams may not realize is how a relatively inexpensive AI tool and a few good prompts can help address these snags — in minutes, not months. Everyone has access to the same AI tools, but what’s different about the Loop playbook is you. AI needs the context and perspectives about your business that only you can give it.

So use an AI tool — whether that’s Claude, ChatGPT, Breeze or something else that works for you — to help you create a brand style guide and to give you a simulation of customer feedback. This amounts to businesses being able to do their own market research with agency-quality personas — this would have been totally out of reach for many businesses until very recently.

One way to simulate customer feedback is with a Claude project that has all the information about your target customer. You can ask it questions about marketing campaigns you’re doing and get real-time feedback on how to make them better.

This is called the Express stage in our new Loop Marketing playbook. Basically: Only you can define your brand story, but AI can take that story and give you the kind of customer feedback that used to require expensive focus groups.

Tailor: Make Every Customer Feel Like Your Only Customer

The next step is using AI to tailor the story to your target audience.

You might be thinking, “I can already send emails to Dear {First Name}” — but you can do a whole lot better now. The history of marketing has largely been about who can make the best educated guesses possible — you find some commonality among people, guess what they want, and try to give them what you think they want.

The remarkable thing about AI is that instead of making guesses about a group of tens of thousands of people, you can instead guess what‘s most relevant to this one person. And with an AI engine that knows your business, where you’re located, who your customers are, what they’re looking for, and which ones are showing intent to buy — well, you’re going to get some pretty good guesses.

It’s not just Dear {First Name} anymore. Imagine you run a local coffee shop and your emails have coffee puns that are specific to your individual customers. You can’t create personalization tokens for puns, right? But AI can do that.

There’s a common misconception out there that using AI will make your business sound generic. But it’s really about the data you give it. For example, the HubSpot marketing team has seen conversion rates improve 82% using AI-driven personalization.

This is called the Tailor stage of Loop Marketing — think of it like getting a custom suit instead of buying one off the rack. Custom tailoring used to be a luxury, but now AI has gotten to the point where it’s within reach of even small budgets.

Amplify: Find Customers Where They Actually Are

Next, you need to amplify to meet customers where they are. This means caring how your business shows up in AI engines like ChatGPT or Perplexity — your customers aren’t clicking through from Google searches anymore. So you’re seeing a lot of traffic diminishing all over the internet.

This is where it gets interesting, because the people who do find their way to your website are higher-quality leads than ever before. Think about it like a consumer: Everyone has the same amount of research at their fingertips. It’s pure information symmetry. So if someone is looking to buy a new sofa, they can do a ton of research before landing on the website of the furniture company they’ll actually buy from.

This is called the Amplify stage of Loop Marketing, getting your message out into this new AI-driven world and getting high-quality prospects in return. Start with AEO, or AI Engine Optimization. It’s the next evolution of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and it’s going to transform the way your company’s message is distributed.

SEO is about ranking in the top five links; AEO is about being part of the answer. There are lots of great options out there to help you get cited and recommended by those AI engines; pick one and start building on whatever visibility you already have.

And look, it’s not just about search traffic. Most marketers are spending more on events in 2025 than they did in 2024 — people are craving human interaction again. And it’s the best time yet to work with influencers, who can be that trusted person to give real-life recommendations about your business. The ROI is just tremendous: Companies like HubSpot are seeing far lower cost per lead with influencers compared to the big programmatic channels like Google and Facebook.

When AI is doing all this customization and amplification for you, you’ve got more money and energy to invest into other channels that are really, really working for you.

Evolve: Every Campaign Makes Your Next One Even Better

Here‘s what’s really cool about the Loop Marketing playbook: Every time you run through this loop, you get better. Your marketing compounds. You’re constantly improving, constantly learning, and your results just keep getting better and better. That’s why this is called the Evolve stage of Loop Marketing.

The old way, in comparison, was brutal. You’d run a campaign for weeks or even longer, and then do a big post-mortem analysis. It probably involved a lot of meetings that should have been emails.

But now you can ask AI in natural language and get immediate insights: “How should I adjust my targeting? What message resonated the most?” Making adjustments in real time means more successful and more cost-effective campaigns.

AI is ready. Are you?

The most common resistance to AI is fear — fear that AI will replace you or devalue your skills. But the future of marketing isn’t humans versus AI — it’s humans with AI. Businesses just need a guide to help them figure out how to make this human-AI collaboration work. That’s where the Loop can help.

When a big shift in technology happens, it creates massive opportunities for marketers. This was evident with early Facebook and early Google — so much money was made during those times. People aren’t seeing that same opportunity today because this shift represents a loss of control. Nobody is used to that.

But this shift is even bigger now than it was then, and marketers who are using tools like the Loop Marketing playbook and taking advantage of this moment in AI are going to see their growth compound, and fast.

If you’re willing to take action in the next 18 months, it’s going to be impossible not to succeed — the opportunities are just that big.

It’s time to drop the baggage around the word “influencer.”

If you’re a maw-and-paw restaurant, and a local foodie with 300 followers agrees to rave about how bangin’ your pot pie is? Mazel tov! You’re doing influencer marketing.

“‘Influencer’ is just a general category for anyone that is able to get an audience to take an action,” says creator economy expert Lindsey Gamble.

And whether that action is starting your first creator campaign or signing a viral TikToker with 2 million followers, today’s master is gonna influence the crap outta you. In a good way.

Lindsey Gamble

Creator economy consultant, Creator of the Lindsey Gamble newsletter

• Fun fact: Growing up, Lindsey’s dream was to play in the NFL. After playing Division 1 for Bryant University, he got a chance to work out with his favorite players at pro day.
• Claim to fame: Worked as a brand ambassador and lifestyle creator for L.L. Bean, Every Man Jack, and Allagash Brewing. His self-titled newsletter was named one of the best marketing newsletters by Buffer.

Lesson 1: Everyone is a creator.

“In today’s day and age, everyone is a creator. Even if you don’t call yourself that,” says Lindsey Gamble.

Whenever you’re makin’ a Bluesky post or TikTok short on something you care about, you’re creating content. And when that content finds someone else who cares, it creates a community.

And, even if that group is small or extremely niche, the parasocial relationship between creator and community cultivates a trust that can quickly turn audience members into customers.

Case in point, when I worked for a CPAP vendor, we saw double-digit returns working with a sleep apnea influencer. Talk about hyperspecific, right?

“It doesn’t always have to be the person with the biggest followership. You just want to work with people that believe in your brand.”

And that’s the beauty of this lesson: If everyone is a creator, that means there’s a creator for every industry. Even the really boring or weird ones.

Lesson 2: There’s power in someone else’s voice.

Influencer marketing works for the same reason word-of-mouth is so effective.

“It’s all about social proof. What people say about you is more important than what you say about yourself as a brand. Any voice besides yourself is going to be powerful.”

But, like word-of-mouth, influencer marketing only works when it feels — you guessed it — authentic.

“You wouldn’t hire a plumber and then tell them what to do, right? You might tell them where the bathroom is, but they fix the problem because they have the skills and expertise.”

In other words, don’t treat the creator like what Gamble calls a “digital billboard,” asking them to simply parrot your existing message.

To plan a truly effective creator campaign, he advises starting with your pain points. For example, is there an audience you’re failing to connect with? Is your social presence on a certain platform lacking? Consider how that need could be addressed from the outside, then approach a content creator to create something entirely new.

“You work with that creator because they have a value that you don’t have as a brand or as an individual. Sometimes it’s the audience, right? More times than not, it’s their voice.”

Lesson 3: Work your way up.

Chances are good that you don’t have the budget to nab MrBeast for your next campaign. That doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from creator marketing.

“You can start small and build up,” Gamble says. “I always recommend running a couple of campaigns that are brand awareness [at first].”

After contracting with a creator, your first step should be to create a brief that outlines both your goals and your success metrics. After the content is made, analyze how it aligns with the brief.

“Do that two or three times [to make] benchmarks, and then figure out what didn’t work and what you can build on top of.”

The idea is to build a roadmap toward working with a broader portfolio of creators that address a variety of business needs.

“You might have this idea of the type of creator you want to work with, but a better start is tapping into different creators that help you get to different audiences.”

Lingering Questions

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION

“What’s one marketing habit or best practice you think we should collectively leave behind, and what would you replace it with?” — Al Iverson, Industry research and community engagement lead, Valimail; deliverability consultant and publisher, Spam Resource

THIS WEEK’S ANSWER

Gamble says: “Relying solely on last-click attribution for measuring the success of influencer marketing is a mistake.

“Sure, tracking links and promo codes show direct sales, but creators play a much bigger role in awareness, brand building, consideration, traffic, and more — all of which leads to purchases down the line, even if the link or code isn’t used.

“We need to measure the impact of creators more creatively and look at the full picture, including content performance, website traffic, brand follower growth, search lift, share of voice, brand and sales lift studies, post-campaign surveys, and other methods to capture the true impact of influencer campaigns, otherwise you’re likely missing out on the full story.”

NEXT WEEK’S QUESTION

Gamble asks: What’s a marketing strategy or trend that you think is widely overlooked but has high potential for impact right now?