Google Local Service Ads is asking for more photos. SEOs…
]]>As both a YouTuber and HubSpot‘s resident creator economy expert, I know a lot about YouTube and how to go viral on the platform. So, believe me when I say it’s not just keywords you have to think about.
Creating engaging YouTube descriptions is one of the most important tactics for optimizing your YouTube channel. We’ll discuss creating compelling descriptions for your YouTube channel and videos here.
YouTube channel descriptions are a little like the About Page of a website. It appears under the “About” tab of your channel’s YouTube page.
Your YouTube channel description conveys to potential viewers what your content will cover, including the issues you tackle and the communities you serve. You’ll be able to add this when setting up your YouTube channel.
Take a look at my YouTube channel’s description as an example. Notice how I introduce myself, state the kind of content viewers can expect, and reference my target audience.
I also have links to other platforms connected to my channel, such as Instagram, X, TikTok, and my website.
As YouTube creators, our primary goal is to attract and turn viewers into subscribers, often using the channel description. With that in mind, use keywords your intended audience would use to search for your content.
See how “anime” is used multiple times in my channel’s description.
Every YouTube video includes a description that can be found under the viewport of the video.
It’s crucial that each of your YouTube videos include a unique description to increase the likelihood of your video being found when someone is searching for a particular topic.
As a YouTube content creator, I always craft my video descriptions knowing they can attract and convert an audience. So, I always optimize my video descriptions for SEO — and you should, too.
Keep reading if you‘re unsure how to start crafting compelling YouTube descriptions. I’ll explore tactics you can employ and provide templates to ensure you have everything you need to excel on YouTube.
HubSpot compiled several YouTube video description templates to help your business provide context to your viewers, rank better in search, organize your team, and link to relevant web pages on your site.
Download These Templates for Free
My colleague, Caroline Forsey, spoke with Eric Peters, a Senior Growth Product Manager on HubSpot’s Academy team, to explore the best tactics for writing YouTube descriptions.
He said, “[YouTube descriptions] are one of the primary ways YouTube knows what your video is about. Include links, additional resources, links to other videos and playlists, etc. Make sure the description box is easy to read.”
Peters explained that your YouTube video description and closed captioning should incorporate keywords into your description.
It also helps with accessibility for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Hence, adding closed captioning to your videos is essential for accessibility.
For instance, take a look at one of HubSpot Marketing’s YouTube video descriptions:
A YouTube description differs from a web page meta description. Content creators explain the entire video in a YouTube description and even link to external resources.
Peters says:
“You get 5,000 characters total, so make use of it. YouTube creators use asterisks or all-caps to differentiate titles from body copy because it’s all plain text.
Consider writing up a text version of the key points from the video, or even copying the transcription and paste it into the description.”
Most of my most recent YouTube videos consist of interviews from my podcast.
So, I‘ll often save time by writing out the description I’d use for my podcast episode that would appear on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, then copying and pasting the same description into YouTube.
I‘d then tweak it to include more keywords or important links to other platforms. I’ll also customize my YouTube video description with the bold, italic, or strikethrough options at the bottom of the description box.
For information, click here.
Your YouTube description is a fantastic opportunity to ask viewers to continue engaging with your channel or find additional resources to help them learn more about a topic of interest.
For instance, let’s say I create a brief “How to Add Filters to Instagram” YouTube video, but I also have an in-depth “How to Use Instagram for Marketing” blog post. Why not link it in the description?
Most likely, anyone watching my Instagram video on YouTube would be equally grateful for the opportunity to learn more through a blog post.
Perhaps I simply want to ask viewers to subscribe, turn on notifications, or share my content with their networks. These are all acceptable CTA’s for a description.
Personally, I always include a call to action in my YouTube video descriptions, telling viewers to follow my other social media accounts, subscribe to my blog, or listen to my corresponding podcasts on other platforms.
Experience has shown me it’s best practice to format the description so that the most critical information is first.
Peters advises, “The first 200 characters are above the ‘more’ fold on the description box, so if you want your CTA/link to be seen by most people, keep it within the first 200 characters.”
After the first 200 characters, the text will be cut off, and viewers must click “Show more” to see the rest. I know I don‘t always click “Show more” when watching a video, so your audience likely won’t either.
Therefore, you must count your first 200 characters.
A YouTube description should be fun and demonstrate your brand’s personality with a unique voice. Unlike traditional forms of advertising, this is an opportunity for you to instill creativity and humor into your content.
Brian Dean’s YouTube channel is an excellent example of this. His YouTube descriptions often mirror the way he speaks. I enjoy his descriptions because they are candid and casual, and he makes it feel like he’s writing to a friend.
Consider checking out HubSpot Academy’s comprehensive YouTube Marketing course to learn more about using YouTube for marketing purposes.
Including timestamps in your video description can make your video more user-friendly and help your content rank well on search engines.
YouTube video timestamps appear within search results, improving user retention by directing users to the most relevant portions of videos from SERPs.
Users can search for keywords in your video’s description and click on a thumbnail on the SERP to view the portion of your video that answers their search query.
Every YouTube channel description should allude to a specific niche or central theme. You want to tell your audience what they will learn from your channel.
This will give them a reason to tune in to your channel, subscribe to it, and continue learning from you and your videos.
Additionally, when you add your niche to your YouTube description, your audience can more easily find you in a sea of potentially similar creators.
Wes McDowell‘s YouTube channel targets viewers in the digital marketing niche. The channel description mentions its mission: teaching small business owners digital marketing strategies they can use to grow their businesses.
The description also lists topics the channel will feature in its videos, invites viewers to subscribe, and describes its benefits.
This YouTube channel description is clear and direct. It details what viewers will get when they come to the channel. This description also describes the marketing strategies and techniques viewers will learn.
Clarity goes a long way in making a channel easily searchable and rankable on YouTube.
Yoga With Adriene‘s YouTube channel description highlights one of the channel’s main values: inclusion.
The channel description mentions that everyone is invited to participate and learn more about yoga through her videos, regardless of their skill level.
The description also recommends videos that beginners can watch to become familiar with the content.
This channel description is an excellent example of how a company‘s mission can be useful for video content. The description gives subscribers a glimpse into Yoga with Adriene’s values, creating a connection with the viewer.
This angle is helpful for ranking on YouTube because it’s aligned with morals and values that subscribers can easily identify with.
I started watching Yoga with Adriene‘s videos partially because the channel description convinced me they’d be great for beginners (and they are!).
Wild Wonderful Off-Grid‘s YouTube channel description positions the channel within a niche by using the keywords “off-grid,” “self-reliant,” and “building our own home” to appeal to viewers who are interested in living off-the-grid.
The description also invites viewers to visit their online store and social media profiles.
This YouTube channel description establishes a niche, describes the channel’s content, provides background information about the creators, and encourages subscribers and viewers to participate further in their brand.
I also love how the description also directs their audience to other aspects of their business, such as their store and social media platforms, which fosters value for their subscribers.
The Pals‘ YouTube channel description introduces the channel’s creators, lists the video games the channel will highlight, and provides each creator’s personal YouTube channel and Roblox username.
This YouTube channel description focuses on the entertainment the channel provides.
The description targets subscribers seeking gaming knowledge and mentions the creators’ journeys to set the channel apart from others in the same niche and genre.
Florian Gadsby‘s YouTube channel description introduces the channel’s creator and lists the topics viewers can expect to see when they subscribe.
It also links to the creator‘s social media and newsletter and provides information about the creator’s online store, including its restocking schedule.
This YouTube channel description takes a personal approach to the subject matter. The description gives visitors clarity about the channel’s content and artistic focus.
It also encourages viewers to interact with the creator on their social media platforms to learn more about them and view more of their content.
SciShow‘s YouTube channel description introduces the channel’s creators and hints at the topics viewers can expect to see weekly.
The description also outlines the channel’s posting schedule and mentions other YouTube channels associated with the brand.
This YouTube channel description tells its viewers when they will see uploads. This is an excellent strategy to ensure users visit the channel right when they’re expecting to see new content.
If views go up on a page, the YouTube algorithm will likely boost your channel to a broader audience. Just make sure you stay on schedule.
I personally avoid putting the schedule for future uploads in my descriptions because mishaps happen, and I don‘t want to let my viewers down. But that’s just a personal hang-up I have.
Unbox Therapy‘s YouTube channel description states the channel’s tagline, gives an overview of the channel’s content, and provides a contact email for business inquiries.
This simple channel description piques viewers‘ interest with a captivating tagline and a straightforward explanation of the channel’s content.
It also includes an email that allows viewers to contact the creators to inquire about the business and ask professional questions about the channel.
Isa-Welly’s YouTube channel description immediately emphasizes her Registered Nutritional Therapist and Wellbeing Coach credentials before going into the purpose of her platform and what viewers can expect.
What I Love: I love that Isa Welly establishes trust with her audience by highlighting her professional experience. The bio is also very short and to the point, reducing the chances of confusion and keeping the reader’s attention.
Sundas Khalid‘s YouTube channel description starts with a friendly “Hey!” before explaining who she is and what she does: “I am Sundas, and I help you succeed in the data science and tech fields.”
The description then dives into her background as a self-taught data scientist.
It also highlights her achievements as someone with 10 years of experience across two prominent companies where she was a high performer at each.
What I Love: I love Sundas Khalid because she relates to her audience by using a friendly tone and explaining that she is self-taught and from a non-tech background.
Her approach shows she creates content for viewers who may have little to no experience in the tech field but want to break into the industry or sharpen their knowledge.
I especially like how she includes a disclaimer at the end, letting readers know her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of the company she works for. It’s a great example of transparency while separating your work and creativity.
What Matte Wolfe’s description lacks in words it makes up for in key links. Wolfe’s YouTube channel includes links to his blog, Twitter (now X) account, and his AI tools database.
What I Love: Wolfe’s channel description is a great model for how less is more, especially if your channel covers a broad spectrum of topics within your niche.
Just make sure you use the extra space saved in your channel to highlight important links, such as to your blog, social media channels, or business.
Now that we’ve covered the basics look at a few templates you can use to craft a compelling YouTube description.
You might create a playful, easy-going channel ‘About Me’ description, like this one:
Hi, I’m [Name]. This is my channel about increasing your sales, effectively targeting your audience, and growing an email list that you can use to grow your business.
If you’re a marketer who wants to learn marketing strategies to get [result, i.e., more traffic to your site], subscribe to my channel.
My channel publishes videos that focus on storytelling content that connects X, shows you how to infuse your authenticity in your brand, and gives you a marketing strategy that feels organic.
If that sounds like it could be helpful for you, please join me!
Alternatively, you can craft a YouTube description that describes what your company does from a third-person point of view, like this one:
[Company] is the worldwide leader in X, Y, and Z. Since [year], [Company] has been on a mission to [insert company vision or purpose here].
To learn more about [Company], its values, and its [company offering], subscribe to our channel to stay informed.
Tell your subscribers what you’re all about and describe your niche when writing your YouTube channel description.
[Name] and [Name] have nuanced discussions about dating, their lifestyle, and relationships. They discuss current topics that affect modern dating and how to maneuver relationship patterns. You can purchase [Name] and [Name]’s [product] to learn more about improving your knowledge of relationships.
Building a relationship with your followers is one of the most important things you can do as a content creator. This template invites them to join you as you grow your brand.
This channel gives everything you need to know about gaming, including the latest equipment reviews, new game reviews, and once-a-week live streams. Watch as I, [name], try to beat my high score in the latest release of [insert game name here].
Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable with your audience. Adding personal touches to your YouTube channel description, like the template below, can help you become more authentic.
This is a personal journey of how I became a painter. Learn about what paints I purchase, the tools I use, and the techniques I learned during school. Art is my passion, and I express my love for [insert passion] through it.
Tell your audience exactly what they can expect from your channel by using this template:
This channel gives pop culture commentary through a [political ideology] political lens. We make commentary on books and current events. We also upload a new video every Wednesday and Friday.
A helpful video description can spike your audience’s interest, resulting in longer watch times, better view counts, and even new subscribers.
Plus, it can help with YouTube SEO, allowing YouTube’s algorithm to understand your content and suggest it to new users, further boosting your YouTube metrics.
The description of nicole . young’s YouTube video, “5 Best Coding Languages for Beginners 2021,” hooks the viewer by posing a question that will be answered in the video.
The video description also includes a benefit the viewer will gain from watching the video.
In this video description, the creator summarizes the video‘s title and specifies the target audience. The text will help audiences (and YouTube) understand the video’s content.
This creator understands that the channel description is prime real estate for contact information, social media handles, and calls to action, persuading viewers to stick around.
The description of Music Matters’s YouTube video, “How to Write Counterpoint – Music Composition,“ uses keywords such as ”writing counterpoint,“ ”music composition lesson,“ and ”understanding counterpoint” to appeal to audiences that are interested in learning the music composition technique.
The description also includes timestamps that viewers can use to skip to the portion of the video that addresses the specific topic they want to learn about.
This YouTube video description uses keywords to appeal to a niche audience. The specificity makes it easily searchable on YouTube. Using keywords to make each video search-friendly will drive traffic to your video’s specific content.
The description of Anna Clark’s YouTube video, “How to Create a 90-Day Plan for your Business (+ Free Workbook),” includes links to the creator’s website, courses, newsletter, and social media accounts, and a workbook that viewers can download and complete as they watch the video.
It’s good to involve your viewers in other aspects of your business. The interaction and engagement you earn will help you rank against other active channels.
Directing your viewers to other resources for your business will also help your YouTube channel drive traffic to your website, increasing your authority in your business niche.
The description of Wishpond’s YouTube video, “How To Create An Email Sales Funnel,” hooks the viewer by stating that the video is the fourth installment in a series and linking to the previous video.
The video description also incentivizes viewers to learn more about the company.
This description segments the video as a section of a more extensive series. If subscribers learn that you provide similar content on your channel, they will be more inclined to watch your other videos.
The description also lets viewers know there’s a free demo of the service. If you sell different products or services in your business, link them in the description.
The description of Writing with Jenna Moreci’s YouTube video, “How to Outline Your Novel – Part 2,” hooks the viewer by stating that the video is the second installment in a series and linking to the previous video.
The video description also lets viewers learn more about the creator’s products.
This video description is excellent because it lets viewers know what’s coming next. Inserting a “new segment” in your YouTube series lets viewers anticipate your next video.
The video description tells viewers about the creator’s experience with microgreens, lists the supplies the creator mentions in the video, and lists ways that viewers can support the creator beyond watching their video.
The creator provides a list of products used in the video. The viewers can research the products or purchase them immediately through the links.
Debt Free Millennials’ YouTube video, “Budgeting for Beginners – How to Make a Budget From Scratch 2021,” teaches viewers to create a budget.
The description gives viewers an overview of the topics covered in the video and invites them to sign up for products and services through affiliated links.
It also includes links to the creator’s Instagram, Facebook group, and website so viewers can connect with the creator through different social platforms.
I love that the creator has created a sense of community and togetherness. If you include your social media links in your YouTube video description, subscribers will follow you on multiple platforms to remain engaged with your content.
The content creator invites them to return for new videos and share their experiences on social media.
Jade Beason‘s video gives viewers tips and strategies for staying consistent on social media as a creator or business owner. Her video’s description is simple and captures who and what the video is intended for:
“Watch this video if you’re struggling to post consistently on social media!
If you want to learn new content creation tips, content creation hacks, how to be consistent on social media or how to create consistent content on social media, this video is for you.”
What I Love: Since Beason‘s video description is so short, it leaves plenty of room for her to list other important information, and that’s what she does.
As viewers read through the description, they‘ll find information about further learning, additional resources, Beason’s equipment, and free guides.
Even better, it’s all neatly organized into sections.
Alex Heiden‘s video documents part of his journey of trying to profit off B2B SaaS. The video’s description details how he organizes his goals and the tools he uses.
What I Love: Heiden‘s description is detailed in summarizing the video’s point. He has included chapters, which are great for SEO and helps YouTube rank the video higher in search results.
Jensen Tung‘s video discusses the easiest online business to start to make $100,000. The video’s title is self-explanatory, so it’s not as necessary for Tung to have the video summary at the top of the description.
So, he moved it toward the bottom and used the rest of the space to provide information on his gear, newsletter, crucial links, and other endeavors.
What I Love: Tung prioritizes the most important information in his video description, and, in this case, it‘s not the video’s summary — it’s the links and information to his other projects that views may not have been able to find as easily otherwise.
A YouTube video description is descriptive text that includes but is not limited to keywords, themes, and special concepts/guests that the content creator wants their viewers to know.
The YouTube video description increases visibility through SEO, views, and subscriptions. In each video description, the content creator will encourage their viewers to “Like,” “Share,” and “Subscribe” to their content.
An effective video description will be persuasive and informative, prompting the audience to tune in regularly.
Rather than writing a lengthy summary of your video, keep your descriptions detailed enough to let the viewer know what to expect, yet concise enough so they don’t lose interest.
Listen to how our CEO explains the difference between X and Y, and learn best practices for implementing your own strategy.
Learn more about X and Y in our course: [course link].
You can use a YouTube channel description like this one to help new viewers connect with you on your other channels and social media platforms:
Hi there! New to [name of channel]? If so, here’s what you need to know: I like [interests related to channel] a LOT, so I use this channel to explore X, Y, and Z to help you [desired result for viewer].
Where else you can find me:
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/[accountname]
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/[accountname]
LIFESTYLE CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/[accountname]
Join our growing community for new videos every Tuesday and Friday!
BUSINESS INQUIRIES
Please contact [PR representative] at [email or phone number].
YouTube increases visibility within keyword searches and relevant content. As a result, videos should have buzzwords in video and channel descriptions.
If you want to craft a description that explains what your video is about and incorporates a keyword description, try this:
Hey there! This lesson is part of a free online course. Take the full course here: www.company.com/course1.
Some people are unsure what X is — at its most basic, X is [brief definition of keyword]. In this video, you‘ll learn how to X, Y, and Z, to ensure you’re able to grow your brand online.
In addition, we’ll explain how you can avoid doing A. Sometimes, A is all it takes to lose a customer.
Use your video descriptions as an opportunity to let your viewers know when to expect new content from you, like this template:
Join the “musical nerds” on a mission to improve our musical understanding. We upload every Wednesday and Thursday. We will have Q&A sessions to answer all of your beginner questions on Wednesdays starting next week.
Transparency is key to gaining the trust of your audience. This template is an excellent example of how to let your viewers know when you are using affiliate links in your descriptions.
What‘s up, guys? In this video, we’ll talk about an everyday makeup look you can do in 10 minutes. I‘m not an early riser, but just like anyone, I still want to look good for the day. I’ll list the products I used in this video.
Please subscribe if you are feeling my vibe. I post content weekly, and you can always find me on Insta! I’ll drop my social media handles below.
**All opinions are my own. This video isn‘t sponsored. I’m sent products for my consideration, and I earn a small percentage from sales through affiliated links. Clicking on affiliated links doesn’t cost you anything.**
Engaging with your audience is essential for building community with them. Here, this description encourages viewers to leave suggestions in the comments section to be featured in future videos.
Hi, everyone! We‘re the Science Kidz! Today, we are experimenting to find out which popcorn brand leaves behind the least number of kernels. Will it be Orville Redenbacher’s or Act II?
Every week, we do a new experiment as part of our initiative to highlight STEM careers in Savannah, Georgia. If you have an experiment you want to see The Science Kidz try, leave a comment below. You never know — we could pick yours!
Follow me on Instagram for more experiment ideas, and tag us in some of the experiments you do with your friends!
Disclosing paid sponsorships or product placements doesn‘t have to be super jargon-heavy. A template like this can help you be candid with your audience without straying from your brand’s voice and sounding like a robot.
Hey, y‘all! Today, we’ll be rebuilding a 454 Chevy Big Block motor. We‘ll be adding 200 horses to bring the motor up to 680 horsepower. I hope y’all are ready to dive into business with Motor Boyz.
This episode is sponsored by Husky tools, and we’ll be using their latest impact and driver tools to rebuild the 454. We would like to thank Anderson Auto for donating the 1972 C10 to be our frame once the motor is rebuilt and completed.
Once you have your brand voice down, create a template for your video descriptions to help save you time when uploading. If you’re having trouble making a template on your own, use HubSpot’s YouTube templates to get some inspiration.
When writing a description for a YouTube video, you should aim for simplicity. Make sure all the essential information is above the fold. That way, you can ensure potential viewers know what your video is about as they search for what they need.
Use your YouTube descriptions to help new viewers connect with you on your other channels and social media platforms. In doing this, you can increase your cross-promote content more easily and boost engagement and discoverability.
Just make sure to put your social media links toward the end of your descriptions since there are more important details to keep above the fold.
Whether you‘re writing a description for your channel or a video, you’ll want to define your niche. Start by introducing yourself or your brand, then highlight what you offer and what makes you unique.
Be sure to incorporate relevant keywords used to search for content in your niche so your target audience has a better chance of finding you.
You may want to create a channel description asking viewers to join you on a journey you document on your YouTube channel. For instance, if your YouTube channel focuses on streaming video game content, you may invite subscribers to watch you as you attempt to win the game.
Therefore, mentioning a goal for your channel can help you gain new subscribers eager to come along for the ride as you pursue a goal.
Create a sense of community with your channel by being more personal with your audience. When writing your descriptions, consider including personal touches, such as telling a story, using relatable language, or speaking directly to the viewer.
By offering an emotional appeal, you and your content will come off as more authentic, helping you create a stronger connection with your subscribers.
A content creator must build excitement for the next video — a sense of urgency and anticipation for their audience. A YouTuber can create giveaways, conduct polls, and invite special guests to participate in the videos to maintain the channel’s success.
We have all done it: Having parts of an idea and hoping Google will fill in the blanks by completing the search with the rest of our thoughts.
As a content creator, you need to own each video’s related tag, including misspellings, to help refine the content under your channel. The YouTube videos must be centered around keywords, maximizing your SEO for Google and YouTube searches.
When crafting your descriptions, consider linking to related content that viewers might find interesting or helpful. For example, if you have a blog, you can link to a blog post that goes more in-depth on the topic you’re discussing. This will help provide additional context to the viewer and bring more traffic to your website.
Use keywords in your descriptions to increase the visibility of your YouTube channel and videos. In order to determine which keywords you should target, you‘ll need to conduct keyword research.
When crafting your description, don’t repeat the same keywords too much. Instead, insert them in a way that sounds natural. This will keep it easy to read and help you avoid keyword stuffing.
A new video is upcoming, and you need to send a teaser to your audience that will create buzz leading up to the release of the latest content. A video teaser can be uploaded to YouTube Shorts to increase anticipation.
Authenticity sells. Viewers know when you aren‘t being transparent with them, so just be honest. If you have affiliate partners, gifted products, or sponsorships, don’t try to hide it.
Be honest with your viewers and write a disclaimer in your description.
As a YouTuber, engaging with your audience and building their trust is essential. If you lose that trust, it can be hard to win it back.
Keeping your audience engaged is crucial for getting them to return for more content. When writing your video description, use a strong hook that grabs your audience’s attention and makes them want to watch.
Be sure to break down the video into sections and include timestamps for each one. This allows viewers to jump to specific parts of the video so they remain interested.
Any time you mention or use one of your products or services in a video, you should always include a link in your description. Doing this prompts the audience to try your product or service for themselves.
Offering a discount code may also encourage potential customers to leap.
If your videos aren’t reaching your expectations, try experimenting with different description formats and templates.
Maybe your descriptions are too long, and they get cut off on certain devices, or perhaps there are better keywords you can optimize for. Testing out different descriptions will help give you a better idea of what works best for your brand.
These must-have YouTube video and channel description templates can help you reduce the time it takes to upload and optimize your YouTube videos, getting them out to your audience quickly and with less effort.
Be sure to customize the text to enhance the reading experience because you want to be as helpful as possible for your audience.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
]]>Between the prophecy of single-person billion-dollar companies, and the pinch felt by founders as VCs tighten wallets, startups are counting on AI for a winning go-to-market strategy.
It’s a smart bet, too.
In HubSpot’s survey of over 1,000 startup founders, 86% said AI has had a positive impact on their GTM strategy. Those with the highest growth and most funding are more likely to attribute their growth to AI.
Here are some more interesting tidbits from the meaty report:
The report shows that 71% of startup founders already have a designated person or team that specializes in using AI in their GTM strategy, and 66% plan to hire more AI specialists in the next year.
If you can’t beat it, join it. Source: Google Trends, six-month rolling average
But the cost of hiring these folks is a top challenge for startups, along with a general lack of AI know-how, both in current employees and in integrating with existing systems.
Source: HubSpot for Startups
Those pain points mean multiple opportunities for well-timed business builders. You could:
🕵️ Help startups source AI talent more affordably;
🏋️♀️ Provide AI bootcamps as a benefit for current employees;
⚙️ Offer AI integration consulting services;
▶️ Create video content teaching startups how to get the most out of AI tools.
When plugging AI into their GTM strategy, 51% of startups report using it for customer segmentation — the most common answer.
From predictive analytics and smart pricing to personalized content, AI is helping companies turn customer targeting into an exact science.
And they’re gettin’ results:
Don’t take our word for it. Head on over to the full report, where you’ll find examples like:
👗 How gen AI helps Stitch Fix stylists provide personalized product recs by interpreting customer feedback
🏷️ How startups that use Accenture’s dynamic pricing are boosting revenue and cutting promo spend
👍 How Intercom’s AI bot helped Frame.io score a near-perfect customer satisfaction rate
While AI gives a power-up to all functions of GTM, marketing is seeing the most impact, according to 43% of founders surveyed.
Source: HubSpot for Startups
Marketers are creative folks always on the prowl for new things, so of course they’re using AI to their advantage. Marketers say they tap AI for:
… and saving 12.5 hours per week!
Curious? Watch my colleague and marketing maven, Caroline, use AI to beef up her writing.
Today’s entrepreneurs should think not only about how to improve results with AI, but also how to liberate and elevate their own potential with it.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Daniela Amodei – she’s the co-founder of Anthropic, the company that made Claude, one of the leading large language models.
“As we’re working on these powerful generative AI tools… [we want to] make sure humans are still at the center of that story. We hope people use Claude as a partner and collaborator that helps humans do the things they want to do and live the lives they want to live.”
There’s so many more gems in this report, so go check it out, and start using AI to supercharge your own business! 🚀
]]>Consumers and businesses alike are almost always online and on the go – and you want to be able to reach them and observe their behavior and where they spend their time.
But when you’re growing a business, this ever-changing digital landscape can quickly become an overwhelming one. With a number of other responsibilities and tasks that you need to do, how can you also efficiently create, fine-tune, and maintain an agile digital marketing strategy?
I’ve put together this guide about marketing strategies to help you improve your digital presence and grow better.
If you run a small business, I get that you may not know how to jumpstart your strategy. Thankfully, this digital marketing strategy template will help you get there with its actionable tips and templates to set you up for success. And did I mention that it’s free?
Now, back to the topic at hand: are you confused about the difference between a marketing strategy and marketing tactics? I’ll cover that below.
You can think about it like this: strategy is planning, and tactic is doing. Having a strategy without ways to act on it (tactics) is daydreaming, and taking actions with no common goal or plan (strategy) wastes your time.
Let’s dive a bit deeper into the differences between the two.
Marketing or not, there are three parts to any strategy:
Depending on the scale of your business, your marketing strategy may include several moving parts, each with different goals. With that said, working on your strategy can become daunting at times.
So, if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed about your marketing strategy, I recommend referring to these three steps to keep you focused on achieving your objectives.
While strategies provide a framework for your overall vision, tactics determine the specific steps taken to execute that vision.
A good tactic should:
Depending on your marketing strategy, your tactics may include email marketing campaigns, publishing a blog, or organizing an event.
Now, let’s look at digital marketing strategy.
A strong digital marketing strategy helps your business achieve specific digital goals through carefully selected mediums. Similar to marketing strategies versus marketing tactics, “digital marketing strategy” and “digital marketing campaign” are also often used interchangeably. How do they differ?
I’ll discuss that in the following sections.
Digital marketing campaigns are the building blocks and actions within your digital marketing strategy that move you toward a specific end goal.
For instance, if the overarching goal of my digital marketing strategy is to generate more leads through social media, I might run a digital marketing campaign on X (formerly Twitter.) I’d share some of my business’s best-performing gated content on the platform to generate more leads through the channel.
Let’s tie it all together to help you create a digital marketing strategy you execute with your digital marketing campaigns.
For any marketing strategy – digital or not – you need to know who you’re marketing to. The best digital marketing strategies are built upon detailed buyer personas; creating them is your first step.
Featured Resource: Organize your audience segments and strengthen your marketing with these templates to build your buyer personas. They’ll help you organize your insights and have a clear visualization of your target audience.
Buyer personas represent your ideal customer(s) and can be created by researching, surveying, and interviewing your business’s target audience.
I have to note that it’s important that the information you gather is based on real data whenever possible. Making assumptions about your audience can cause your marketing strategy to go wrong.
Buyer personas are especially helpful if you have a niche audience. For example, I run Breaking the Blueprint, a HubSpot Blog column for minority business owners and entrepreneurs — a more specific group than the general HubSpot audience.
I could publish content based on what I think they might look for and benefit from, but I’m much more effective, impactful, and helpful if I dig deep and uncover their specific interests, needs, and challenges.
To get a well-rounded picture of your persona, your research pool should include customers, prospects, and people outside your contacts database who align with your target audience.
But what information should you gather for your buyer persona(s) to inform your digital marketing strategy?
That depends on your business — it‘s likely to vary by whether you’re B2B or B2C or sell a high-cost or low-cost product.
I’ve outlined some starting points that you can fine-tune and tailor to your particular business:
By combining all of these details, you’ll be able to create buyer personas that are accurate and highly valuable for your business.
Your marketing goals should always be tied back to the fundamental goals of your business.
For example, if my business‘s goal is to increase online revenue by 20%, my marketing team’s goal might be to generate 50% more leads via the website than the previous year to contribute to that success.
My Pro Tip: I recommend using a high-level marketing plan template to outline your annual marketing strategy, identify top priorities, and more. Click here to download ours (for free).
Whatever your overarching digital marketing goal is, you must be able to measure the success of your strategy along the way with the right digital marketing tools.
For instance, HubSpot’s Reporting Dashboard brings all of your marketing and sales data into one place, so you can quickly determine what works and what doesn’t to improve your strategy for the future. My favorite feature is that you can customize your dashboards with the drag-and-drop editor to ensure your reports feature the metrics that matter most.
When reviewing your existing digital marketing channels and assets to determine what to incorporate in your strategy, it’s helpful to first consider the big picture — this will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed or confused.
Gather what you have and categorize each vehicle or asset in a spreadsheet so you have a clear picture of your existing owned, earned, and paid media.
To do this effectively, I recommend using the owned, earned, and paid media framework to categorize the digital “vehicles,” assets, or channels you‘re already using and decide what’s a good fit for your strategy.
Owned media refers to the digital assets your brand or company owns, like your website, social media profiles, blog content, or imagery.
Owned channels are what your business has complete control over. The HubSpot Blog is an example of owned media, but this can also include some off-site content you own (e.g. a blog you publish on Medium).
Earned media, also called earned content, is anything written about or created about your business that doesn’t come from paid advertising or sponsorships. It’s published by a third party, like press mentions or media outlet coverage, people sharing your content via their networks, user-generated content, and even word-of-mouth marketing from satisfied customers.
Essentially, earned media is the recognition you receive from these efforts.
Paid media is the opposite of earned media, and it refers to any vehicle or channel you spend money on to catch the attention of your buyer personas.
This includes things like Google Ads, paid social media posts, native advertising (e.g. sponsored posts on other websites), or any other medium through which you pay in exchange for increased visibility.
I’ll go over an example now that I’ve outlined the framework.
Say I have an owned piece of content on a landing page on my website that’s been created to help me generate leads. I know I want to incorporate different parts of the framework rather than just working with owned, earned, or paid media alone.
To amplify the number of leads the content generates, I ensure it’s shareable so my audience can distribute it via their social media profiles. In return, this will increase traffic to my landing page. This is the earned media component.
To support my content’s success, I might post about the content on my Facebook page and pay to have it seen by more people in my target audience.
This is how the three parts of the framework can work together, although it’s not necessary for success. For instance, if my owned and earned media are already both successful, I might not need to invest in paid methods.
I recommend evaluating what solution will help you best meet your goals and then incorporating those channels into your digital marketing strategy.
Featured Resource: Keep track of your paid media efforts with HubSpot’s free Paid Media Template.
At the heart of digital marketing is owned media — and it almost always comes in the form of content. That‘s because nearly every message your brand broadcasts can be classified as content, whether it’s an About Us site page, product descriptions, blog posts, ebooks, infographics, podcasts, or social media posts.
Content helps convert website visitors into leads and customers while improving your brand’s online presence. And when this content is search engine optimized (SEO), it can boost your search and organic traffic.
Whatever your digital marketing strategy goal is, you’ll want to incorporate owned content. To start, decide what content will help you reach your goals.
Continuing with the example from above, my goal is to generate 50% more leads on my website this year. My ‘About Us’ page is probably useless to my strategy unless it’s somehow been a lead-generation machine in the past.
If you’re feeling stuck, below I’ve outlined a brief process you can follow to work out what owned content you need to meet your digital marketing strategy goals.
I promise marketing audits are significantly less scary than any other type of audit and much simpler.
Just make a list of your existing owned content, then rank each item according to what has previously performed best concerning your current goals.
For example, if your goal is lead generation, rank your content according to which pieces generated the most leads over the last year (such as a blog post, ebook, or site page).
The idea here is to figure out what‘s currently working, and what’s not so that you can set yourself up for success when planning future content.
Based on your buyer personas, identify any gaps in the content you have.
For example, if you’re a math tutoring company and know through research that a major challenge for your personas is finding effective ways to study, create some.
By looking at your content audit, you might discover that ebooks hosted on a certain type of landing page convert really well (better than webinars, for example).
In the case of this math tutoring company, you might make the decision to add an ebook about “how to make studying more effective” to your content creation plans.
Based on your findings and the gaps you‘ve identified, make a content creation plan outlining the content needed to help you hit your goals.
This should include:
This can be a simple spreadsheet and should include budget information if you plan to outsource the content creation or a time estimate if you’re producing it yourself.
Evaluating your previous earned media against your current goals can help you get an idea of where to focus your time. Look at where your traffic and leads are coming from (if that’s your goal) and rank each earned media source from most effective to least effective.
If you use an analytics tool, you’ll likely have an option to filter leads by source. If you’re a HubSpot user, the Sources reports in HubSpot’s Traffic Analytics tool is where you’ll find this information.
You may find a particular article you contributed to the industry press drove a lot of qualified traffic to your website, which boosted conversions. Or, you may discover LinkedIn is where you see most people sharing content, which increases traffic.
The idea is to build a picture of what types of earned media will help you reach your goals (and what won‘t) based on historical data. However, if there’s something new you want to experiment with, don‘t rule it out just because it’s never been done before.
Auditing your paid media campaigns (also a simple, no-frills audit) is the same process: evaluate your existing paid media across each platform (e.g. Google Ads, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and identify what’s most likely to help you meet your current goals.
Say, for example, you spend a lot of money on ads and find that you don’t get the results you’d hoped for. It might be time to refine your approach or scrap it all together and focus on another platform that yields better results.
Featured Resource: Use this Google Ads PPC Kit to learn how to leverage Google Ads for your digital marketing strategy.
By the end of the process, you should have a clear idea of which paid media platforms you want to continue using and which (if any) you’d like to remove from your strategy.
You’ve done the planning and the research, and you now have a solid vision of the elements that will make up your digital marketing strategy.
To review, here’s what you should have solidified so far:
Now, you bring all of your findings together to plan the campaign(s) that will make up your digital marketing strategy.
A better understanding of digital marketing strategies is vital to your ultimate success. Earning a bachelor’s in marketing or a related field can be valuable and boost your career.
In the meantime, I made a list of basic marketing strategies commonly used by teams across various industries. To make it even more helpful, I used our 2024 State of Marketing & Trends Report to order the list based on what marketers use most and find the most effective.
Digital marketing isn’t one size fits all. Every business has its own unique needs and goals; therefore, every marketing team will have their own approach. However, there are many online marketing strategies that you can implement to spread awareness about your business and attract new customers. Here are some common yet effective strategies to help you build a comprehensive digital marketing plan.
Every few years, email marketing falls victim to the “X marketing tactic is dead!!!!!!” conversation, but it’s not. It’s one of the most leveraged channels among marketers and offers the second-highest ROI, making it one of the most important digital strategies you can implement today.
It gives you plenty of opportunity to nurture customers who are highly interested in your products. It’s important, however, to only email those who have opted-in to receive emails from you. It’s bad form to do otherwise, and it risks diminishing your email deliverability. After all, you wouldn’t subscribe to a newsletter for a brand that doesn’t interest you, right?
You can earn subscribers through your blog, contests, and even through webinars. Any time someone gives you their email — and every time they give consent to receive communication from you — you have full permission to target them with an email marketing campaign.
My Pro Tip: Streamline your email marketing efforts with generative AI, as marketers told us it’s the most effective at creating emails. Try it for yourself with AI Email Writer, HubSpot’s generative AI tool that will help you automate copywriting and create marketing emails that capture attention and inspire clicks.
16 Benefits of Email Marketing Your Marketing Team Must Know
12 Email Marketing Trends Marketers Should Know [According to My Inbox]
Video, specifically short-form, is the number one trend companies leverage in their marketing strategy.
Given this, it’s no surprise that the fastest-growing platforms are a video haven, especially TikTok. Of the marketers already using the platform, 56% plan to increase their investments in 2024, making it the platform poised to grow the most this year.
The increase in investment is also because video marketing is more effective than ever. In fact, 96% of video marketers surveyed by Wyzowl reported that video is an important part of their strategy, the highest it’s ever been in nine years.
One of the reasons videos are so effective is because they allow you to communicate with your audience in a more personal way. Plus, short-form video takes less bandwith and effort to create, you can still share a lot of information, and shorter videos align with the fast-paced attention span of many watchers.
By making video an integral part of your digital strategy, you can showcase your brand’s creativity and explore more content formats, such as product demos, explainer videos, expert interviews, customer testimonials, and more.
22 Video Marketing & Advertising Campaigns You’ll Actually Enjoy Watching
SEO is optimizing your web content, structure, and technical aspects to improve its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). The ultimate goal of SEO is to increase organic, non-paid traffic to your website from search engines like Google and Bing.
If your product pages aren’t earning traffic, SEO is your best bet to get those pages in front of those searching for those products and services. Investing in an on-page SEO strategy is important to ensure your content engages and converts users.
According to our survey, website/blog/SEO is the second-most used channel among marketers, but they say it offers the best ROI. I’m not surprised by this because of my own experience. More often than not, I’m looking to Google to find answers to my questions, and so are my other consumer peers — among all generations, people prefer to find answers to their questions with search engines.
And, while social search (which I’ll cover below) continues to gain steam, consumers still find the best answers on search engines.
Not sure how to get started? Download our starter pack below.
Content marketing involves creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage your target audience. Instead of bombarding your audience with ads and promotional messages, content marketing focuses on providing your customers with information that is actually interesting and useful to them.
Ultimately, the goal of content marketing is to build trust, establish thought leadership, and drive profitable customer action. Since buyers view around three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep, content marketing is how you give them what they’re looking for.
Despite also falling victim to the “Is X marketing tactic dead???!??” by a few dissenting voices (some even call it a massive waste of your time!), blogging is one of the most popular forms of content marketing. You might call me biased because I’m a blogger writing about why blogging is important, but you can also trust the 92% of marketers who told us that they’re boosting their investments in blogging in 2024.
It’s a major play for businesses that want to attract customers who are genuinely interested in their products and services. And well-written, well-researched blog posts often answer an urgent need for a potential customer. For instance, HubSpot sells marketing software, and our users are typically marketing professionals who create plans, campaigns, and editorial calendars for their employers.
The key is not to blog just because: blog with the intent to solve for the customer. To effectively do so, it’s important to understand your target audience and their pain points. That way, you can write highly targeted content that’s genuinely helpful for readers, especially since consumers say they read 1-4 blog posts per month.
Another trend in the content marketing space is generative AI, and 85% of marketers say it will change how they create content this year. Those who already use it say it helps them create high-quality, better-performing content.
An organic content marketing strategy is only a portion of the story. It’s just as important to implement non-organic plays, such as paid advertising. Not only will this help you drive more brand awareness, it will also help you reach audiences who can’t find your business organically yet.
I recommend paid advertising if you’re still growing your blog or business and not getting as much traffic as you want. There are a few types of advertising you can consider adding to your digital strategy:
Nearly every platform has an option for you to advertise — either through a display network (such as Google’s) or through its built-in ad system (such as Instagram’s, Facebook’s, and LinkedIn’s self-serve advertising portal).
Here’s one example of an ad on LinkedIn:
What I like the most, and the biggest benefit of paid advertising, is that it’s not dependent on a content or SEO strategy where success can take a while to build. You choose a platform, create your budget, write copy, decide on images, and launch your advertising campaigns. Still, to ensure your success, I’d recommend creating an advertising plan that outlines who you’re targeting, which channels you’ll be using, and how much you plan to spend.
I recommend downloading the following template to create your plan.
Download this Advertising Planning Kit
Social media marketing is another way to generate brand awareness online and boost your digital strategy. It involves creating and sharing content on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others, to attract attention, drive website traffic, and generate leads.
Social media is one of the highest ROI marketing channels, and lately, a lot of its success comes from apps incorporating ecommerce. It’s now one of the leading product discovery and purchasing channels for consumers, so much so that 17% of social media users bought a product in-app in the past three months. Given this, it’s no surprise that 59% of marketers report driving more social sales than in past years.
Social media marketing is also great for building communities around your brand. You can speak directly to your audience, engage with followers through comments and messages, and have discussions to connect with them on a more personal level. The stronger your relationship with your audience, the more loyal they will be to your brand.
The HubSpot Blog’s 2024 Social Media Marketing Report: Data from 1400+ Global Marketers
The global market for influencer marketing has more than tripled since 2019, making it more popular than ever. By partnering with influencers, brands can create content that promotes their products or services while leveraging the influencer’s reach. Of marketers who used it in 2023, 86% say it was effective for their business. I don’t see this slowing down in 2024, considering that most marketers are only increasing their investments.
There are many ways you can partner with influencers, such as sponsored content, guest blogging, product collaborations, influencer takeovers, and more.
Before initiating a partnership, it’s important to research and ensure they have an engaged following within your industry or niche and are aligned with your values and messaging.
I know that influencer marketing might seem unattainable from a cost perspective as most businesses don’t have the most A list of A list influencer funds available in their budgets. The good thing is that you don’t have to use these influencers, especially since those with a high price tag aren’t the most effective type of influencer.
Micro-influencers, with 10,000 – 100,000 followers, are the most effective. Marketers prefer working with them and find them the most effective, which makes sense — the cost is lower, and these influencers typically have a stronger bond with a smaller and more engaged community, ready and open to hear from them.
13 Influencer Marketing Campaigns to Inspire and Get You Started With Your Own
According to Edison Research, the number of Americans (aged 12+) who have listened to a podcast in the last month is up 30% from 2013.
While audio marketing and platforms like Clubhouse are different from podcasting, the idea is the same: you can educate and engage an audience; all they need is a device that plays audio.
When digging into the data, I found that podcasting and other audio content aren’t as popular as other strategies on this list. This makes sense because podcasting isn’t a channel offering the immediate ROI you might want. Dan Stillgoe, Blend’s Marketing Manager, spoke to my colleague Caroline Forsey and told her the same thing.
He said, “It’s true that you can’t directly attribute leads or revenue from a podcast, but that’s not its purpose. Podcasts are a long-term brand-building channel that can improve affinity and connection for your brand like no other channel. When you realize the long-term and surrounding benefits, podcasting becomes a clear and obvious investment.”
He added, “Podcasting is the perfect way to craft content that’s engaging and authentic — something buyers are beginning to crave in this AI era.”
For inspiration, check out the HubSpot Podcast Network:
Instead of looking to podcasts to drive exponential ROI, I recommend leveraging it to drive engagement. Having podcasts in your digital strategy allows you to reach people on platforms other than search engines and social media channels, and it’s a much more unplanned, natural medium — though, of course, you should plan each episode carefully and ensure you’re delivering contact that actually serves your listeners.
As a consumer, I like the authenticity of podcasts and how it feels like a free flowing conversation. I even pay for premium membership subscriptions to some of my favorite shows to take advantage of extra content.
The Anatomy of a Perfect Podcast Episode, According to HubSpot’s Podcast Expert
The Ultimate Guide to Podcast Audio, According to HubSpot’s Podcast Expert
Account-based marketing is a strategic approach that focuses on targeting and engaging specific high-value accounts or key decision-makers within those accounts. Rather than casting a wide net to reach a broad audience, ABM personalizes marketing efforts to cater to the needs and preferences of specific target accounts.
For instance, let’s say my software company wants to target enterprise account XYZ Inc. Instead of a broad marketing approach, I adopt an ABM strategy and tailor my efforts to XYZ Inc. by researching its pain points and business objectives. I’ll develop personalized content tailored to its needs, engage with decision-makers and nurture relationships, and coordinate my marketing and sales efforts. All of my marketing efforts focus on what works for this one account.
Since it has a specific use case, ABM is lower on the list of popular digital marketing strategies, and I don’t recommend it to anyone but B2B organizations or industries with high-value accounts and complex sales cycles.
Dustin Brackett, CEO and Founder of HIVE Strategy, feels similarly and says he believes in the power ABM has for some organizations but understands why it’s not a popular trend: “ABM is really only valuable for organizations that have high-value customers. There isn’t a ton of ROI to be had by investing in ABM for a B2C organization, or any organization that has a lower customer lifetime value because ABM is a large investment in time, resources, and dollars.”
Now it‘s time to bring all of this together to form a cohesive marketing strategy document. Your strategy document should map out the series of actions you’re going to take to achieve your goals, based on your research up to this point.
Let’s discuss how our digital strategy template can help.
While a spreadsheet can be an efficient format for mapping your digital marketing strategy, that approach can quickly become messy and overwhelming.
To plan your strategy for the long-term – typically between six to 12 months out, I recommend a reliable digital marketing strategy document. But where to start? With our free digital marketing plan template.
This template will walk you through your business summary and initiatives, help you build your target market and competitor information, and flesh out your marketing strategy — including your budget and specific channels and metrics.
Use this digital strategy template to build out your annual digital marketing strategy and tactics. By planning out these yearly plans, you can overlay when you and your team will be executing each action. For example:
This approach provides a structured timeline for your activity which will help communicate plans among colleagues.
Finally, here are some examples of digital marketing campaigns and their strategies to inspire you.
Travel accessory brand, Béis, recently launched a social media campaign to announce feature updates to one of its products. And they did it in the best way: by showing instead of telling.
In a 34-second clip distributed on Instagram Stories, the brand shows how its product performed before and how it performs now after updating the material.
This is a great campaign for a few reasons:
Asian food brand Omsom creates starter kits for home cooks who want a simple way to cook Asian cuisine without sacrificing authentic ingredients and flavors. The brand leverages its TikTok profile to share behind-the-scenes content, recipes, and culturally relevant content.
In a recent video, the brand’s co-founder shared how it sources one of its key ingredients and how it chose the more difficult route to preserve the integrity of the food.
Here‘s what Omsom did right:
Sharing behind-the-scenes content is a great way to connect with your audience and share details that will simultaneously highlight your mission and/or values.
After reports that consumers thought the brand was untrustworthy due to its low-budget ads, The General decided to revamp its entire marketing strategy.
In a commercial featuring basketball superstar Shaq, the brand addressed the elephant in the room and introduced a new and improved look.
The General’s ad is a great example of effective crisis management:
As I mentioned above, your final strategy document will be individual to your business, so it’s almost impossible for me to create a one-size-fits-all digital marketing strategy template.
As you create your own, remember that the purpose of your strategy document is to map out the actions you’re going to take to achieve your goal over a period of time. If it communicates that, you’ve nailed the basics of creating a digital strategy.
If you’re eager to build a truly effective strategy to help grow your business, check out our free collection of content marketing templates below.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
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