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Company Growth Strategy: 7 Key Steps for Business Growth & Expansion
A concrete business growth strategy is more than a marketing effort. It’s a crucial cog in your business machine. Without one, you’re at the mercy of a fickle consumer base and market fluctuations. So, how do you plan to grow? If you’re unsure about the […]
SalesA concrete business growth strategy is more than a marketing effort. It’s a crucial cog in your business machine. Without one, you’re at the mercy of a fickle consumer base and market fluctuations.
So, how do you plan to grow?
If you’re unsure about the steps needed to craft an effective growth strategy, I’ve got you covered.
Table of Contents
- Business Growth
- Business Growth Strategy
- How to Grow a Company Successfully
- Growth Strategy Examples
- Why You Need a Business Growth Plan
- Types of Business Growth
- Types of Business Growth Strategies
- The Key to Growing Your Business
Why You Need a Business Growth Plan
So why do I think building a business growth plan is so crucial, even for established businesses?
There are so many reasons, but here are three that apply to almost all companies at some point:
- Funding. Functionally, most businesses are always on the lookout for investors. You’ll have an advantage if you present a solid growth plan to convince them. Most expect it.
- Insurance. Growth creates financial padding, like a forcefield to protect your business when unexpected issues crop up. The economic upheaval for brick-and-mortar businesses in 2020 is a perfect example.
- Credibility and creditability. For brand new businesses, getting a loan and making sure you can repay your bank is at the top of the priority list. There’s no real profit until that debt is managed. Having a growth plan will not only help you secure a business loan, but it will also be there to refer to so you’ll know what to do to continue making your payments.
For the majority of businesses, growth is the main objective. Business decisions are often made based on what would contribute to the company’s continued growth and overall success.
Several methods can facilitate growth, which I’ll explain more about below.
Types of Business Growth
As a business owner, you’ll have several avenues for growth. Business growth can be broken down into the following categories:
1. Organic
With organic growth, a company expands through its operations using its internal resources. This is in contrast to seeking external resources to facilitate growth.
An example of organic growth is making production more efficient so you can produce more within a shorter time frame. This means more sales with half the effort.
A perk of using organic growth is that it relies on self-sufficiency and avoids taking on debt. Additionally, the increased revenue created from organic growth can help fund more strategic growth methods later on.
Example: Organic growth could be putting some of your revenue aside to purchase a second machine. A second machine would double your production without debt. This increases your ability to take on larger orders. This way, you create more revenue to invest in a third machine or fund another growth strategy.
2. Strategic
Strategic growth involves developing initiatives that will help your business grow long-term. An example of strategic growth could be creating a new product or a market strategy to target a new audience.
Strategic initiatives often require significant resources and funding. Businesses usually take an organic approach first, hoping their efforts will generate enough capital to invest in future strategic growth initiatives.
Pro tip: Strategic growth can be a major endeavor, depending on the size of your business. Be prepared to learn a lot, work hard, and see slow development. Or, hire a skilled employee to work hard at it for quicker results.
Another option is to spend the money on a user-friendly platform you or an employee can manage. Strategic growth is easily a full-time job for anyone, if not for a team of professionals.
3. Internal
An internal growth strategy helps optimize internal business processes to increase revenue. This strategy relies on companies using their own internal resources.
Internal growth strategy is all about using existing resources in the most purposeful way possible.
Internal growth can be challenging because it forces companies to look at how their processes can be improved for efficiency rather than focusing on external factors like entering new markets to facilitate growth.
Example: Cutting wasteful spending and running a leaner operation by automating sales with AI is an example of internal growth.
4. Mergers, Partnerships, Acquisitions
Although riskier than the other growth types, mergers, partnerships, and acquisitions can come with high rewards.
There’s strength in numbers. A well-executed merger, partnership, or acquisition can help your business break into a new market. You can also expand your customer base or increase your products and services.
A company’s industry and target market influence its chosen growth strategies.
To create a strategy, consider the available options and strategically work them into your business plan. Depending on the kind of company you’re building, your growth strategy might include aspects like:
- Adding new locations.
- Investing in customer acquisition.
- Franchising opportunities.
- Product line expansions.
- Selling products online across multiple platforms.
Pro tip: Your particular industry and target market will influence your decisions, but it’s almost universally true that new customer acquisition will play a sizable role.
That said, you can adopt different types of overarching growth strategies before making a specific choice, such as adding new locations. Let’s take a look.
Types of Business Growth Strategies
There are several general growth strategies that your organization can pursue. Some strategies may work in tandem. For instance, a customer and market growth strategy will typically go hand-in-hand.
Revenue Growth Strategy
A revenue growth strategy is an organization’s plan to increase revenue over a time period, such as year-over-year. Businesses pursuing a revenue growth strategy may:
- Monitor cash flow.
- Leverage sales forecasting reports.
- Analyze current market trends.
- Diminish customer acquisition costs.
- Pursue strategic partnerships with other businesses to improve the bottom line.
Specific revenue growth tactics may include:
- Investing in sales training programs to boost close rates.
- Leveraging technology to improve sales forecasting reports.
- Using lower-cost marketing strategies to lower customer acquisition costs.
- Continuing to train customer service reps to increase customer retention.
- Partnering with another company to promote your products and services.
Pro tip: Revenue for the sake of personal income is often essential at the start of a business, and end of a business to use as enticement for selling the company. While you look to the future with your company running, it’s wise to use revenue growth toward continued overall business growth.
Customer Growth Strategy
A customer growth strategy is an organization’s plan to boost new customer acquisitions over a time period, such as month-over-month.
Businesses pursuing a customer growth strategy may be more open to making large strategic investments, as long as the investments lead to greater customer acquisitions.
For this strategy, you might track:
- Customer churn rates.
- Calculate customer lifetime value (CLV).
- Leverage pricing strategies to attract more customers.
With new customer sign-ups as the North Star metric, you might spend more on marketing, sales, and CX.
Specific customer growth tactics may include:
- Investing in your marketing and sales organization’s headcount.
- Increasing advertising and marketing spend.
- Opening new locations in a promising market you’ve not yet reached.
- Adding new product lines and services.
- Adopting a discount or freemium pricing strategy.
- Tracking metrics such as churn rates, CLV, and monthly recurring revenue (MRR).
Pro tip: Remember that it’s about people. Market research tools such as trend monitoring can help keep you aware of what your target audiences are genuinely interested in. This way, you can personalize your marketing to meet their needs.
Marketing Growth Strategy
A marketing growth strategy is similar, but not the same as, a market development strategy. This strategy is an organization’s plan to increase its total addressable market (TAM) and increase existing market share.
Businesses pursuing a marketing growth strategy will research different verticals, such as:
- Customer types.
- Audiences.
- Regions.
This helps give brands a measure of the viability of a market expansion.
Specific marketing growth tactics may include:
- Rebranding the business to appeal to a new audience.
- Launching new products to appeal to buyers in a different market.
- Opening new locations in other regions.
- Adopting a different marketing strategy, like local marketing or event marketing, to appeal to other markets.
- Becoming a franchisor so that individual business owners can buy franchises from you.
Pro tip: The idea here is to get a bigger slice of the pie by growing into already established markets. Instead of finding new markets, this strategy finds space in existing ones.
1. Use a growth strategy template [Free Tool].
Download HubSpot’s Free Business Growth Strategy Template
With any new venture, you need to document your steps. I recommend downloading this free Growth Strategy Template and working off the included section prompts to outline your intended process for growth in your organization.
New business ventures are 260% more likely to launch if they have a business plan and 30% more likely to grow when they have a plan for it. You can still run, but plan your route first!
2. Choose your targeted area of growth.
Your business growth plan should hone in on specific areas of growth. Common focuses of strategic growth initiatives might include:
- Growth in employee headcount.
- Expansion of current office, retail, or warehouse space.
- The addition of new locations or branches of your business.
- Expansion into new regions, locations, cities, or countries.
- The addition of new products and services.
- Expanding purchase locations, like in-store or online.
- Growth in revenue and/or profit.
- Growth of customer base.
- Customer acquisition rate.
Your growth plan may encompass more than one of the initiatives outlined above, which makes sense — the best growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. For example, growing your unit sales will result in revenue growth — and possibly additional locations and headcount to support the increased sales.
Pro tip: Geographical spread is popular right now. In a 2023 Forbes survey, 79% of business owners focused on expanding into new geographies. Of small brick-and-mortar and online sellers, 90% want to do the same. Expanding your geographic footprint might be a good option!
3. Conduct market and industry research.
Researching the state of your industry is the best way to determine if your desired growth is both necessary and feasible. Conduct research by:
- Running surveys.
- Hosting focus groups with existing and potential customers.
- Digging into existing industry research.
The knowledge and facts you uncover in this step will shape the expectations and growth goals for this project to better determine a timeline, budget, and ultimate goal.
4. Set growth goals.
The next step is to determine how much you’ll be growing. To do that, you’ll need to set goals.
These goals should be based on your endgame aspirations of where you ideally want your organization to be. Your goals should also be achievable and realistic, which is why setting a goal based on industry research is so important.
Take the steps to quantify your goals in terms of metrics and timeline. For example, your goal may be to “grow sales by 30% quarter-over-quarter for the next three years” instead of just “increasing sales.”
Pro tip: Try to be SMART about your goals. Make them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely based on the results of your market research.
5. Plan your course of action.
Next, outline how you’ll achieve your growth goals with a detailed growth strategy. Again, I suggest writing out a detailed growth strategy plan to gain the understanding and buy-in of your team.
This action plan should contain a list of:
- Action items.
- Deadlines.
- Teams or persons responsible.
- Resources for attaining your growth goal.
6. Determine your growth tools and requirements.
The last step before acting on your plan is determining any requirements your team will need through the process. These specific resources will help you meet your growth goals faster and more accurately. Examples might include:
- Funding. Organizations may need a capital investment or an internal budget allocation to see this project through.
- Tools & Software. Consider what technological resources may be needed to expedite and/or gain insights from the growth process.
- Services. Growth may be better achieved with the help of consultants, designers, or planners in a specific field.
7. Execute your plan.
With all of your planning, resourcing, and goal-setting complete, you’re ready to execute your business growth plan and deliver results for the company.
Make sure to:
- Holding your stakeholders accountable.
- Keep the line of communication open.
- Compare initial results to your forecasted growth goals to see if your projected results are still achievable.
- Adjust, if necessary.
Your growth plan and the tactics you leverage will ultimately be specific to your business, but there are some universal strategies you can implement when getting started.
Companies can implement different growth strategies to expand a business and its revenue. Check out this list of company growth strategy examples.
1. Viral Loops
Some growth strategies are tailored to be completely self-sustainable. They require an initial push but ultimately rely primarily (if not solely) on users’ enthusiasm to keep them going. One strategy that fits that bill is the viral loop.
The basic premise of a viral loop is straightforward:
- Someone tries your product.
- They’re offered a valuable incentive to share it with others.
- They accept and share with their network.
- New users sign up, see the incentive for themselves, and share with their networks.
- Repeat.
Ideally, your incentive will be compelling enough for users to actively and enthusiastically encourage their friends and family to get on board. At its best, a viral loop is a self-perpetuating acquisition machine, operating 24/7.
That said, viral loops are not guaranteed to go viral. And they’ve become less effective as they’ve become more commonplace. However, the potential is still there.
Part of the appeal is that the viral loop flips the traditional funnel upside-down:
What we like: Instead of needing as many leads as possible at the top, a viral loop funnel requires just one satisfied user to share with others. The system continues growing as long as every referral results in at least 1.1 new users.
Viral Loop Example: Dropbox
Dropbox is one product I use that uses viral loops as a growth strategy. Here’s how I fit into the company’s viral loop:
- I tried Dropbox as a cloud storage solution.
- I saw that I could get 500MB of free space for each successful Dropbox referral.
- I sent a referral link to my friends.
- Some of them signed up and used the same referral program with their networks.
The incentive is strong enough to drive new people to sign up, increasing the number of Dropbox users as a whole.
2. Milestone Referrals
The milestone referral model is similar to the viral loop. It relies on incentives to kickstart and sustain it. But milestone referrals add a more intricate, progressive element to the process.
Companies that leverage viral loops generally offer a flat, consistent offer for individual referrals. Milestone referrals, though, offer rewards for hitting specific benchmarks.
In many cases, “milestones” are metrics like the number of referred friends.
A business might include different or increasingly enticing incentives with more referrals, iinstead of a fixed incentive for each referral. For example, if a customer refers ten friends, they’ll receive a better reward compared to those who only refer two new people.
What we like: This strategy adds an engaging element to the referral process. When done right, milestone referrals are simple to share with relatively straightforward objectives and enticing, tangible products as rewards.
Milestone Referral Example: Morning Brew
I’m a huge Morning Brew fan. In fact, I start my day with the Daily Brew and my cup of coffee. However, I didn’t know the site had a milestone referral program until I began researching for this article.
The more people who sign up using my referral code, the better swag I get. Three referrals get me a sticker pack. Five earn me a tote bag. And with 25 referrals, I’ll get mailed a backpack. This system gamifies referral for a product that’s free, making people more likely to share Morning brew.
3. Word-of-Mouth
Word-of-mouth is organic and effective. Recommendations from friends and family are some of the most powerful incentives for consumers to purchase or try a product or service.
The secret of word-of-mouth’s effectiveness lies in a deeply rooted psychological bias: we think others know best.
That’s why social proof is so effective. Social proof is central to successful sales copywriting and broader content marketing efforts because it says, “Hey, people trust us.”
Businesses know in today’s customer-driven world, a single negative blog or social media post can compromise an entire marketing effort.
Pete Blackshaw, the father of digital word-of-mouth growth, says, “Satisfied customers tell three friends; angry customers tell 3,000.”
Pro tip: The key to word-of-mouth is to focus on a positive user experience. You need to grow a base of satisfied customers and sustain the wave of loyal feedback that comes with it. With this method, you have to focus on delivering a spectacular user experience, and users will spread the word for you.
Word of Mouth Example: Salud
When I felt the early stages of a scratchy throat, I used to reach for Vitamin C tablets or mix-in powders. However, a friend recently brought over a few packets of Salud, a brand of beverage mixes that have hydration and immunity beverages.
I loved how these packets tasted, inspired by Latin flavors common in aguas frescas. Now, I keep a few in my cabinet. And, I’m not the only one in my social circle with Salud. I’ve noticed it in my other friends’ cabinets, showing the power of word of mouth.
4. The “When They Zig, We Zag” Approach
Sometimes, a company’s best growth strategy is to offer a unique experience that sets it apart from other businesses in its space.
Say your company developed an app for transitioning playlists between music streaming apps. Assume you have a few competitors who all generate revenue through ads and paid subscriptions — both of which frustrate users.
In that case, you might be best off trying to shed some of the baggage that customers run into trouble with when using your competitors’ programs. If your service is paid, you could consider offering a free trial of an ad-free experience from the start.
What we like: The point here is that there’s often a lot of value and opportunity in differentiating yourself. If you can “zig when they zag,” you can capture consumers’ attention and capitalize on their shifting interests.
Zig Zag Example: Octave
Online mental health is a space with a lot of competition. BetterHelp, Talkspace, and Modern Health all offer online counseling sessions. However, when a friend of mine started talking about Octave, my ears perked up.
Octave allows users to put in their insurance information and find therapists who are in-network for their healthcare plans. You don’t have to pay any additional fees to use the platform. Octave helped my friend find a therapist who actually accepts her insurance without a premium fee or surcharge.
This insurance angle differentiates Octave from digital mental health competitors. Its focus on mental health is more specific than doctor search sites like Zocdoc, showing the power of differentiation as a growth engine.
5. In-Person Outreach
Adding a human element to your growth strategy can help set things in motion for your business, and it’s highly effective.
Prospects are often receptive to a personal approach. And nothing is more personal than immediate, face-to-face interactions. Personally interacting with potential customers can be a great way to get your business the traction it needs to get going.
This could mean:
- Hosting or sponsoring events.
- Attending conferences relevant to your space.
- Hiring brand ambassadors.
In reality, it’s any other way to directly and strategically reach out to your target demographic in person.
What we like: With consumers used to being saturated with ads, in-person outreach shakes things up and will stand out to them.
In-Person Outreach Example: Conferences
If you want an example of in-person outreach in action, look no further than Inbound, HubSpot’s annual conference. Sponsors of the event have booths where they can demo products for interested business leaders. They can also give out swag and answer questions, getting in front of potential customers.
6. Market Penetration
Competition is a necessary part of business, but it can be tough going.
Imagine that two companies in the same industry are targeting the same consumers. Typically, whatever customers Business A has, Business B does not. Market penetration is a strategy that builds off of this tug-of-war.
Market penetration increases the market share of a product within the given industry. Market share refers to the percentage of total sales in an industry generated by a company.
Market Penetration Example: Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, the most popular carbonated beverage in the United States, has a 42.8% market share. If competitors like Pepsi and Sprite wanted to increase market penetration, they would need to increase market share. This increase would imply that they are acquiring customers who previously bought Coca-Cola or other carbonated beverage brands.
Pro tip: While lowering prices and advertising are two costly yet effective tactics to increase market share, they are part of businesses’ methods for overall sales and customer retention.
7. Market Development
If a company feels as if they have plateaued and its current market no longer has room for growth, it might switch strategies from market penetration to market development.
Market development strategies help businesses to tap into a new markets and territories by creating new products or finding innovatise uses for a project.
Pro tip: Brainstorm adjacent products or services you could offer to expand into new markets.
Market Penetration Example: Uber
Uber launched in 2009 as a rideshare company, allowing people with cars to pickup passengers as a gig. In 2014, the company expanded its offerings with UberEats, allowing customers to order food and have it delivered — even if the restaurant does not directly offer delivery. Two years later, the company launched Uber Freight, an app that matches cargo carriers with shippers.
This growth is still underway today. In 2025, Uber expanded
- A program that serves teen riders to 26 new countries.
- A Shopper Pick & Pack program that allows gig workers to shop for orders and hand off completed bags to couriers.
- A Broker Access capacity-as-a-service solution that gives freight brokers direct access to the company’s technology platform.
The company started as a way to get passengers to their destinations. Uber expanded their idea and has become one of the biggest names in mobility today.
8. Product Development
For growth, many businesses need to introduce something new. Product development allows companies to attract new customers and retain existing ones by creating a new product or enhancing an existing one.
Pro tip: While this is one of the most common ways a business grows, be sure you’re listening to your customers so you know what they’re looking for.
Product Development Example: Apple
Tech giant Apple doesn’t just make a product and rest on its laurels. The company invests major time and money into product development. According to Statista, the company spent $31.4 billion on research and development in 2024. The goal here is to improve products so people stay loyal to the brand or add another Apple device to their tech stack.
9. Growth Alliances
Growth alliances are strategic collaborations between companies. They further the growth goals of the involved parties.
Pro tip: To make a growth alliance, look for an adjacent business that already serves your target audience (and vice versa) to benefit you both.
Growth Alliances Example: Sephora and Ulta
Sephora partnered with retailer Kohl’s in 2020, starting a growth alliance that benefitted both brands. Sephora gets to have products in new locations, reaching busy shoppers in an older age demographic who may not have time to visit their store. Kohl’s brings makeup lovers into the store, who can then shop for other products at the retailer.
In 2022, we also saw Target forming a growth alliance with Ulta Beauty to create dedicated shop space for Ulta in at least 800 stores. The following year, Fenty Beauty teamed up with Ulta Beauty at Target. Ulta Beauty and Fenty can get their products in front of shoppers at a major retailer. Target has the benefit of becoming an even more dominant one-stop-shop for customers.
10. Acquisitions
Companies can use an acquisition strategy to promote growth. By acquiring other businesses, companies expand their operations by creating new products or expanding into a new industry.
Acquisitions offer significant benefits to companies, such as:
- Allowing for faster growth.
- Gaining access to more customers.
- Reduced lower business risk.
- And more.
What we like: This is an easy (though sometimes expensive) way to grow since the products or services you acquire are already established and come with a customer base.
Acquisitions Example: Procter & Gamble
Founded in 1837, Procter & Gamble is a consumer goods company known for its acquisitions. It initially started in soaps and candles but currently has 65 acquired companies, allowing it to expand into different markets.
The list includes Pampers, Tide, Bounty, Tampax, Old Spice, and more. Although its sales dipped between 2016 and 2019, Procter & Gamble’s net sales for 2023 were $84 billion, its best year within the last decade.
11. Organic Growth
Organic growth is the most ideal business growth strategy. It could look like:
- Focusing on SEO.
- Developing engaging content.
- Prioritizing advertisements.
Instead of focusing on external growth, organic growth is a sustainable strategy that promotes long-term success.
What we like: Organic growth should always be part of your game plan, even while pursuing other business growth strategies. If your business isn’t growing organically, you’re not doing something right.
Organic Growth Example: Marketing at HubSpot
Looking to see organic growth in action? Well, this blog post and the HubSpot Blog on whole are a part of that strategy. This blog’s SEO team helps identify topics that people are searching for, so writers like me can craft engaging content that brings people into our ecosystem.
The site doesn’t have paid ads, but writers include product mentions and CTAs that point to our product.
12. Leverage Social Media
A strong social media presence can be invaluable to marketing and business growth. You’ll need to establish brand pages on all social media platforms like:
- Instagram.
- Facebook.
- Pinterest.
- TikTok.
- X.
Social media can help you increase engagement with your target audience and make it easier for potential customers to find your brand.
It’s also great for word-of-mouth promotion, as existing customers will likely share your content with their network. There has been a huge upswing in the popularity of using social media influencers as well. The global influencer marketing platform industry is expected to reach $22.2 billion by 2025.
Pro tip: Be where your customers are. Research which social media channels are most popular with your target audience and focus your efforts there.
Social Media Example: Stanley Cup
In 2023, TikTok user danimarielettering posts a video of her car after it caught on fire. She picks up a Stanley Cup in the car’s cup holder. She gives it a shake. There’s still ice jingling against the metal. The TikTok went viral, and the brand gave the video maker a new car.
Stanley continued to ride the social media wave. People began posting videos of their Stanley cup collections and their excitement over new colors of the product hitting the market, showing how social buzz can help you grow.
13. Provide Excellent Customer Service
It can be tempting to focus on acquiring new customers, but maintaining loyalty with your existing customers is just as important. Existing customers already love your brand and may evangelize for you for free.
Providing an excellent customer service experience ensures that you’ll continue to keep the customers you have. Plus, there’s a good chance you’ll reap some high-value referrals, too.
What we like: Customer retention offers one of the best ROIs, so it’s definitely worth investing in. Check out these strategies to keep your customers happy and coming back.
Customer Service Example: AMC Theaters
This is an example that hits close to home. I wanted to see a limited-release movie at a local theater. However, I noticed that the website time showed 10 a.m. instead of 10 p.m., making it the only location with a daytime showing.
I called the theater to see if the posting was a mistake. Turns out it was! The staff had to repost the movie time. However, on my call, I was able to reserve the seats I was eyeing in the previous booking. My problem was resolved with no issue, and I got to keep the best seats in the house.
I’m now loyal to that AMC location after the great service I received, making it my theater of choice.
The Key to Growing Your Business
Controlled, sustainable growth is the key to successful businesses. Industries are constantly changing, and it is the responsibility of companies to adapt to these changes.
Successful companies plan for growth. They work for it. They earn it. So what’s your plan?
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
12 Powerful CRMs and Use Cases for a Growing Business
12 Powerful CRMs and Use Cases for a Growing Business With so many customer relationship management (CRM) tools on the market today — and each with its own features, integrations, and capabilities — it can be challenging to find the right tool for your growing […]
Sales12 Powerful CRMs and Use Cases for a Growing Business
With so many customer relationship management (CRM) tools on the market today — and each with its own features, integrations, and capabilities — it can be challenging to find the right tool for your growing business.
How do you select the right CRM for your team? And how can you ensure that you’re taking full advantage of your CRM?
In this post, I’ll review 12 of the best CRMs on the market to help you narrow your search. With these example CRMs, I’ll also offer use cases for each tool to provide insight into how you can best use them.
Table of Contents
I’ve used several different tools over the years, ranging from all-in-one CRM platforms to a simple project management system that I’ve automated to fit my needs. Ultimately, the best CRMs support sales activities, customer service, and customer retention.
In a perfect world, CRMs should also integrate with any marketing software to make for a smooth transfer of data. However, that’s not always the case — and that’s okay too. In my experience, starting somewhere and working to integrate is more effective than waffling on a decision, waiting for the perfect solution, and not ending up with any systems or processes for tracking customer data.
What’s more, with nearly every tool on the market bringing AI into the mix — the insights and integrations will only get better.
Whether you’re just starting out or are looking for a CRM that meets your needs better than the current solution, I’ve evaluated the following list.
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Here are 12 CRMs available today and examples of how you might use them.
1. HubSpot
HubSpot is a CRM platform — meaning, it tracks customer relationships, as well as facilitates marketing, sales, and service processes. HubSpot is ideal for any scaling business (whether you’re small, mid-sized, or enterprise) and any team (such as marketing, sales, customer service, operations, or C-suite).
The platform combines Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, and Content Hub — along with hundreds of available integrations — to help you align all internal teams, gather meaningful insights, report on (and share) success and growth opportunities, create remarkable customer experiences, increase adoption, and delight your target audience throughout every moment of the buyer’s journey.
HubSpot serves as a single source of truth when it comes to managing your customer relationships — and with an exceptionally easy user experience (UX), you can spend more time on your customers and less time on software management and manual activities.
And speaking of your customers, they are a major part of what differentiates HubSpot from other CRMs on the market — HubSpot centers everything you do around your customers and the customer experience. As a result, you’re able to grow better and help your customers grow better, too.
Example of HubSpot in Use: Align Your Data
HubSpot syncs every interaction that happens between you and a contact to that contact’s timeline. This creates a single source of truth for every member of your team, from sales to marketing to service to ops.
This also makes it easy for your team to refer to and apply that contact data as needed. As a result, you’ll have the data alignment that’s necessary to effectively increase customer loyalty and delight.
Not to mention, you’ll be saving time in the process since HubSpot will enter, sync, and update your contact data for you — no more manual entry.
Did You Know? HubSpot Marketing Hub customers saw a 505% return on investment over three years. Check out our whitepaper for more insights into the business value of Marketing Hub (just like this one).
Testing It Out
A core part of HubSpot’s CRM is its predictive lead-scoring software, which uses machine learning to parse through thousands of data points to score leads. I found the setup process straightforward, and within minutes, the system started analyzing existing leads and assigning them scores based on their likelihood to convert.
By leveraging historical data and analyzing patterns in lead behavior, the software was able to prioritize leads who were genuinely interested in our offerings. Not only could the tool identify high-potential leads on its own, but it also allows me to create up to 25 different scoring systems to ensure that each lead is qualified adequately.
Overall, my experience with HubSpot’s predictive lead-scoring software was positive. Not only did it save me time, but it also improved the accuracy of my lead prioritization process.
Pricing
HubSpot CRM itself is a free tool, but the Hubs — including the Marketing, Sales, Service, Content, and Operations Hubs — are paid products.
- Marketing Hub. Starts at $15/month/seat (Starter), $800/month (Professional,) and $3,600/month (Enterprise)
- Sales Hub. Starts at $15/month/seat (Starter), $90/month/seat (Professional), and $150/month/seat (Enterprise).
- Service Hub. Starts at $15/month/seat (Starter), $90/month/seat (Professional), and $150/month/seat (Enterprise).
- Content Hub. Starts at $15/month/seat (Starter), $450/month (Professional), and $1,500/month (Enterprise).
- Operations Hub. Starts at$15/month/seat (Starter), $720/month (Professional), and $2,000/month (Enterprise).
These prices are billed annually.
2. Salesflare
Salesflare is a B2B sales CRM platform, as it’s specifically built to track and organize your B2B operations. Their CRM automatically creates contacts and enriches them with additional details, including email signatures and complete customer timelines. The CRM then nudges you to follow up.
The Salesflare CRM has a built-in email sequence tool that allows you to send personal emails at scale, which can make your outreach way more efficient. And if you‘re a heavy LinkedIn user, you’ll appreciate their LinkedIn sidebar too, which allows you to create contacts from LinkedIn and find their email, all in a few clicks.
Example of Salesflare in Use: Track Your Sales
If you’re in B2B sales, it can be hard to keep track of every lead in your pipeline in an organized way. Sometimes, leads slip through the cracks, you can forget details, or you can follow up a little too late and lose the momentum.
That’s exactly what a B2B sales CRM platform like Salesflare is built for. It makes it very easy to keep track of your leads, so you don’t have to miss any details or lose out on revenue. Salesflare is also a great tool for sales managers who want to keep an eye on what their team is doing and coach them accordingly.
Testing It Out
When I tested Salesflare, two features stood out to me: the automated data entry and email & meeting integration features.
The automated data entry was seamless; as soon as I connected my email and social accounts, Salesflare began pulling in information and populating customer profiles without any manual input from me. I found that the CRM automatically gathered details like contact information, company data, and even social media profiles to create comprehensive records for each lead and customer.
The email and meeting tracking feature was equally impressive. Every email I sent and received was automatically logged into the CRM, along with details about when it was opened and links the recipients clicked. This gave me a clear view of how engaged my leads were and helped me prioritize follow-ups.
The platform also tracked every meeting I scheduled and added it to the timeline, complete with notes and action items, which ensured I never missed a meeting and had all the context I needed for each interaction.
Pricing
30-day free trial available. The paid plans include:
- Growth. $29/user/month.
- Pro. $49/user/month.
- Enterprise. $99/user/month.
These plans are billed annually. If you want to register more than five users for the Enterprise plan, you’ll need to contact Salesflare’s team.
3. EngageBay
EngageBay helps small businesses manage customer relationships and sales processes effectively. It provides a wide range of features such as contact management, sales automation, lead capture, and marketing automation.
EngageBay is also used by companies to manage their sales and marketing efforts. The software provides users with tools to create and track leads, as well as follow up on sales opportunities.
EngageBay also helps companies measure their marketing campaigns to see what’s working and what isn’t so they can adjust their strategies accordingly.
Overall, EngageBay is an excellent CRM for businesses of all sizes. It is easy to use and comes at quite an affordable price too.
Examples of EngageBay in Use: 360-Degree Customer View
In today’s world, having a complete view of your customer’s journey is paramount. By leveraging data from various channels, companies can begin to understand their customers on a deeper level. That’s what EngageBay’s unified CRM does.
The all-in-one platform connects all the tools and sources its data from the CRM, allowing teams to work in tandem with real-time information.
The 360-degree view draws on each customer’s source, scores, and calls, and offers a complete picture to the business owner or sales manager. This helps sales teams discover new opportunities, close deals, and predict what the customer preferences could be.
Testing It Out
EngageBay’s AI-powered deal management software is incredibly efficient and user-friendly. The automated deal tracking provided real-time updates and prioritized deals based on predefined conditions. This meant that I could focus on high-priority deals without getting bogged down with manual tracking.
The AI-driven predictive analysis was particularly impressive, too. It gave insights into which deals were likely to close and which I needed to pay more attention to. This allowed me to allocate my time and resources more effectively, ensuring no deal was neglected.
The visual sales pipeline was another highlight; the drag-and-drop interface made it easy to manage deals. I could easily move deals through different stages and get a clear overview of their progress.
This visual approach — coupled with the AI and automation features — significantly streamlined my deal management process and increased my overall productivity.
Pricing
There’s a free forever plan available. The all-in-one paid plans include:
- Basic: $13.79/user/month
- Growth: $59.79/user/month
- Pro: $110/39/user/month
These plans are billed annually. They also offer standalone solutions for Marketing and CRM & Sales Bay depending on your needs.
4. Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a CRM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software meant to improve sales and marketing productivity. The CRM gathers social insights, provides cloud-based campaign management, and offers business intelligence.
Choose to have your CRM delivered by cloud, hosted, or on-premises. Microsoft Dynamics offers apps so you can manage your relationships with customers on mobile as well as integrate and sync data from social media with your CRM.
Example of Dynamics in Use: Get In-Depth Customer Insights
A CRM has the power to provide a 360-degree view of your customers, and Microsoft Dynamics is no exception. The CRM’s real-time customer data platform provides AI-powered insights that tell you how to acquire valuable leads and customers, who your audience members are, what they need, how you can delight them, and more.
There are also real-time insights about your customers based on behavioral, demographic, and transactional data as well as engagement and customer feedback (e.g., survey data). This allows your team to apply these insights for targeted and personalized sales, marketing campaigns, support, and more.
Testing It Out
Microsoft Dynamics has a dedicated AI tool that aims to transform the workflow and customer management processes. When I tested it, the automation features stood out to me; the AI-assisted email drafting and meeting summaries saved a considerable amount of time, and the automated data entry (and intelligent reminders) ensured that I never missed important follow-ups.
Customer insights were another great feature. Dynamics 365 AI aggregated data from various touchpoints, providing a comprehensive view of customer behavior and preferences. This allowed me to tailor my interactions and campaigns more effectively. The AI-driven segmentation also allowed me to identify high-value customers and target them with personalized offers, which can boost conversion rates.
Dynamics 365 AI also lends itself to customer service in that AI-powered virtual agents can handle routine inquiries efficiently, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex issues.
The system’s ability to analyze customer interactions and provide real-time suggestions helps improve the quality and speed of responses.
Pricing
30-day free trial available. The paid plans range from $65/user/month to $1,000/tenant/month, depending on the use case you choose.
5. Salesforce
Salesforce’s CRM, Customer360, brings customer data plus sales, service, marketing, commerce, IT, and analytics together in a single location for quick access, shareable insights, and easy collaboration. The CRM is capable of lead and contact management, sales opportunity management, workflow rules, automation, and customizable reports and dashboards. It’s also accessible via a mobile app.
Salesforce offers a number of apps — such as Einstein AI — that make it easier to achieve your unique goals. There are also Employee Experience features within the tool to simplify work collaboration and increase motivation.
Example of Salesforce in Use: Automate Repetitive Tasks
Like many CRM options, Salesforce automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks.
The Einstein AI feature uses AI to provide your team with data about all past interactions with customers. This allows you to engage more thoughtfully and improve business communications and relationships. It also increases productivity by providing your team with the information they need, such as intelligent case classification and next actions.
Einstein AI also makes the process of providing remarkable customer service and support easier by recommending certain actions to reps, personalizing support for customers, and automating support when possible with bots to save reps time.
Testing It Out
Salesforce created a dedicated AI-powered tool to support its CRM, and when I tested it, I found its features to be very effective at providing actionable insights and increasing productivity.
With AI-powered predictive analysis, I could easily get forecasts on sales trends, which can help me make more informed decisions and focus on high-potential leads. Einstein also suggested personalized email content based on customer data, which significantly improved my outreach efficiency.
The conversational AI capabilities also stood out to me. I can use Einstein to generate summaries of sales calls and customer interactions, which saved me a ton of time on manual note-taking. The ability to automate routine tasks and receive real-time predictions on deal closures helped streamline my workflow, allowing me to concentrate more on strategic activities.
Pricing
30-day free trial available. The paid plans range from $25/user/month to $1,500/seat/month, depending on the use case you choose. You might need to call Salesforce’s team for custom pricing.
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6. Zoho
Zoho is a CRM that’s fully cloud-based, integrated, and offers a variety of features including lead management and scoring, workflow automation, analytics, and marketing and process management.
Zoho’s AI sales assistant, Zia, interprets CRM data, tracks website visitors, and predicts sales. These sales predictions also surface leads who are most likely to convert and deals that are most likely to close.
Zoho’s gamification feature keeps your reps motivated and focused on quota while the Google Ads integration aligns your sales and marketing teams by bringing your business’s ad spend and sales revenue to light.
Lastly, you can use Zoho to provide omnichannel support for customers and leads over the phone, email, live chat, social media, or in person.
Example of Zoho in Use: Provide an Omnichannel Customer Experience
Zoho allows you to provide an omnichannel customer experience for your contacts — meaning you can support your audience via email, live chat, social media, or an in-person meeting, all without ever leaving the CRM. Any data obtained through these interactions will be saved to the CRM automatically.
Bring all of your emails into the CRM and send messages directly from the tool. Your email conversation history will be updated and saved after every correspondence.
The same goes for your phone calls — take and receive sales and support calls from Zoho, so all conversations are logged and you don’t ever have to leave the tool. You can also host meetings and lead presentations from the CRM.
Testing It Out
I found Zoho CRM’s AI assistant, Zia, to be an incredibly versatile and intelligent tool. Zia’s conversational capabilities are particularly impressive as it can understand both text- and voice-based commands and queries. I can call and speak to Zia directly, which makes it easy to get real-time insights and updates on sales activities.
In addition to facilitating a quick, hands-free interaction, Zia can also predict sales outcomes by analyzing past sales data and patterns. Its anomaly detection capabilities are also admirable; it can alert you to any irregularities in your sales data, such as sudden spikes or drops in activity. This allows you to address potential issues proactively.
Pricing
There’s a 15-day free trial available. The paid pricing plans include the following:
- Standard. $14/user/month.
- Professional. $23/user/month.
- Enterprise. $40/user/month
- Ultimate. $52/user/month
These plans are billed annually.
7. BIGContacts
BIGContacts simplifies customer relationship management with its easy-to-use design and intuitive interface. The CRM tool is a reliable way for businesses to stay on top of all customer data and interactions. It provides a 360-degree view of contact data, including previous touches, social media profiles, notes, files, and upcoming activities. The tool enhances team collaboration, provides actionable business insights, and helps increase organizational productivity.
BIGContacts offers sales pipeline management, webform connection, lead nurturing, and task tracking. There are also custom reports and dashboards that allow you to gain better visibility into your business operations.
BIGContacts can also be a powerful tool for task management with detailed calendar views, automated recurring tasks, and custom reminders.
Example of BIGContacts in Use: Personalized Drip Campaigns
Personalized interactions play a monumental role in improving customer relationships. They help customers feel valued, contributing to improved brand loyalty and customer retention. BIGContacts helps businesses leverage the customer data available to craft more meaningful and engaging experiences.
Automated drip email campaigns that adjust based on contact activities can be set up using BIGContacts. These emails allow you to connect with prospects and customers at the right time. Furthermore, email templates are available, which can save a considerable amount of your time. You can also create your templates and save them for future use.
Testing It Out
One of BIGContacts’ core features is its AI-powered contact data standardization feature, which uses advanced algorithms and machine learning to analyze and transform raw contact data into a uniform format. Not only does this streamline data management, but it also reduces the chances of errors typically seen with manual processing.
The application of AI here changes the daunting tasks of manually ensuring data consistency across multiple platforms into a straightforward, automated process. The benefits are immediately noticeable, as it simplifies data analysis, customer segmentation, and targeted marketing efforts.
I was particularly impressed with how the AI tackled complex datasets to ensure accuracy and uniformity in contact information.
Pricing
There’s a free forever plan available for up to 100 users. The paid plan costs $9.99/month for up to 1,000 contacts, billed annually. If you’re managing over 20,000 contacts, you’ll need to talk to BIGContacts’ team for custom pricing.
8. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales CRM and pipeline management tool ideal for small teams. The software comes stacked with features for tracking performance, managing deals, predicting revenue, and automating repetitive tasks. Pipedrive automatically visualizes your pipeline so you’re able to identify where your efforts should be focused.
Pipedrive includes sales forecasting and integrations so you can pair your current tools such as Mailchimp or Zapier with your CRM. There’s also a security feature that clarifies how your business data is being used.
Example of Pipedrive in Use: Track Your Data and Security
Use Pipedrive to keep track of your data and security — the software monitors all ways in which your company’s data is accessed and who’s accessing it. Identify suspect users and activities in real-time, all via a single security dashboard. Set notifications that alert you about when and where user log-ins occur. Lastly, create custom rules for secure practices (e.g., time-restricted access) to keep your CRM data safe.
Testing It Out
Pipedrive’s AI tool suite is exceptionally useful. I found that the AI Sales Assistant is able to provide actionable insights and recommend the next best actions for deals, which helps you make timely and informed decisions.
The AI email generator is also effective at creating compelling sales emails from simple prompts, which helps to overcome writer’s block and personalize messages at scale.
I also found the AI email summaries feature to be a huge time-saver as it condenses long email threads into brief summaries, providing clarity on the lead’s interests and suggesting viable steps to take next.
Pricing
There’s a 14-day free trial available. The paid plans include:
- Essential: $14/seat/month
- Advanced: $39/seat/month
- Professional (including AI): $49/seat/month
- Power (including AI): $64/seat/month
These plans are billed annually.
9. Freshworks
Freshworks is a sales CRM and customer engagement platform that uses AI to help your sales and marketing teams provide personalized customer experiences. Freshworks is split into the Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud.
The Sales Cloud assists with lead attraction, lead qualification, and deal engagement. It also uses AI to forecast sales and predict which actions reps should take with prospects.
Marketing Cloud helps you conduct automated conversations with customers via an AI-powered chatbot. It also uncovers details about audience behavior and engagement so you can determine where to focus your efforts and how to create highly targeted campaigns and experiences.
Example of Freshworks in Use: Align Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing alignment is critical to the success of any business. A CRM like Freshworks has the power to align your sales and marketing teams to increase productivity, improve collaboration, and enhance the customer experience.
Freshworks organizes and updates contact and engagement data in a single location — thanks to the Customer-for-Life Cloud feature — so sales reps and marketers know exactly who they’re targeting.
Testing It Out
Freshworks created a handy AI assistant (or coach, depending on the use case) called Freddy AI, which helps both customers and employees boost their productivity. I really like Freddy Self Service, which allows sales reps to deploy intelligent chatbots to quickly resolve customer issues 24/7. This frees up time for support reps to focus on more complex tasks.
Freddy Copilot comes in handy for employees as it can summarize issues and discussions, suggest next steps, and automate repetitive tasks with conversational prompts. And Freddy Insights provides AI-driven insights that give employees a 360-degree view into their operations, so they can fix any issues and spot viable opportunities.
Pricing
There’s a 21-day free trial available. The paid plans include:
- Growth, $9/user/month.
- Pro, $39/user/month.
- Enterprise, $59/user/month.
These plans are billed annually.
10. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a customer experience automation platform and CRM with a number of tasks and job functions you can automate across social media, email, live chat, SMS, and more. There are over 300 integrations — such as Shopify, Facebook, and WordPress — that you can use to tailor the CRM to your specific needs.
ActiveCampaign makes it easy to share customer lifecycle data cross-team and use it to make informed decisions about your interactions with customers (e.g., what content you should send to them, when to reach out, and what channel to leverage).
ActiveCampaign also helps you better understand your customers on an individual basis and effectively segment them by tracking buyer preferences, engagement, behavior, and unique traits.
This, along with other features like customizable campaigns and messages, allows you to personalize all communication with prospects and customers.
Example of ActiveCampaign in Use: Personalize Customer Experiences
A CRM organizes a lot of data about your customers on an individual basis — and a CRM like ActiveCampaign makes it easy to apply this data to create personalized customer experiences.
ActiveCampaign uses machine learning to automate personalization across various channels. As your business grows, you can continue to automate these one-on-one experiences to ensure every customer feels like they’re an individual who matters to your business.
ActiveCampaign also has customizable Personalization Tags and Deal Fields. These features allow you to add tailored, dynamic content to campaigns, emails, SMS, web forms, deal follow-up messages, and more, allowing you to tailor all communication to each individual.
Testing It Out
When I delved into ActiveCampaign’s AI capabilities, I found their AI-powered automation builder remarkably intuitive and efficient. The feature combines flexible actions with conversational AI and a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface to help you create automated email and SMS campaigns.
All you have to do is visually map out the journey you want to take your customers on, add triggers and touchpoints, and schedule when you want it to go into effect.
The generative AI feature impressed me as well. With just a few inputs on my end, the system suggested engaging and relevant email content that resonates well with my predefined target audience. This saved a ton of time and improved the personalization of my campaign.
I also explored the predictive email-sending feature, which uses AI to determine the optimal time to send emails based on contacts’ behavior and engagement patterns. This results in higher open rates for email campaigns, which can improve ROI.
Pricing
There’s a 14-day free trial available. The paid plans for the CRM and sales engagement platform include:
- Starter: Starting at $15/month
- Plus: Starting at $49/month
- Pro: Starting at $79/month
- Enterprise: Starting at $145/month
These plans are billed annually.
11. Close
Tailored specifically for small and medium-sized businesses, Close offers a streamlined and efficient approach to managing customer interactions, tracking sales activities, and optimizing workflows.
This platform integrates communication tools such as email, phone, and SMS, which allows you to handle all your communications from one place, reducing the time spent switching between different tools and increasing overall efficiency.
Close also automates repetitive tasks such as follow-ups, reminders, and data entry, which ensures that no leads fall through the cracks and that you can focus on what you do best.
Example of Close in Use: Built-In Calling
One of Close’s standout features is its built-in calling functionality, which transforms how sales teams conduct their cold outreach and manage customer interactions. For example, I found that with Close, you can make and receive calls directly within the platform using VoIP technology. This eliminates the need for external phone systems and keeps all communication records centralized.
Whenever you make calls through Close, the platform automatically tracks and logs the call, providing valuable data on call duration, outcomes, and follow-up actions. The calls can also be recorded and stored for future reference or training purposes.
Testing It Out
During the testing process, Close GPT stood out to me. It’s like ChatGPT, but it’s tailored to quickly generate sales prospecting lists, summarize customer relationships, and create meeting agendas, among other things. I also loved the Call Assistant feature that automatically transcribes and summarizes all client (and cold) calls to help sales teams stay productive.
Close’s free AI tools were also pretty decent. The cold email generator, subject line generator, and AI email writer were designed to automatically create personalized and relevant emails that increase open and response rates, and scale the outreach process.
Pricing
There’s a free 14-day trial available. The paid plans include:
- Base: $19/user/month.
- Startup. $49/user/month.
- Professional. $99/user/month.
- Enterprise. $139/user/month.
These plans are billed annually. If you have more than 10 reps, you can call to create a custom plan.
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12. NetSuite
NetSuite is a comprehensive CRM solution offered by Oracle’s NetSuite. Designed for businesses of all sizes, this platform provides you with a bird’s-eye view of your customers, allowing you to manage the entire customer lifecycle, from lead generation to opportunity tracking, customer service, and order management.
As part of the broader NetSuite ERP suite, this tool integrates seamlessly with financial, inventory, and ecommerce systems, offering a unified platform for managing all business operations. NetSuite automates key sales processes such as lead assignment, sales forecasting, and territory management. This reduces manual tasks, increases efficiency, and ensures you can focus on building strong relationships with your customers and closing deals.
Example of NetSuite in Use: Sales Force Automation
NetSuite’s Sales Force Automation (SFA) capabilities are designed to enhance the effectiveness and productivity of sales teams. For example, the platform helps you manage leads and opportunities by capturing detailed information about prospects and tracking their progress through the sales pipeline. This allows you to easily view and update lead statuses, ensuring that no deal opportunity is ignored.
NetSuite also offers robust forecasting tools that provide visibility into future sales, which helps you plan resources and manage inventory effectively. These sales forecasts can be adjusted based on real-time data, which makes them highly reliable.
Testing It Out
When I tested NetSuite’s AI capabilities, I was impressed by how effective they were at enhancing various aspects of the marketing and sales workflows. For example, the AI-driven invoice processing feature can automate the entire invoicing process, from data extraction to payment tracking, which significantly reduces manual effort and minimizes errors.
The content generation tool was another highlight. I found that, by using AI and machine learning, NetSuite can create personalized content for customer communications and marketing campaigns. The ability to generate relevant and engaging content based on customer data and behavior is a game-changer when it comes to improving engagement and conversion rates.
Pricing
Users can subscribe to NetSuite CRM for an annual license fee, which covers the number of users, core platform, and optional modules. You’ll have to contact NetSuite’s team for custom pricing.
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Types of CRM (with Examples)
As you’ve seen, there are CRM options for just about every use case. In testing these options, I’ve found two things to be true:
Not all CRMs are created equal.
And that’s okay. Some businesses need a super-robust CRM to manage all aspects of their business, while others need a simpler solution. What matters most is finding one that works for you now and can grow with your business so you don’t have to go through the time, labor, and cost-intensive process of migrating to a new platform.
AI is making CRMs better.
Although AI is certainly controversial when it comes to privacy and its growing sophistication, there’s no doubt that it unlocks a ton of incredible insights.
In fact, AI is taking CRMs to the next level, from — for lack of a better word — a simple database for storing information to a tool that yields significantly better business intelligence (BI). In addition to optimizing sales, predicting growth, and identifying potential new buyers, I’ve found that AI-powered CRMs bridge all the “traditional” CRM functionalities and make it easier for sales people to do what they do best — drive revenue.
So what are the “traditional” CRM functionalities? Most fall into three categories: Operational, Analytical, and Collaborative. That said there are a few more speciallized types of CRMs.
While several CRMs, including the HubSpot CRM with AI, bridge them all, I’m going through each type below and sharing potential use cases so you can determine which is likely best for your needs.
1. Operational CRMs
In a nutshell, operational CRMs manage all of the business processes across sales, marketing, and servicing customers. Basically, they cover all aspects of the customer journey and automate as much as possible, minimizing manual workarounds and data entry.
Best for: Growing businesses that want to align their teams, streamline processes, and improve customer interactions.
Key Features of Operational CRMs
- Sales automation to track leads, automate follow-ups and reminders, and help move potential customers through the journey.
- Marketing automation to automate messaging, email campaigns, and lead scoring.
- Customer service tools to manage support tickets, deliver a better customer experience, and improve team morale.
Example of an Operational CRM in Action
The Challenge: Hypothetically, a mid-sized tech company selling software subscriptions struggles with manual follow-ups and missed opportunities.
The Operational CRM Solution: With an operational CRM, when a prospect downloads a whitepaper, they are automatically added to a nurturing campaign, assigned to a rep, and reminded to follow up if they don’t respond. Meanwhile, the system logs all interactions, ensuring customer support sees past conversations when the same prospect later reaches out with questions.
2. Analytical CRMs
The best way I’ve seen analytical CRMs described is that they focus on understanding. Where operational CRMs focus on doing, and collaborative CRMs focus on — well — collaboration, analytical CRMs put the data at the forefront and make it easier for companies to make informed, data-driven decisions.
Best for: Data-driven businesses that want to improve marketing and sales strategies.
Key Features of Analytical CRMs
- Customer data analysis to help sales teams identify specific touchpoints, trends, and areas of friction in the customer journey.
- Sales forecasting to help sales teams predict future sales.
- Customer segmentation to make it easier to create messaging and campaigns targeted to specific groups.
Example of an Analytical CRM in Action
The Challenge: Again, hypothetically, an outdoor gear e-commerce brand wants to improve customer retention.
The Analytical CRM Solution: The analytical CRM tracks purchase behavior and reveals that customers who buy hiking boots often return for trekking poles within three months. Using this insight, they create a follow-up email campaign with a discount on trekking poles at the exact time customers are most likely to buy.
3. Collaborative or Strategic CRMs
Collaborative CRMs are all about seamless interaction so that every team marketing to, selling, to, or servicing a client can work together. Ultimately, the advantage of this type of CRM means that all team members are informed and the customer doesn’t have to repeat themselves. (I’ve been on both sides of the equation and both are frustrating.)
Best for: Companies that need seamless internal communications.
Key Features of Collaborative CRMs
- Comprehensive customer data so everyone is on the same page.
- Multi-access user controls, so each person has access to the data they need to work effectively.
- Internal team comms to help teams collaborate more effectively.
Example of a Collaborative CRM in Action
The Challenge: Loving my hypothetical examples? Let’s keep going. A real estate brokerage with multiple agents and an in-house legal team needs all departments to have access to client information, but not everyone needs the same level of access.
The Collaborative CRM Solution: The CRM allows agents to track client interactions and property searches, legal teams to access only transaction documents, and marketing to see how past clients engaged with listings and personalized follow-ups.
What’s more, the service and admin teams have access to important customer information, so clients enjoy a seamless experience regardless of who they talk to.
4. Campaign Management CRM
As you might guess, campaign management CRMs are marketing heavy and they’re all about ensuring that marketing efforts are unified and seamless. These CRMs fall into the specialized category. I’ve found that they can be standalone platforms, but often are features of more comprehensive CRM tools.
Best for: Companies heavily focused on marketing.
Key Features of Campaign Management CRMs
- Email & ad campaign tracking to oversee marketing efforts and measure performance.
- Customer segmentation to improve customer targeting and personalization.
- Marketing ROI calculators to measure and analyze success and identify opportunities to improve in the future.
Example of a Campaign Management CRM in Action
The Challenge: A hypothetical fitness subscription company has found they have poor customer retention and want to increase renewals before customers’ annual plans expire.
The Campaign Management CRM Solution: By segmenting users based on frequency of engagement, creating personalized email sequences tailored to the level of engagement, and tracking open rates and responses, the company can improve engagement and become a must-have solution instead of “another subscription” people feel comfortable dropping at renewal time.
5. Social Media CRM
As you might guess, social media CRMs focus most heavily on social channels, including tracking all aspects of customer acquisition and reputation management, including ad targeting social listening. I’d consider these CRMs highly specialized as well. However, there are some social management platforms that incorporate these tracking aspects as well.
Best for: Brands with a heavy reliance on social media for growth and service.
Key Features of Social Media CRMs
- Social listening tools to stay on top of what people are saying about your company.
- Engagement tracking to improve the way you engage with customers.
- Audience analysis to identify potential brand ambassadors and simultaneously uncover new leads.
Example of a Social Media CRM in Action
The Challenge: A skincare brand launches a new product and wants to track online buzz.
The Social Media CRM Solution: Their social media CRM monitors brand mentions across different platforms, identifies customers who frequently engage with their content, and notifies the marketing team when influencers organically mention their product.
Using this data, they reach out to engaged customers for testimonials and launch a user-generated content campaign that leads to more sales.
6. Mobile CRMs
Mobile CRMs aren’t necessarily mobile-exclusive, but they have a high level of mobile functionality to make it easier for teams to collaborate from less traditional sales offices. Again, these are more specialized and often are a mobile-enabled aspect of larger, more robust CRMs.
Best for: Companies with remote teams, traveling service techs, and field sales reps who need CRM access on the go.
Key Features of Mobile CRMs
- Mobile app functionality to make it easy for teams to access the CRM from mobile devices.
- Offline access to simplify service even without internet availability.
- Push notifications to make sure teams get alerts about important customer updates.
Example of a Mobile CRM in Action
The Challenge: Let’s say a solar panel installation company has sales reps and installation teams who are at different locations on a daily basis. They want to make sure all teams can update their data regularly so that anyone can speak authoritatively to the customer if and when they call. (I have a non-solar service-based client who runs into this very issue, who chose their CRM based on its mobile app — among other functionalities.)
The Mobile CRM Solution: Their mobile CRM lets them quickly access client details before meetings, update customer status on-site, syncing automatically once back online, and receive push notifications if a lead they contacted a week ago reaches out again.
So, what CRM is right for you? Ultimately, every business has different CRM needs, so take some time to analyze what you need most and how you anticipate your company changing in the coming years. Then go back through this list and try the top 2-3 best-fit solutions to see which you and your team like best.
Choose Your CRM
There are a number of ways to use a CRM — and the use cases I shared above are just a handful of them. Start thinking about your goals and needs to select the right CRM for your team. Then, use your CRM to start building stronger relationships with contacts, improve the customer experience, save your team time, align business data, and grow better.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
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How to Code a Website for Free in 8 Easy Steps
As someone who navigates the complexities of web development, I know firsthand the challenges of learning how to code a website — especially with a budget of $0. Luckily, we have the internet, complete with thousands of resources to help you get started. The tricky […]
Website
As someone who navigates the complexities of web development, I know firsthand the challenges of learning how to code a website — especially with a budget of $0. Luckily, we have the internet, complete with thousands of resources to help you get started. The tricky part becomes finding the right tutorials in a sea of information.
The Best AI Tools on the Market for Productivity and Audience Growth, as Tested by HubSpot’s SVP of Marketing
2024 was the year of AI tools. Thousands of new apps launched — some just photo generators and gimmicks, others much more useful. What stood out to me were the tools that actually helped you get things done. This list comes from a16z’s AI Unwrapped, […]
Marketing2024 was the year of AI tools. Thousands of new apps launched — some just photo generators and gimmicks, others much more useful. What stood out to me were the tools that actually helped you get things done.
This list comes from a16z’s AI Unwrapped, which largely features consumer apps for personal use. I’m calling out a few favorites from categories like productivity, audience growth, learning, and even building your own tools. You can try these tools tomorrow to start being more productive.
Whether you need a research dump on space agriculture, want to clone yourself into a short-form video creator, or just stop typing everything out by hand, there’s something here worth trying. Let’s get into it.
AI Tools for Productivity and Audience Growth — My Top Picks
1. Flow Voice: Hands-Free Productivity with AI
If you’ve ever wished you could talk to your laptop instead of typing, Flow might be the AI tool you’ve been waiting for.
Similar to Grammarly, Flow embeds itself into every application that you use. But instead of fixing your grammar, Flow lets you control all your apps by speaking out loud. You can write emails, respond to Slack messages, edit Google Docs, and more — all without touching a keyboard.
Why Flow Is Interesting
We all type way too much. Between emails, Slack, docs, and text messages, it adds up. Flow is trying to cut out the extra effort by making it possible to talk to your computer the way you’d talk to an assistant.
Flow is built to be integrated into your workflow, meaning you can:
- Speak out a full Slack response instead of typing.
- Edit a document just by saying what changes you want.
- Translate text on the fly.
- Control your entire workflow with voice commands.
How Flow Works
I tested Flow, and here’s how it works:
- Hold down the space bar, speak your command, and Flow transcribes it in real time.
- Live editing is possible — just tell it to delete, rewrite, or change wording.
- You can even reply to Slack and email hands-free. AI makes sure your messages don’t sound like a robotic mess.
Here’s a screenshot of Flow in action:
My take: Editing by voice is weird at first but kind of amazing once you get used to it. If you’re someone who lives in Slack and email, Flow is worth trying
2. Cubby: AI That Organizes Your Research for You
Cubby is a research assistant for people who hoard information. If you’re the kind of person who has 50 tabs open at all times, you should try Cubby. This tool makes remembering where you saw that one quote, article, or podcast clip simple.
Instead of dumping links into a Notion doc or bookmarking things you’ll never revisit, you can just drop everything into Cubby. That includes PDFs, podcasts, MP3s, MP4s, YouTube videos, social media threads, articles, and files from your computer. Then, Cubby can transcribe and organize the information into something useful.
Why Cubby Is Useful
AI tools promise to make life easier, but Cubby solves a real problem: Research is a mess.
If you’ve ever tried to do a deep dive on a topic, you know how it goes. You start by reading one article, which links to a whitepaper, which references a podcast, which makes you think of a YouTube video someone recommended, which leads to another article. Now, you have a dozen sources but no structure.
Cubby acts as a central brain for all your research, pulling everything together and making it searchable and usable. Instead of keeping track of tabs and notes, you just dump everything in and let AI handle the rest.
How Cubby Works
- Drag and drop anything you’re researching into Cubby.
- Cubby transcribes everything and pulls out the key points.
- You can ask it questions about the content instead of manually digging through hours of material.
My take: Cubby acts as a personal research assistant, helping you find connections between different sources without manual effort.
3. Delphi: AI Clones for Content Creation
Delphi lets you create an AI clone of yourself that people can interact with. Instead of constantly answering the same questions or trying to be in a hundred places at once, you can train an AI model on your knowledge. Your audience can then “talk” to you even when you’re not there.
Why Delphi Is Useful
Let’s say you’re a content creator, consultant, or educator. You probably get a lot of the same questions over and over again — how to start a newsletter, how to grow an audience, how to price services.
Normally, you’d have to either:
- Answer every question manually (exhausting).
- Create FAQ pages or pre-recorded videos (helpful but static).
With Delphi, your AI clone can answer those questions for you in a way that feels interactive and personal. AI pulls from everything you’ve ever said, written, or recorded and responds in a way that sounds like you.
If you’ve built an audience and people value your expertise, Delphi lets you scale that engagement without being on call 24/7.
How Delphi Works
You train Delphi on your existing content — articles you’ve written, your podcasts, your videos, and any relevant recordings. Once your AI clone is up and running, people can go to your page and have a conversation with it.
Delphi’s chatbot is built to sound like you and to give answers based on your perspective — not just generic, AI-generated advice.
I tested this out with the AI clone of Brian Halligan, co-founder and executive chairperson at HubSpot. I wanted to ask questions about growing to $30M ARR and got some pretty helpful responses, along with referral links where I could learn more from Brian.
Delphi is a great idea for someone who has a wealth of expertise and with little time for one-on-one convos.
That said, this tool does raise a bigger question: Do people actually want to talk to an AI version of you? If someone is looking for a step-by-step process, they might be fine talking to AI. But if they want real feedback, ideas, or emotional connection, they’re probably still going to want you, not your clone.
My take: Right now, Delphi is best for creators who already have deep knowledge in a specific space and a community of people who are eager to access it.
4. HeyGen: AI-Powered Video Avatars
AI-generated video content has come a long way.
A few years ago, most AI avatars looked stiff and robotic, the kind of thing you’d see in a bad deepfake. But, HeyGen is pushing the boundaries. People might actually mistake an AI-generated version of you for the real thing.
HeyGen lets you clone yourself into a high-quality AI avatar. Your digital self can then give presentations or even just talk to your audience, without you stepping in front of the camera.
To experiment with the tool, I cloned myself and delivered an entire course through my AI clone.
Why HeyGen Is Interesting
HeyGen isn’t like those weird robotic avatars from a few years ago. The tool now has smoother facial movements and better hand gestures, which means the uncanny valley effect is shrinking.
In fact, some people didn’t realize AI was presenting my course. They emailed me afterward, saying I seemed “a bit off” because I was keeping my hands still — something the early HeyGen model required. However, even that level of confusion shows how far the tech has come.
If your content is purely educational or instructional, HeyGen is a great way to create at scale without having to appear on camera every time.
Where HeyGen Could Be Helpful
For people who need to create video content at scale, HeyGen is actually a really useful tool.
- If you run an online course, you could use HeyGen to create lessons without filming every single one.
- If you record a lot of social media content, HeyGen could help you create short-form videos faster.
- If you need to translate videos into different languages, HeyGen can dub your avatar’s voice while keeping a natural lip sync.
My take: Just like with Delphi, there’s one big question in my mind. How much do people actually want to engage with an AI version of you instead of the real thing?
If your content is purely informational, this could be a great way to scale video creation. But if your audience is invested in YOU — your unique expressions, humor, and energy — an AI clone isn’t a real substitute.
5. Argil: AI Cloning for Short-Form Video Content
This one is specifically built for short-form video. Argil is a startup that lets you clone yourself with just a couple minutes of video. You can then start generating AI-powered videos by typing out a script.
When browsing examples from their site, I noticed Argil focused on quick, punchy, creator-style content. It’s not trying to replace HeyGen or other full-scale avatar tools. Argil is built for speed and simplicity.
Why Argil Is Useful
You upload a short training video and then use your AI clone to generate clips that teach, promote, or entertain. Argil’s quality isn’t perfect — especially in the voice and visual realism — but it’s fast and lightweight.
Where Argil Could Be Helpful
Argil is best suited for:
- Creators making short-form content on platforms like TikTok or Instagram.
- People who already have an audience and want to repurpose or batch video production.
- Anyone experimenting with AI avatars who doesn’t need a full production studio.
Just like HeyGen and Delphi, the real value here comes after you’ve built an audience and figured out what kind of content resonates.
How Argil Works
Record a two-minute video of yourself, and Argil generates an AI clone. From there, you can script videos by just typing text. The clone will read it back, fully animated. The interface is simple and feels more like a Notion doc than a video editor, which makes it pretty approachable.
My take: Argil is a cool concept for short-form creators, but you’ll get the most out of the tool if you already know what audience you’re speaking to.
6. Opus: AI-Powered Video Editing
Opus is a tool most people already know. It takes long-form video — podcasts, interviews, keynotes — and automatically cuts it into short, shareable clips.
Given that editing video is one of the biggest time sucks in content creation, tools like Opus can be especially valuable. I tested it using an episode from Lex Fridman’s podcast. Opus grabbed highlights from the conversation and turned them into clips for TikTok, Shorts, Reels, and beyond.
Why Opus Is Useful
People consume short-form videos at scale, but creating engaging clips from long content is tedious. Opus helps by:
- Identifying key moments in your video (so you don’t have to scrub through hours of footage).
- Auto-generating captions and subtitles for social media.
- Cutting multiple clips at once to batch-create content.
Where Opus Could Be Helpful
If you’re producing long-form video content, this is a must-try — even if you have to tweak the AI-generated clips.
However, here’s the reality: These tools create the average version of short-form content. They’ll get you something functional, but if you want something that really stands out, you still need to put in the work.
How Opus Works
You upload your long-form video to Opus. The AI scans it, detects key moments, and cuts them into short clips that are ready for social media. Opus then automatically adds captions, trims the fluff, and gives you multiple clips to work with — all in a few minutes.
My take: Tools like Opus are great for saving time, but they won’t make you a great content creator. Use them to speed up the basics, but still put in the work if you want content that hits.
7. Replit AI: Personalized Coding and Automation
Replit is kind of mind-blowing. Their AI agent is incredible, and the product as a whole is just super fun to use. This is one of the best examples of why we’re all going to have personalized software — tools that are built by and for us, instead of trying to fit into one-size-fits-all platforms.
Replit AI acts like a co-pilot for coding, helping you generate and refine code based on what you need. That could be a simple scheduling app or a more complex automation.
The results are mind-blowing. You can actually build real products for yourself in a matter of minutes.
Why Replit Is Useful
Let me give you a real example. I was watching TV and talking to my partner. We talked about getting better at scheduling. We have a 10-month-old, and every hour of the day counts.
We were using Google Calendar, but it wasn’t exactly what we needed. So, I built something for us. It’s a basic scheduler that shows both of our days side-by-side from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. We can add tasks, mark them as completed, and see where we overlap, especially when we want to play with our daughter or give each other a break.
It’s not a polished app, but it works. And that’s the point: I didn’t need every feature under the sun — I just needed something that worked exactly the way I wanted.
Where Replit Could Be Helpful
Replit is a game-changer for entrepreneurs and business owners who need custom software but don’t want to hire developers for every little thing.
Replit is great for:
- People who want to build personal tools that don’t exist yet.
- Teams looking to spin up lightweight internal tools fast.
- Marketers or operators experimenting with productized utilities or free tools as part of their marketing strategy.
How Replit Works
Replit uses an AI agent that supports you through the entire coding process. You describe what you want to build, like a scheduling tool or a custom dashboard, and it generates the underlying code.
You can make changes in real time, and the AI continues to adjust, refine, and debug as you go. You don’t need to know what you’re doing to get started, and that’s kind of the point.
My take: The big unlock here is personalized software. Instead of buying generic tools or trying to force your workflow into a template, Replit lets you build exactly what you need in the exact way you need it.
8. Notebook LM: AI for Smarter Note-Taking
Notebook LM was one of the best AI products released last year, and not nearly enough people are using it. If you deal with a lot of information — docs, ideas, meeting notes, research — it’s easy for things to get scattered. Notebook LM turns all of that into a structured, searchable, and actually usable knowledge base.
It’s like your second brain but better organized.
If you’ve ever wished your notes could actually work for you, this is the kind of tool that could change how you process information.
Why Notebook LM Is Useful
I use Notebook LM all the time. I’ve got it hooked up to all the different folders I use for work. It lets me:
- Create briefing docs based on everything in a folder.
- Generate audio reviews of content.
- Turn raw content into study guides or structured summaries.
Basically, it’s like having an AI-powered assistant who helps you turn scattered material into usable output without having to manually sort through everything.
Where Notebook LM Could Be Helpful
Notebook LM is especially useful for people who deal with a lot of information but don’t have the time to manually sort through everything.
It’s a huge win for:
- Writers and researchers who need to quickly summarize large amounts of text.
- Students and professionals who want AI to pull out key insights from notes.
- Content creators who juggle multiple projects and need to stay organized.
How Notebook LM Works
You connect Notebook LM to the folders or files you’re working with. AI analyzes the content and then generates summaries, notes, and guides.
You can query it like a research assistant. Ask it to surface themes, explain complex concepts, or highlight key ideas across documents. One of my favorite features is the study guide tool — you drop in content, and it builds out a full learning guide based on what’s in the folder.
My take: Notebook LM is one of the best AI tools I’ve used in the past year. If you haven’t tried it yet, start now. It’s the kind of product that feels more valuable the more you feed into it.
9. Napkin AI: AI-Generated Business Visuals
Most AI image generators are built for entertainment or aesthetics. They’re fun to play with but not really designed for business use. Napkin AI flips that. It’s focused on helping you create polished, professional visuals specifically for business content.
My take: If you’re creating presentations, writing LinkedIn posts, or building sales decks, this tool gives you fast, clean images that look like they belong in a real business context.
Why Napkin AI Is Useful
I used Napkin AI on one of my LinkedIn posts about AI-driven procurement, and it instantly generated a range of professional, business-friendly graphics. These weren’t surreal or off-brand. They actually looked like they belonged in a deck or B2B post.
This is where Napkin stands out. It helps you:
- Create clean, relevant images tailored to your business content.
- Skip the endless hunt through stock photos.
- Make posts, presentations, and reports more visually engaging without needing a designer.
Where Napkin AI Could Be Helpful
For professionals who create a lot of business-focused content, Napkin AI helps make posts and presentations more visually engaging. Here are some B2B materials I think Napkin AI could spruce up:
- LinkedIn posts. Instead of using overused stock images, I can generate custom graphics.
- Sales decks and presentations. I can quickly create business visuals without hiring a designer.
- Marketing and branding materials. I can generate on-brand images that match your messaging.
How Napkin AI Works
Napkin AI can take something like your latest LinkedIn post and automatically generate image options to go with it. You don’t have to prompt it from scratch or tweak complicated settings.
This tool is designed to generate visuals that feel like they belong in a professional setting — clean, minimal, and topic-specific — rather than the surreal or cartoonish output most image tools default to.
Napkin AI isn’t trying to replace a designer, but it gives you a starting point that feels about 80% of the way there. In most cases, that’s more than enough.
My take: If you post a lot of business-related content, Napkin AI is worth trying. AI-generated visuals still aren’t perfect, but Napkin AI’s focus on professional-looking graphics makes it stand out from other image tools.
Work Smarter, Not Harder With These AI Tools
In the past year, thousands of new AI apps have launched. I’ve personally tested dozens if not hundreds. While some were gimmicks and more AI fluff, some of these tools made a massive difference in my productivity.
If you’re looking for some AI tools to experiment with, give these options a shot first. Flow and Cubby make it easier to process information and cut down on manual work. Delphi and HeyGen let you scale yourself in ways that weren’t possible before. Replit and Opus are making it easier for anyone to build and repurpose content faster than ever.
So experiment. Build. Use what works. Just don’t forget to put your own edge into it.
To learn more about lead-scoring tactics and marketing growth strategies, check out the full episode of Marketing Against the Grain below:
This blog series is in partnership with Marketing Against the Grain, the video podcast. It digs deeper into ideas shared by marketing leaders Kipp Bodnar (HubSpot’s CMO) and Kieran Flanagan (SVP, Marketing at HubSpot) as they unpack growth strategies and learn from standout founders and peers.
The HubSpot Blog's TikTok Marketing Report: Insights from 1,000+ Social Media Marketers
I first downloaded TikTok during college to scroll through comedy and pop culture discourse. But then, as I grew as a marketer, I started seeing some serious potential everywhere. And I’m not the only one who noticed. TikTok has evolved beyond just dance trends and […]
MarketingI first downloaded TikTok during college to scroll through comedy and pop culture discourse. But then, as I grew as a marketer, I started seeing some serious potential everywhere. And I’m not the only one who noticed.
TikTok has evolved beyond just dance trends and viral challenges into a genuine powerhouse for brands connecting with audiences authentically. And don‘t just take my word for it — we’ve surveyed over 1,000 social media marketers to bring you data-backed insights on how TikTok is reshaping the marketing landscape.![Download Now: The 2025 State of Social Media Trends [Free Report]](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/53/3dc1dfd9-2cb4-4498-8c57-19dbb5671820.png)
In this article, I’ll share the latest of our 2025 State of Social findings to help give your brand or business TikTok profile the visibility it deserves.
Table of Contents
Why TikTok Matters for Your Marketing Strategy
What started as a platform many marketers dismissed as “just for teens” has evolved into one of the most important channels in our digital marketing arsenal.
And the numbers don’t lie. Our research shows that 56% of social media marketers are now using TikTok, making it one of the top five most-used platforms alongside Instagram (76%) and YouTube (79%).
It’s so impressive to me when I reflect on the progress of other trending social sites. Unlike the slow adoption we saw with platforms like Snapchat in the marketing world, TikTok has managed to overcome initial skepticism and cement itself as a marketing essential in record time. I believe this rapid acceptance comes down to one thing: results.
TikTok isn‘t just popular — it’s effective. Marketers report that TikTok is a top performer across key metrics:
- 17% rank it as a top platform for driving website traffic
- 18% cite it as a leader for social media engagement
- 19% recognize its power for audience growth
If you’re a marketer looking to elevate your social strategy, a content creator aiming to maximize your reach, or a business seeking new channels for growth, this guide will help you navigate the world of TikTok marketing with confidence.
How Social Media Marketers Are Leveraging TikTok
Marketers have a knack for understanding and using social media in more ways than one, let me share the different ways we leverage TikTok for marketing objectives.
Platform-Specific Strategies
TikTok isn’t just another box to check in your social media marketing plan. Its unique algorithm and content discovery mechanisms require tailored approaches that differ from strategies you might employ on LinkedIn or Facebook.
Pro tip: In my experience, the brands seeing the most success on TikTok create platform-native content rather than repurposing material from other channels. I recommend starting fresh with content specifically designed for TikTok’s vertical format and fast-paced environment. Not to mention, video editing in the app is easy enough for anyone to do it!
Marketing Objectives That Shine on TikTok
Now, you can‘t just post a bunch of videos without a game plan. Marketers need to use social media strategically to achieve the results they’re looking for.
Our data shows that TikTok excels at:
- Building brand awareness through viral content
- Fostering community engagement (18% of marketers rank it as a top platform for engagement)
- Driving meaningful audience growth (19% cite it as a leader in this category)
I’ve found that TikTok particularly excels at humanizing B2B brands, something that can be challenging on more formal platforms. Its casual, authentic nature allows even the most corporate brands to show personality in ways that resonate with audiences.
Paid vs. Organic: Finding Your Balance
While TikTok offers robust advertising options, many brands succeed through organic content that resonates with the platform’s authenticity-first ethos.
However, our research indicates a growing trend toward paid strategies, with 30% of social media marketers planning to increase their TikTok investment in 2025, while 26% plan to maintain their current spending levels.
What I like: I‘m impressed by how TikTok has managed to create an advertising ecosystem that doesn’t feel intrusive. In my opinion, this is why both paid and organic strategies can thrive side-by-side on the platform—something that’s becoming increasingly rare in social media.
Data-Backed Benefits of TikTok Marketing
Engagement That Outperforms
TikTok isn‘t just keeping pace with other video platforms — it’s setting new standards for engagement. Our survey results place TikTok among the top performers for social media engagement at 18%, competing directly with Instagram and YouTube.
I‘ve personally observed that TikTok’s engagement rates often surpass what we see on other platforms, even with comparable content. There’s something about the format that encourages active participation rather than passive consumption.
Pro tip: I love repurposing TikToks into LinkedIn posts since video content is also a marketing priority on that social platform. Just download your TikTok and use the right hashtags for the audience you wish to reach, and you can make some meaningful connections there, too.
The Power of the For You Page
The platform’s algorithm-driven content discovery allows even accounts with modest followings to achieve significant reach, something that 17% of marketers recognize as they rank TikTok as a top platform for driving site traffic.
Pro tip: I always tell marketers not to get discouraged by slow follower growth on TikTok. Unlike other platforms where your follower count largely determines your reach, TikTok’s For You Page can put your content in front of thousands — even millions — of relevant viewers regardless of your account size. Focus on creating content that resonates, and the views will come.
Brand Safety Confidence
Concerns about brand safety have faded as TikTok has matured. Our data shows that a majority of marketers feel comfortable with their brand presence on the platform:
- 29% feel very comfortable
- 36% feel somewhat comfortable
- 22% feel neither comfortable nor uncomfortable
- Only 11% express some discomfort
Honestly, I was initially skeptical about brand safety on TikTok, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how the platform has evolved. The sophisticated content filtering and advertising safeguards have come a long way, and I now feel confident recommending TikTok to even the most risk-averse strategists.
How Content Creators & Marketers Are Earning ROI on TikTok
Influencer Marketing Excellence
TikTok has established itself as the leading platform for influencer marketing ROI. An impressive 47% of marketers report getting their highest ROI from TikTok influencer collaborations — outperforming both Instagram (46%) and YouTube (41%).
What I like: I‘m fascinated by how TikTok has democratized influence. Unlike Instagram, where established mega-influencers dominate, TikTok has created space for micro and nano influencers to drive significant results. I’ve seen campaigns with creators who have just 10,000 followers outperform those with influencers boasting millions — it’s all about authentic connection with niche communities.
Future Investment Trends
The confidence in TikTok’s ROI is reflected in future spending plans. When asked about their 2025 influencer marketing intentions, 15% of marketers plan to prioritize TikTok, making it the third most popular platform behind Instagram (27%) and YouTube (24%).
I believe we’re just seeing the beginning of the TikTok influencer ecosystem. As the platform continues to mature and more creators master its unique format, I expect that 15% figure to grow substantially by the time we run this survey again.
Driving Measurable Results
Beyond brand awareness, TikTok is proving its worth in tangible business outcomes:
- Traffic generation (ranked as a top performer by 17% of marketers)
- Community building and engagement (18%)
- Audience growth (19%)
Pro tip: In my experience, the key to driving measurable results from TikTok is integrating it into a multi-channel approach. I’ve found that using TikTok for awareness, then retargeting those engaged viewers on platforms like Instagram or through email, creates a powerful conversion pathway that maximizes ROI.
What Content Stands Out on TikTok
Authenticity Reigns Supreme
Unlike Instagram’s polished aesthetics or YouTube’s long-form depth, TikTok rewards authenticity and creativity. This creates unique opportunities for brands to connect with audiences through more casual, human content.
I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) that over-produced content often flops on TikTok. My most successful posts have been those where I embraced imperfection and focused on genuine storytelling over production value (and coincidently, were the ones I edited the least).
Community-Driven Content
The platforms that foster authentic communities are seeing the most success. TikTok’s strength in engagement (ranked top by 18% of marketers) speaks to its ability to create meaningful connections between brands and their audiences.
Pro tip: Don‘t just broadcast on TikTok—participate. Some of the best brand moments I’ve seen on the platform come from companies that actively engage with trends, respond to comments, and duet with users. I recommend allocating at least 30 minutes daily to community engagement if you’re serious about building a TikTok presence.
How Experts Navigate TikTok Governance
Compliance Confidence
Despite early concerns about platform governance, marketers are increasingly comfortable with TikTok’s ecosystem. Our Social Media Trends Report shows that 65% of marketers feel at least somewhat comfortable with brand safety on the platform, with only 11% expressing discomfort.
I remember the uncertainty many of us felt when TikTok first emerged as a marketing channel, but I’ve been impressed by how the platform has responded to concerns and built robust systems to protect both users and brands.
And on the note of a different type of governance — despite TikTok experiencing a U.S. temporary “ban” (if you call 12 hours a ban) in January 2025, it hasn‘t stopped the hundreds of thousands of creators and businesses on the platform from continuing to post. If that isn’t an indicator of this app‘s impact and staying power, I’m not sure what is!
Adapting to Platform Evolution
Smart marketers stay agile, ready to adapt to TikTok’s evolving landscape — from algorithm updates to new features. This adaptability will be key as 30% of marketers plan to increase their TikTok investments in 2025.
Pro tip: I‘ve found it essential to dedicate time each week to staying on top of TikTok’s changes. Join TikTok for Business newsletters, follow their blog, and connect with other marketers in the space. The platform moves quickly, and staying informed about new features or algorithm shifts can give you a significant competitive advantage.
TikTok Marketing Examples
Success Across Business Models
Both B2C and B2B brands are finding their footing on TikTok. The platform’s versatility has allowed companies across sectors to connect with audiences in meaningful ways, contributing to its status as a top platform for audience growth (19%).
What‘s surprised me most is how well B2B companies can perform on TikTok when they approach it strategically. I’ve watched traditionally “boring” industries create engaging content that not only drives awareness but actually converts. The key? Focusing on the humans behind the business decisions.
Influencer Success Stories
The data speaks volumes: 47% of marketers report their highest influencer marketing ROI comes from TikTok. These collaborations are proving more effective than traditional advertising for many brands, explaining why 15% of marketers plan to prioritize TikTok for influencer partnerships in 2025.
What I like: I love how TikTok has broadened the definition of “influencer” to include subject matter experts, industry professionals, and everyday enthusiasts. This has created opportunities for more authentic partnerships that feel less like advertisements and more like valuable content—which, in my experience, is precisely why they perform so well.
Hone Your TikTok Strategy for 2025 and Beyond
As we look toward 2025, TikTok’s importance in the marketing mix continues to grow. With 30% of marketers planning to increase their TikTok investment and only a small minority expressing concerns about brand safety, the platform has firmly established itself as a marketing essential.
For marketers looking to start or improve their TikTok presence, our data offers clear direction:
- Prioritize authentic, engaging video content
- Consider influencer partnerships for maximum ROI
- Balance organic and paid strategies
- Focus on metrics that matter: engagement, traffic, and audience growth
I‘ll be honest: if you’re not already incorporating TikTok into your marketing strategy, you‘re likely falling behind competitors who are. The data doesn’t just suggest TikTok is important—it screams that this platform has become essential for brands that want to stay relevant and connected with audiences.
How Customer Journey SEO Turns Clicks Into Conversions
Before you decide what to buy, you probably decide where to shop — which means turning to your favorite search engine. With online searches dominating as the starting point of most purchases, customer journey SEO is now mission-critical for every business. I honestly can’t remember […]
MarketingBefore you decide what to buy, you probably decide where to shop — which means turning to your favorite search engine. With online searches dominating as the starting point of most purchases, customer journey SEO is now mission-critical for every business.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I made a purchase without some online research first. Earlier today, I fell down a Google rabbit hole looking for bulk-dried tortellini. Last fall, it was a new MacBook.
By the time I was searching for the best deal on a MacBook, I had already done the bulk of my research — comparing specs, vendors, and reviews. And that tortellini search? It introduced me to brands I never would’ve found if they hadn’t optimized for the SEO-driven customer journey.
Here’s the real question: If your brand isn’t showing up when customers are searching, how much business are you losing to competitors?
Table of Contents
- What is customer journey SEO?
- Mapping Your Customer Journey
- Creating Your Customer Journey Map
- A Step-by-Step Guide to Align SEO With Your Customer Journey
What is customer journey SEO?
Customer journey SEO is simply where SEO and customer journey mapping intersect. While most businesses focus on SEO as a way to rank higher, that’s only part of the equation.
The best SEO strategies do drive traffic. But they take it a step further, supporting customer inquiries through every step of the journey from discovery to purchase, maximizing visibility, engagement, and conversions.
Understanding Different Types of Searches
So, how do you integrate SEO into your customer journey? It starts by understanding the three core types of search: navigational, informational, and transactional.
As you can imagine, each phase correlates with different types of search queries. Aligning your SEO strategy to the customer journey means tying your efforts to each type of search.
Navigational Searches: When Customers Already Know You
Your prospect has a solid idea of what they’re looking for and just wants help going to a specific site.
Using my MacBook example above, some navigational searches I used were:
- “Apple new releases”
- “Costco computers and laptops”
- “Best Buy Geek Squad”
I knew I wanted an Apple product, and I was headed to different vendors I trusted to find out more about the models and to get the best price.
Successful SEO optimization for navigational searches focuses heavily on branding.
Informational Searches: When Customers Are Exploring Options
Your prospects are looking for answers, knowledge, and help. This usually means more top-of-funnel content. Examples of these searches for new laptops might be:
- “MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro”
- “Best laptops for running an online business”
- “Is the latest MacBook worth it?”
When I was still deciding on a MacBook version and confirming that I wanted Apple over Windows, I looked for content like blog posts, comparison articles, and product reviews.
Successful SEO optimization for information searches means leaning into content marketing.
Transactional Searches: When Customers Are Ready to Buy
Your prospects are ready to buy. They might be looking for the best deal, still deciding between options, or looking for confirmation that their top pick is truly their best bet. Examples of these searches might be:
- “Best deals on MacBook Pro.”
- “Where to buy a MacBook Pro.”
- “Amazon MacBook deals today.”
At this stage, I was really just looking for the best deals and best options, so I looked at product pages and pricing comparisons.
Finally, successful SEO optimization for transactional searches means emphasizing information-rich product pages.
Here’s what that looks like in a visual:
Mapping Your Customer Journey
Before you optimize for SEO, you need to map out your customer’s journey. A customer journey map helps you visualize exactly where potential buyers engage with your brand — and where gaps exist.
Marketing Consultant Kerry Bodine explains it best in this must-watch video:
The great thing about customer journey maps is that they put customers first. By sketching a sticky-note map of people progressing through a theoretical funnel, you are putting the focus on customers.
I firmly believe that’s how every organization should function — elevating, honoring, and giving pride of place to the customers. This level of customer obsession leads to loyalty, referrals, and competitive advantage.
Pro tip: Don’t make the mistake of thinking customer journey maps are the same as sales funnels.
While sales funnels do provide a broad-based sketch of a process and can be a good starting point, they don’t actually map the journey. With that in mind, it’s best to think of them as two separate entities serving two separate purposes.
Creating Your Customer Journey Map
For the purposes of this article, I’ll stay high level. We’ve got a great post that goes into detail on creating your customer journey map, and I definitely encourage running through it.
With that said, here’s how to create your map and make it SEO-friendly.
Step 1: Identify the key stages in your customer journey.
We typically break this down into three stages:
- Awareness. When customers first discover their problem or need.
- Consideration. When customers begin researching their options.
- Decision. When customers are ready to buy.
In fact, you can see them in the screenshot below of our free customer journey map template.
Step 2: Map your customer search behavior.
Now, it’s time to figure out what they’re searching for at each phase. I want you to consider search intent as well as the specific keywords and questions.
- Awareness. Informational searches for “how to” content about solving their problem.
- Consideration. Product comparisons and brand research.
- Decision. Transactional and vendor searches.
With that in mind, start mapping out the types of searches they’re likely making. You can usually shorten this page by using your SEO marketing software (it’s HubSpot, right?).
Pro tip: Revisit this regularly. Consumer habits and markets change, which means search patterns do, too.
Step 3: Connect the customer journey to SEO efforts.
This is where the customer journey SEO comes in. It’s important to understand the types of content that best fit each phase before diving headlong into mapping. Here’s a quick rundown of how things often break down at each stage:
- Awareness. Top-of-funnel (TOFU) content like blogs, guides, and frequently asked questions.
- Consideration. Middle-of-funnel (MOFU) content like product comparison pages, case studies, and testimonials.
- Decision. Bottom-of-funnel content (BOFU) like product pages, pricing comparisons, and lead gen content.
Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate it. Start with these quick wins:
- Repurpose what you can. Before creating a ton of new content, do an audit of your existing content. You may have a lot of great stuff that just needs some tweaking or optimization.
- Identify the low-hanging fruit. What content is easy to create that will have a big impact? TOFU content often fits into this category, but not exclusively.
- Prioritize content that serves a double duty. Maybe this means focusing on resources that can also help existing customers. Or perhaps it means focusing on optimizing product pages to create awareness earlier in the process.
Want more detail? Check out our free Customer Journey Mapping lesson.
More Customer Journey Mapping Examples
Your customer journey map can take MANY different forms and should help you identify what your customer is experiencing at each stage of the journey.
If the first template you find isn’t working for you and you can’t easily adjust it for your needs, I recommend opening up your favorite infographic tool to see what customer journey templates exist. I did a quick Canva search, and clicked on one of the first designs that caught my eye. As you can see below, there are several different options right below it.
I usually end up combining visuals with tables or spreadsheets because both are helpful to me.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Align SEO With Your Customer Journey
If your brand isn’t visible at the right moments, your competitors will be. That’s why SEO isn’t just about rankings. I want you to instead think about it through the lens of making it easy for your audience to find you when it matters most — or at the start of the customer journey.
If they can’t find you — clearly the best option — customers will veer off to a competitor. Or, even worse, they’ll get lost and end up frustrated or back at ground zero. So, findability is not an option.
Your SEO strategy should be built around user intent. Here’s how to optimize your content for each stage of the journey based on the customer journey map and content overview you mapped out above (you did that, right?).
Step 1: Make a list of keywords/queries for each point in the customer journey that involves a specific query type.
Find each touchpoint in your customer journey and use your favorite SEO keyword research tools to develop a list of keywords your customers are likely using.
Let’s say a customer is researching luxury vacations. They start with informational searches (“Best Caribbean resorts”), progress to navigational searches (“Four Seasons Bora Bora vs. Ritz-Carlton Maldives”), and finally move to transactional searches (“Four Seasons Bora Bora best deal”).
Type of website: Family vacation planning service
Customer: Suburban mom planning for family vacation
Point in customer journey: Getting a sense of travel costs for her upcoming family vacation.
Query type: Informational
Possible Keywords:
- family vacation cost
- cost for family of 4 to go to Disney World
- vacation cost calculator
- how much vacation can I afford
- average vacation cost for family of 4
- average vacation cost
- cost vacation Ireland
- cost vacation
- low-cost family vacation ideas
Step 2: Optimize for intent.
Now, take those keywords and plug them into your SEO strategy. How? Let’s take one keyword from the above example — “how much vacation can I afford?” Here’s what you might do:
- Create a page on the website.
- Page title: “How much vacation can I afford? | Vacation Planning.”
- H1: “How much vacation can my family afford?”
- Article: Discuss answers to this question in the article, and provide a CTA at the end.
- Create a series of four evergreen blog articles that deal with this question. Use this keyword and any longtail variations of “how much vacation can I afford?”
- Create an infographic that answers the question, “How much vacation can I afford?”
- Interview several experts on vacation affordability and post a video series on YouTube.
After conducting an effort like that, you will start to dominate that keyword. More to the point, you will also dominate this phase of the customer journey. Whenever potential customers engage in informational searches for this phase, they will likely see your website in the search results.
Step 3: Measure and refine.
SEO can have quick wins, but it’s also a bit of a long game. And as I touched on above, things change as markets and technology evolve. So what worked 10 years ago didn’t work 5 years ago — and definitely doesn’t now. To that end, what works well today will barely scratch the surface in the next 5-10 years.
So, use Google Analytics to track conversions and tools like Ubersuggest or Ahrefs to track SEO performance. Then, improve underperforming content and create new content to meet your new needs.
Step 4: Improve technical SEO for visibility.
Keywords and on-page SEO will help your customer journey optimization efforts immensely. But there’s another piece of the puzzle that matters, too — technical SEO. By improving your domain health and ensuring that your site is usable and functional, you build even more trust with Google and other search engines. And that ensures that your customer journey SEO efforts pay off.
If you’re not deep into the SEO world, it’s probably worth bringing in a technical expert, but you can do a lot of this stuff yourself if interested. You can check out our free Technical SEO lesson here.
Findability Is a Must for Customer Journey SEO
To stay competitive in today’s market, online visibility is a must.
If you want to market more effectively, and you don’t yet have a customer journey map, you’re going to want to make one. But don’t stop there. A customer journey map is an excellent exercise, but without SEO implementation, it’s going to be less than productive.
The bottom line? If you’re not mapping SEO to your customer’s journey, you’re leaving money on the table. And you and your customers deserve better.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
What is a Go-to-Market Strategy? GTM Plan Template + Examples
A winning product launch requires a thoughtful, actionable, and effective go-to-market (GTM) strategy framework. Without proper planning, it’s impossible to know if you’re chasing the wrong audience, too early or late to a market, or are targeting a saturated market with similar solutions. To navigate […]
SalesA winning product launch requires a thoughtful, actionable, and effective go-to-market (GTM) strategy framework. Without proper planning, it’s impossible to know if you’re chasing the wrong audience, too early or late to a market, or are targeting a saturated market with similar solutions.
To navigate this process easily, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know to build a brilliant go-to-market strategy. This guide can be used for startups, B2B businesses, and any new venture you plan on launching.
Table of Contents
- What is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy?
- Go-to-Market Strategy Benefits
- Go-to-Market Strategy Framework
- How to Build a Go-to-Market Strategy
- Go-to-Market Strategy Tips
- Go-To-Market Plan Template
- Go-to-Market Strategy Examples
- GTM Strategy FAQs
What is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy?
A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a step-by-step plan for bringing a new product to market and driving demand. It helps identify a target audience, outline marketing and sales strategies, and align key stakeholders. While each product and market will differ, a well-crafted GTM strategy should identify a market problem and position the product as a solution.
I want to note that go-to-market strategies aren’t exclusive to physical products. You can create a GTM plan for a new service, a branch of your company, or an entirely new business.
GTM Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy
A go-to-market strategy focuses on how a company introduces a new product to the market. The process includes defining the ideal customer, pricing, sales model, distribution channels, and positioning. Such a strategy aligns sales, marketing, product, and customer success to drive revenue.
Conversely, a marketing strategy is a company’s overall approach to promoting its brand to its target audience. Marketing strategies include brand objectives, target audience personas, marketing channels, key performance indicators, and more. Here’s a table showing the difference between both.
|
GTM strategy |
Marketing strategy |
|
|
Purpose |
Launching a product successfully |
Creating demand and brand awareness |
|
Scope |
Covers sales, marketing, pricing, distribution, and customer success |
Focuses on attracting, engaging, and converting customers |
|
Timing |
Developed before product launch or expansion |
Ongoing refinement to sustain and grow the brand |
|
Ownership |
Cross-functional (sales, marketing, product, customer success) |
Marketing team |
|
Key metrics |
CAC, LTV, sales velocity, conversion rates, etc |
Website traffic, MQLs, engagement, brand recall, etc |
|
Outcome |
Successful market penetration and revenue growth |
Increased visibility and lead generation |
Go-to-Market Strategy Purpose
The purpose of any GTM strategy is to plan how your company will bring your offer to the market with minimal risk. Your plan should align all stakeholders on overall processes (whether directly involved or not), help you reach the right people (your target audience), and effectively convey value to drive conversions.
Your go-to-market strategy is a handy roadmap that measures the feasibility of your solution’s success and predicts its performance based on market research, prior examples, and competitive data.
Ultimately, you want to create a plan that helps you competitively position your offer, set the product or service apart from the competition, and generate leads and customer retention.
Who needs a go-to-market strategy?
Any business introducing something new to the market and wants to effectively reach its audience and drive (sustainable) business growth needs (or would benefit from) a go-to-market strategy. That includes:
- Established businesses launching new products or breaking into new markets with new customer segments.
- A small business looking to expand beyond its market or introduce new products.
- Businesses undergoing strategic changes, like mergers, acquisitions, or new business model changes.
- Companies facing increased competition that want to draw out key differentiators that help attract customers.
Go-to-Market Strategy Benefits
As you develop a new product or service, it’s vital to start drawing a go-to-market strategy that’s customized to fit your budget and your buyer persona. I know firsthand from my career as a serial entrepreneur. I helped found and build the data analytics company Datameer, bringing its offering successfully to market. Now, I’m working through the process again in the AI space at Automation Hero.
Although it takes a great amount of effort, time, money, and resources, a well-planned go-to-market strategy can significantly benefit your project.
You can create alignment.
Alignment is essential when preparing to launch a new product or service. This prevents disorganization and errors that can cause your project to flop. Whether you’re a product designer or a social media coordinator, everyone needs to be on the same page because you’re all contributing to and executing elements of the strategy.
Go-to-market strategies help maintain alignment throughout the product lifecycle with roadmaps and planning documents. The goal here is to inform everyone who handles what. In my experience, well-thought-through Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are key.
SOPs are documents describing everything about a specific task, like a new product launch — from how it should be carried out step-by-step to each team’s responsibilities and the overall scope of your project. To start building SOPs, you can begin with HubSpot’s dedicated SOP template.
You can establish product-market fit.
I find that creating a go-to-market plan can prevent many of the mistakes and oversights that can tank new product launches. Poor product-market fit can dampen a launch — even if the product is well-designed and innovative.
When you’ve identified your target audience segments and their specific needs, a GTM strategy helps you tailor elements like messaging and pricing to resonate with your intended audience.
Take Apple, for example. In the 1980s, decades before Steve Jobs launched the game-changing iPhone, he led one of Apple’s biggest flops: the Apple Lisa computer. Although Lisa had some of the best graphic technology of its time, only 10,000 units were sold. Critics attribute the failure to Lisa’s misleading ads and high price, despite its low processing power.
While Apple and Steve Jobs recovered, smaller companies could have a lot more to lose when bringing a product to market with a poor plan.
You can work out all the gaps.
While a go-to-market strategy isn’t guaranteed to prevent failure, it can help you manage expectations and work out any kinks before you invest in bringing a product to market.
The process of creating a go-to-market strategy allows you to discover gaps in the market, which can help you hone your product’s niche and better alleviate your buyer persona’s pain points.
You can understand your competitive advantage.
Competitor research is vital for creating a go-to-market strategy. Done right, this gives you an advantage over competitors that can generate revenue from your GTM strategy. You can differentiate your product from competitors and create a unique value proposition that generates interest in your product.
You’ll save money.
With a GTM strategy, you’re less likely to waste your budget on unnecessary processes that don’t help you meet your goals. You’ll be more strategic and focused with your spending in ways that will help you meet your goals, and you’ll make decisions aligned with your budget.
You can accelerate growth.
A high-quality GTM strategy saves you from any wasted time. Sure, you won’t have immediate success, but careful planning tells you exactly which markets to enter and why. Understanding how to position yourself allows your team to create effective value propositions for your marketing materials and helps you get in front of interested customers at a much faster rate.
To aid you in this process, we have free go-to-market strategy templates that can help you build a strategy that positions your product in front of your target audience.
Go-to-Market Strategy Framework
Before I share my go-to-market strategy framework, I’ll discuss four key points of a GTM plan.
These points are integrated into the step-by-step guide I share below, so you don’t need to answer these questions now. Still, they’re useful to keep in mind — especially if you’re creating a new product.
Here are the critical parts of a go-to-market strategy:
- Product-market fit: What problem(s) does your product solve?
- Target audience: Who is experiencing the problem that your product solves? How much are they willing to pay for a solution? What are the pain points and frustrations that you can ease?
- Competition and demand: Who already offers what you’re launching? Is there a demand for the product, or is the market oversaturated?
- Distribution: How will you sell the product or service? A website, an app, or a third-party distributor?
Alternatively, you could try go-to-market platforms like Dealfront to help establish and initiate your strategy framework. Dealfront allows you to pull from four layers of data, enabling you to target your ideal customer, track visitor behavior, reach out to leads, and promote your company with the help of B2B display advertising.
To help you build your GTM strategy, I’ll show you a step-by-step guide of tactics I’ve implemented to build multiple companies throughout the years.
I’ve also outlined how you can iterate and optimize as your company evolves. Plus, you’ll find helpful examples of how we’ve broken these steps down at Automation Hero, formerly SalesHero. I’ll share slides and visuals from before our rebrand to show exactly what we were thinking when we went to market in our early days.
How to Build a Go-to-Market Strategy
1. Use go-to-market strategy templates.
Launching a new product or service can get overwhelming very quickly, especially when there are many moving parts and stakeholders. That’s why the first thing you should do when taking a new product to market is to find go-to-market strategy templates that keep you and your team aligned and on schedule.
HubSpot offers a free go-to-market kit with multiple templates that help you organize each aspect of your strategy and keep key stakeholders informed on who is responsible for which task. I’d recommend taking a look if you’re looking for an easy way to get started.
Each template has its own unique purpose, but they are best utilized in tandem:
- Product Launch Planning Template: Create tasks that need to be completed for the product launch, provide progress updates, and plan social media and PR messaging.
- Product Update Email Templates: Internally communicate product updates and changes to your team.
- Product Roadmap Template: Create a schedule of all the tasks that will be addressed and who will be handling them.
- Product Lifecycle Mapping Template: Keep track of your product’s lifecycle stages.
- Product Classification Template: Classify your product and align all teams on product vision, marketing plan, and sales strategy.
- SWOT Analysis Template: Determine your product’s strengths, opportunities, and weaknesses, as well as conduct market research on the competition.
- Sales Plan Template: Outline and communicate sales strategy to stakeholders.
Download the kit today and plan your go-to-market strategy.
2. Identify the buying center and personas.
When preparing your product for the market, you must always consider your customers.
According to Gartner, the typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves six to ten decision-makers. These people make up what is called the “buying center.”
Each of those buyers typically fills one of these roles (though it’s important to note some job titles might occupy more than one role):
- Initiator: Starts the buying process or shows initial interest.
- User: Uses your product regularly.
- Influencer: Convinces others that they need the product.
- Decision maker: Gives final approval for the purchase.
- Buyer: Owns the budget.
- Approver: Final approver who pushes the initiative on a larger scale (typically someone in the C-suite).
- Gatekeeper: Blocker in getting a product implemented or approved.
These roles vary based on the product, industry, and vertical you’re selling to. I recommend getting your team together to brainstorm the job titles that could be impacted by your solution.
Be sure to research each role to know what they do, their goals, and their pain points. Learning who these people are, what motivates them, and what their problems are is critical, as they’ll be the ones to put your product on the map.
Using my company as an example, the buying center breaks down like this:
3. Craft a value matrix to help identify messaging.
After mapping your buying center personas, it’s time to map out your value matrix. A value matrix examines each buying center persona, their business problems, and how your product is valuable in solving those problems. The value matrix will also include a relevant marketing message tying the problem and solution together.
Create a chart with each persona in one column. Below each persona, list the pain points they face daily. If your product can solve or ease any of these problems, include them in a row.
Lastly, the message needs to capture the pain point and value in a meaningful way. The best way to achieve this is to agitate the pain point. People will take a painkiller to cure a headache but are much less likely to take a daily vitamin to prevent the pain in the first place. The value your product brings should solve the pain, not act as a vitamin.
Here’s a fill-in-the-blank chart you can use to create a value matrix:
|
Persona Name |
Pain Points |
Product Value |
Message |
|
Example Eddy |
A process he uses costs too much time and money |
The service costs less time and money. |
This service does ____, which saves companies time and money. |
Here’s an example of a complete value matrix:
4. Test your messaging.
Once your value matrix is in place, it’s time to test your messaging. Start advertising on marketing platforms using the messages you’ve just created for various audiences. You’ll have three variables to test: the channel you advertise on, your target audience, and the message you share.
When deciding where to test, I would first consider where your audience already spends their time and go there. Some possible paid digital ad channels might be LinkedIn, Google Ads, Facebook, and Twitter.
Once I run my tests, I continue advertising on the channels that show high conversions.
5. Optimize your ads based on the results of your tests before implementing them on a wide scale.
Some ad platforms have highly targeted audience settings for advertisers. For example, LinkedIn offers options for job title, job function, company size, and geographic location. Test different options to see who is more likely to click or convert.
For example, I noticed high clicks in certain industries, so we began targeting and using our ad budget to focus on that handful of industries on LinkedIn. The key here is spending money where you’ll get the biggest return on investment.
And, since you’ll be testing your message to see which versions resonate most with your audience, engagement and conversion rates of your ads will indicate which value proposition and pain points work best.
Here, I recommend using a dedicated marketing analytics tool to gain insights into how the target audience behaves across different channels. For instance, you can gather data on how users landing on your website from PPC ads interact with your pages and compare PPC performance to other traffic sources.
Once you’ve collected this data, you can base your larger campaigns on these insights.
6. Understand your buyer’s journey.
With your personas and value matrix built, dive deeper to understand the journey a potential customer will take, both from the buyer’s perspective and your company’s perspective. From your customer’s perspective, the buying process is linear. More or less, it will go like this:
- The buyer realizes they have a business problem and researches the topic.
- The buyer shortlists potential solutions.
- That list is narrowed down by talking to sales teams from the solution provider and by testing product use cases until a decision is made.
The buyer’s journey — from a business perspective — used to be a funnel. In the traditional sales funnel, there is a lot of general interest at the top. It gradually narrows down as opportunities fall out of the pipeline.
This journey is divided into three sections:
But, the sales funnel is no longer the best way to look at your buyer’s journey. Instead, I propose using the flywheel methodology, which takes a more holistic approach that puts your customer at the center and turns your leads from prospects to customers to active promoters.
In the flywheel model, customers go through three stages: attract, engage, and delight.
First up is the attract phase. Content at this stage grabs a potential customer’s attention. This can be a blog article, whitepaper, or video. A lead gets here by clicking on an ad, social media post, or a search engine result. However, these behaviors do not indicate that this lead is ready to make a purchase.
After that comes the engage phase. Here, a prospect has demonstrated they have a problem your product can solve. They show this through digital behavior like downloading an ebook or joining a webinar, allowing you to engage them with educational content.
While each company divides the lead generation and qualification process differently, marketing typically handles the attract and engage phases. Your marketing team will need to generate interest and awareness and educate the relevant audience on a product’s value through messaging and content (more on that later).
Halfway through the engagement phase, the prospect should ask for a quote or a trial period. They’re nearing a decision on whether or not to purchase.
Once the prospect reaches this point, the sales team takes over. I find that the process typically looks like the following:
- Contact: Communication between the lead and sales rep begins.
- Qualification: The sales rep learns more about the company, their customers’ pain points, and asks questions to see if they meet the basic requirements to purchase the product (BANT is a popular sales qualification method but several other sales methodologies are used to qualify).
- Business case: The prospect tests the product through a free trial or point of contact to see if it can solve their needs.
- Evaluation: The decision-makers in the organization weigh the cost of the product to the results they achieved during the business case.
- Negotiation: Both sales reps and decision-makers discuss pricing details and feature needs.
- Close: A deal is agreed upon, and your prospect turns into a customer.
- Renewal (Optional): Your customer renews their contract or subscription.
Right after your sales representative closes the sale, the lead leaves the engage phase and enters the delight phase. When customers reach this stage, they should be delighted by a painless onboarding process and friendly customer service options.
After that, your customer should ideally turn into a promoter. They bring you more customers, keeping the flywheel going and enabling you to grow better.
7. Choose one (or more) of the four most common sales strategies.
You’ve done all the required foundational work; now it’s time to pick a model that will push your product into the market. No one method will work for every product or market, so it’s important to consider the complexity, scalability, and cost of yours.
There are generally four go-to-market sales strategies — each one catering to a different product and business model.
The Self-Service model
The self-service model is when customers purchase independently. We typically see this model with B2C purchases, in which customers can find and buy a product via a website like Amazon.
This works best for simple products with a low-cost point and high sales volume. It can be difficult to build, but when successful, it sees a short sales cycle, zero cost to hire salespeople, and is highly profitable.
While you won’t need a sales team, you will need a marketing team to drive traffic and conversions to your site. The core marketing team would likely include growth marketing, performance marketing, and content marketing experts, though there will likely be other team members as well.
The Inside Sales Business Model
The inside sales business model is when a prospect needs to be nurtured by a sales rep to convert into a deal. This type of model works best with a product of medium complexity and price.
The sales cycle ranges between a few weeks and a few months. Here, you’ll invest in a sales team — but inside sales reps are less expensive than field reps.
With a high volume of sales, this model can be profitable and is fairly easy to build and scale as you hire more team members. The sales team in this model is typically composed of a sales manager who supervises a handful of reps.
The Field Sales Business Model
The field sales business model is when you have a full sales organization that closes large enterprise deals. These are typically complex products with high price points, which also means there’s typically a low volume of deals with a long sales cycle.
The sales team in this model is often very costly as the field reps are experienced, high-salary employees. This model is easy to build but harder to scale because hiring and training a full sales organization takes time and money.
Members include a sales manager, field reps, sales engineers, a sales development representative (SDR) team, and sales operations.
The Channel Model
Lastly, in the channel model, an outside agency or partner sells your product for you. This is hard to build, as the people can be difficult to recruit and educate on the benefits of your product. They are also often less motivated to sell than your own sales team would be.
However, this is a cheaper model because you don’t always need to pay a sales team of your own. I find that it works best with a product that matches the partner’s interest. For example, if you sell phone cases, you might want to find partners selling related products, like Best Buy or Apple.
You can mix and match these strategies based on industry or customer size (i.e., number of licenses or seats). For startups, it’s healthy to scale over time rather than invest in an expensive sales team too early.
8. Build brand awareness and demand generation with inbound and/or outbound methods.
Now, you need to fill your pipeline by snagging the attention of your target audience. This occurs through demand generation, which can happen with both inbound and outbound strategies.
With inbound, prospects discover your brand through marketing efforts and reach out to you or show signs of interest organically. Some examples of organic inbound traffic channels could be social media, content, or paid ads leading to a landing page.
Outbound demand generation is when a salesperson contacts a lead through cold outreach tactics. They might do this by reaching out to a contact list, sending warm emails, phoning leads, or gathering leads at industry conferences.
Once interest has been generated through these methods, sales conversations begin, and the leads are led to more educational content and then into the sales funnel.
9. Create content to get inbound leads.
Inbound leads are generally easier to convert and cheaper to acquire than outbound leads. This is because inbound leads are already partially educated on the business problem you solve, aware of your product, and usually more interested in buying your product.
Content marketing is the key to generating that inbound interest, as content will drive traffic to your site.
Your content marketing team will drive this inbound traffic by finding and targeting keywords that your potential customers would search for and then creating and posting related content on your website.
At the core of content marketing is search engine optimization (SEO), which is the way a search engine ranks the content on the internet once a query is entered into the search bar. This will be an enormous source of your organic web traffic.
What goes into content marketing? It’s a cycle of keyword research, creation, and measurement.
- Keyword research: Identify keywords related to your product, analyze the volume (how often that keyword is searched), the difficulty of ranking for that keyword (i.e., how competitive that keyword is), and see who is already ranking for those keywords.
- Content research: Brainstorm content topics that include that keyword. See what articles already exist around these topics and begin to plan your content calendar.
- Content creation: Put those ideas into motion and have a writer create articles on those topics.
- Design: Add relevant images, infographics, videos, and other multimedia to your content so it’s more visual and engaging.
- Promote: Spread your content and drive traffic to your website by sharing the links via social media or emails to your customer database.
- Build links: Reach out to other publishers and ask them to link to your content to gain even more traffic with link-building tactics. This gives you site authority, which helps improve your SEO rankings.
- Conversion rate: Track and measure the engagement and conversion rates of your content. Keep doing what works and drop what doesn’t. From there, begin the content creation cycle again.
Your content team should develop content that aligns with the various stages of the buyer’s journey (top-of-funnel, middle-of-funnel, bottom-of-funnel).
Top-of-funnel content is lighter educational content, middle-of-funnel content is deeper, more applied learning, and bottom-of-funnel content is for those who are ready to buy and implement. To use SalesHero as an example, the content at each level of the funnel would look like this:
- Top-of-funnel content: “What is sales AI?”
- Middle-of-funnel content: “How sales AI can increase productivity.”
- Bottom-of-funnel content: “Using sales AI to extract dark data.”
To make this process easier (and more organized), I recommend creating a messaging strategy or content marketing plan based on your customer’s journey and the knowledge they do (and don’t) have at each stage.
Below, I’ll share an example of how you can organize your content, and you can easily fill in my chart when creating your own.
Top-of-Funnel Content
Funnel Stage: Awareness
Flywheel Goal: Attract Prospects
What type of content will you create to catch the eye of potential customers in similar industries? Make a table like the one below.
|
Type of Content |
Topic |
Promo Strategy |
Lead Generation |
|
Blog post |
What is sales AI? |
Content will be shared on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and in weekly newsletter. |
A CTA in the post will ask readers to sign up for our next webinar. |
Middle-of-Funnel Content
Funnel Stage: Consideration
Flywheel Goals: Attract and Engage Leads
In this phase, your audience might know of your service or be researching products related to yours. What types of content do you create to move your service to the front of their minds?
|
Type of Content |
Topic |
Promo Strategy |
Lead Generation |
|
Webinar |
How Sales AI Can Increase Productivity |
Social and email promotions will link to the signup page. |
A thank you email will include a link to request a demo. |
Bottom-of-Funnel Content
Funnel Stage: Decision
Flywheel Goals: Engage and Nurture Leads/Gain and Delight Customers
Your audience is interested in your service. How will you use content to sell them?
|
Type of Content |
Topic |
Promo Strategy |
Lead Generation |
|
Demo or tutorial |
Use Our Sales AI Tool to Extract Dark Data |
Demo signup links will be shared in webinar follow-up emails, newsletters, and on the website. |
Those entering demos will make contact with a direct sales/support person. |
Go-to-Market Strategy Tips
1. Find ways to optimize your pipeline and increase conversion rates.
Growth requires more than simply picking a sales strategy and building a demand-generation process. You must optimize.
Sales is a numbers game, and you can only be successful if you measure progress. The key performance indicators (KPIs) for managing a sales team are volume, conversion rate, and time. You’ll also want to track how many opportunities come into the flywheel: your pipeline volume.
Then, track how many leads turned into customers. Comparing the volume of the pipeline opportunities to the number of won deals will get you your overall conversion rate.
I’ve found that it’s even more important to optimize the conversion rate between stages. As opportunities move through the funnel, they’ll go through various qualification processes (i.e., basic qualifications, current solutions in use, technical evaluation, and closing), and you’ll want to track the stage opportunities fall out and why.
I recommend measuring this for your overall flywheel and per sales rep. This information tells you where each rep needs to improve and potentially receive more training. Work to personalize your sales coaching efforts to shorten the sales cycle of each rep. Compare time and conversion rate to see who’s better and faster in particular stages.
Track how many opportunities each rep converts and at what stage in the process they drop out. The sooner an unqualified opportunity falls out of the flywheel, the better, because less time, energy, and resources are spent on that particular lead.
2. Analyze and shorten the sales cycle.
Your sales cycle is the amount of time it takes for an opportunity to enter the sales funnel and change to a closed/won deal. The goal is to shorten the conversion between every stage to have an optimized sales process. This can be done by identifying common objections (and iterating ways to remove them before they happen), doing ongoing lead nurturing, and brainstorming ways to find the best-fit customers.
3. Reduce customer acquisition costs.
As a business owner, you’ll also need to optimize your customer acquisition cost. This will be very expensive at first, but as time goes on, you’ll need to reduce this cost by optimizing your processes, or you’ll be losing more money than you make.
Customer acquisition is how much it costs to gain a new customer or deal per $1. The lower the customer acquisition cost, the lower the impact your marketing efforts have on expenses, and the higher the profit you get per customer.
4. Strategize ways to tap into your existing customer base.
A common adage in the industry is that it costs seven times more to acquire a new customer than it does to do business with an existing customer. If you’re providing a great buying experience, existing customers already know, like, and trust you — all of which are reasons to stick around.
The best opportunity for companies to earn more and gain revenue is through renewals, cross-selling, and upselling. The average cost for a company to renew a product is $0.13, while upsells cost a company $0.28.
Many people think of sales as a black box. But with analytics and new sales AI technologies cropping up, business leaders can optimize their processes to accelerate business.
5. Adjust and iterate as you go.
Building a successful company is not reserved for those entrepreneurs who’ve been blessed with special skills.
Chances are, you’ve already built your product, and building a company is a very similar process. You must be strategic and continue to improve throughout the process.
Take time and continue to iterate, and you too can build a company. Return to areas of your plan that aren’t working and tweak them. Make note of the things that are working, and brainstorm ways to expand upon them.
6. Retain and delight your customers.
In this phase, you will focus on maintaining your customer relationships and spreading good word-of-mouth. This is where a flywheel strategy can be much more helpful than the funnel, which ends at sales. For a detailed rundown of the delight phase and beyond, check out this ultimate guide.
Although different products might require different launch strategies, the customizable template and steps below should help you create a solid starter plan.
Go-To-Market Plan Template
Creating a go-to-market strategy from scratch can be daunting — especially if it’s your first time launching a brand-new product or service. That’s why HubSpot created a complete go-to-market kit to help you get started. You’ll find templates that help keep your team on schedule and promote alignment between all product marketing stakeholders.
The kit includes:
- Product Launch Planning Template
- Product Update Email Templates
- Product Roadmap Template
- Product Lifecycle Mapping Template
- Product Classification Template
- SWOT Analysis Template
- Sales Plan Template
Still stumped? Below, I’ve included a few more examples of go-to-market strategies that can help you inspire your own.
Go-to-Market Strategy Examples
1. Via
Via is a ridesharing platform that was founded in 2012 when Uber was still relatively unknown.
While Uber has bypassed Via in popularity and product usage, Via has effectively carved a niche in the transportation technology space.
Why I Think Via’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
The company’s GTM strategy emphasized ride-sharing — that is, riders share rides with other riders traveling in the same direction. The driver takes a predetermined route and drops riders off at convenient locations rather than picking up riders at private locations.
Via set out to solve a common pain point for commuters: overcrowded or unavailable public transit with inflexible routes.
Another pain point of the target audience was that Uber and Lyft rides were overpriced and couldn’t be used for daily commutes. Via looked at this problem and created a true ridesharing service that could fill the space Uber and Lyft didn’t fill.
Now, the company partners with private transit operators, schools, and public transit agencies to expand existing operations or provide more riding options for passengers. The result of Via’s go-to-market strategy is that it no longer sees Uber as a direct competitor and had $200M in revenue in 2022.
2. Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Windows has long been the preeminent OS, and for good reason: most computer manufacturers offer Windows laptops and desktops.
So why would Microsoft launch its line of computers and tablets if its software is ubiquitous?
Why I Think Microsoft Surface’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
In its go-to-market strategy for its Surface products, Microsoft set out to solve a common problem for tablet users. Tablets were primarily mobile devices; while they were convenient to carry, they didn’t offer the full functionality of a laptop. And for many people, owning both a tablet and a laptop was not financially feasible.
When it released the third generation of the Surface tablet, Microsoft made its position clear. The device was a fully functioning computer in tablet form. You could have a light device without sacrificing function. Compared to the Apple iPad, its principal competitor, the Surface tablet offered more functionality at the same price.
Now, the Microsoft Surface line has expanded to include laptops and desktops. Microsoft realized that laptop buyers may not purchase a Windows laptop because there are so many manufacturers to choose from. Specifications and hardware components vary from machine to machine.
With its Surface laptops, Microsoft makes the choice easier for target demographics such as college students and everyday users. These devices compete with Apple’s macOS offerings and are designed to seamlessly integrate with all the features of Windows OS.
3. Owala
At first glance, the Owala brand of water bottles doesn’t seem much different from its competitors.
But in its go-to-market strategy, the brand used its motto, “Do more of what you love,” to hint at its products’ ease of use. You can “do more of what you love” since you won’t even waste time opening the bottle. The lid itself is where you sip.
Why I Think Owala’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
With its product launch, Owala addressed common problems for water-drinkers: openings that are too wide, spills, and two-handed drinking.
Owala specifically targets those who are active. In its first series of Instagram posts, the brand posted a mosaic of a man on a motorcycle, and in most of its social posts, it includes people in workout clothes.
The company arguably entered an overcrowded space. Brands such as HydroFlask and Contigo dominate the industry. By addressing a specific target buyer and solving their problems, however, Owala successfully launched into that competitive market. The brand distributes its offerings through its website, BestBuy, and Amazon for optimum reach.
4. Bread Beauty Supply
Bread Beauty Supply, a Black- and woman-owned hair care line, set out to solve a common problem for its curly-haired audience: overcomplicated routines that waste time, energy, and products.
Why I Think Bread Beauty Supply’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
The brand launched in 2020 and partnered with Sephora as its principal distribution channel. In its go-to-market strategy, the brand identified a segment of buyers who would rather keep their routine simple and leave their curls in their natural state.
Compare this strategy with that of competitor brands such as Pattern Beauty and Ouidad, both of which offer a multitude of hair care products that can dizzy, confuse, and overwhelm buyers. When creating its go-to-market plan, Bread Beauty Supply recognized that some people with curly hair would rather spend less, not more, time on their hair.
While the curly hair care industry verges on overcrowded, Bread Beauty Supply successfully launched by taking a unique stance in the industry.
5. The Sip
The Sip, a Black- and woman-owned champagne subscription service, makes drinking luxury wine more affordable.
Champagne clubs have always been around, offering monthly deliveries of delectable wines at a premium cost.
To the target audience, however, this model poses a few problems. The wine of choice for that month could fail to meet expectations, and that could result in a wasted bottle. And that is at full cost, too. One of The Sip’s competitors, Club Bubbly, charges $100 per month to deliver two bottles of champagne.
Why I Think The Sip’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
In its go-to-market strategy, The Sip emphasized its mini-bottle program: subscribers can try three mini-bottles of champagne at a fraction of the cost. If you happen to like one, you can buy the full bottle.
By solving common problems faced by subscribers of wine boxes, The Sip not only attracted the subscribers of its competition, but opened up this type of subscription to buyers who could not previously afford it.
6. Vuclip
Vuclip, a mobile video-on-demand service, tapped into emerging markets with limited access to high-quality video streaming services. Consumers in these areas — including India, Thailand, and Egypt — dealt with slow video buffering speeds due to a lack of advanced mobile networks.
Why I Think Vuclip’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
The company‘s go-to-market strategy rested on appealing to those “must-have” markets, where it could come in with a competitive advantage by presenting an accessible platform that addressed those regional consumers’ issues with buffering.
The result? Vuclip built a subscriber base of more than 41 million consumers across over 3,000 cities, with plans to establish a presence in even more underserved markets around the world.
7. Upscope
Upscope, an interactive screen-sharing platform, came on the scene as a resource to suit a more technically inclined crowd than its competitors — namely onboarding, support, and IT specialists.
Why I Think Upscope’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
The primary pain point the company looked to address was the trouble consumers ran into when trying to share their screens — particularly when it came to walking prospects, customers, or employees through technical subject matter.
The company addressed that issue by creating a solution that lends itself to instant and interactive screen sharing — sparing users the trouble of fumbling through the screen share process and letting all parties engage with the content they’re seeing.
Upscope supported its go-to-market efforts with a solid content marketing strategy — maintaining an active web presence and blog. It also incorporated integrations with other tools into its solution, giving itself more visibility and clout.
8. Baggu
Baggu is a reusable bag brand. While it seems rather simple on the surface, its go-to-market strategy has made a buzz in the world of sustainability.
Why I Think Baggu’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
This brand was created to eliminate unnecessary waste by responsibly managing deadstock products and fabric. This appeals to eco-conscious consumers who are trying to minimize their use of plastic bags.
Accompanying its relatable mission, Baggu has held many collaborations that take its products from functional to stylish statement pieces.
Baggu also partnered with Joonbug, a Jamaican artist known for impressive skate designs, and made colorful patterns that showcase his cultural roots and style.
The products are visually interesting, eye-catching, and were marketed through Instagram — a social media platform designed for visual ads and promotion, and a perfect vehicle for a mutually beneficial collaboration for Joonbug, who is also a prominent influencer in the art sphere.
9. Thinx
Thinx is a feminine hygiene company that makes underwear for people with periods. This re-imagined approach to menstrual products has been gaining more traction in the industry, and its go-to-market strategy has definitely aided in its success.
Why I Think Thinx’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
A common pain point for people with periods is spending a lot of money on one-time hygienic products, and it’s not good for the environment, either. So, offering washable underwear with a two-year guarantee is a much better investment than the alternative.
Thinx is also known for partnering with organizations using cause marketing, like with Black Mamas Matter Alliance. BMMA focuses on the issue of maternal health (specifically for black women who are three times more likely to die from childbirth than other races) that Thinx’s audience would also care about or be aware of.
This strategy appeals to consumers who can feel good knowing they’re buying something that gives back a portion of profit to something beyond themselves, especially if it raises awareness of inequalities in maternal health.
10. Metaverse
One of the most outlandish ideas of recent go-to-market strategies is none other than the launch of the Metaverse. It’s an immersive, digital economy made by Facebook and a look into the future of the platform.
Why I Think the Metaverse’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:
This brand understands that people are leading digital lives more than ever, which includes more online shopping — but without the experience of shopping in person. So, while it is more convenient to add items to your cart through clicks, customers give up the feel of shopping in-store.
Metaverse solves this by incorporating the brick-and-mortar experience in a VR-centric, digital world.
In addition to solving the online shopping dilemma, the PR campaign and influencer marketing was such a huge rollout on one of the most major social media platforms, it caused quite a buzz through the internet and news outlets.
GTM Strategy FAQs
1. What’s the #1 mistake to avoid when creating a go-to-market strategy?
From my experience, not having a targeted ideal customer profile (ICP) is central to GTM failure.
A broad or vague ICP leads to wasted resources and low conversion rates because you’d have targeted prospects unlikely to buy. As such, the #1 element of all successful GTM strategies is a well-defined ICP. Knowing this drives efficient messaging, marketing, and sales efforts. Without it, even great products fail.
2. Can I be certain I’ve targeted the right market and ICP?
You may have the right market, but your ICP is always evolving. Customer behavior, competitive dynamics, and market shifts require continuous refinement.
Use CRM data to analyze similarities among high-value customers—job titles, industries, and buying behaviors. Experiment with segmentation and feedback from such customers.
3. How do I shorten my sales cycle?
The length of your sales cycle depends on factors like season and price. For example, during a recession, there’s economic uncertainty, and entities may hold off on several purchases. In my experience, companies that survive such periods invest in building their brand.
The second is pricing. A $500 product moves faster than a $50K solution. Establishing trust is extremely vital when taking expensive vs cheaper products to market. So if your GTM motion involves selling high-ticket products, streamline decision-making by targeting decision-makers early, addressing objections proactively, using social proof, and personalizing all outreaches. For lower-cost products, optimize automation, trial offers, and urgency-based incentives.
4. Should I hire a marketing or sales team without finding a product-market fit?
No. Hiring a marketing or sales team before achieving product-market fit (PMF) leads to wasted resources and frustration. Without PMF, there’s no clear demand, making it hard to sell effectively.
Instead, focus on validating your ICP, testing messaging, and getting early adopters. Use founder-led sales, direct customer feedback, and agile iterations to refine the offer. Once you get repeatable sales and decent retention, scale your marketing and sales for predictable growth.
Create a Strong GTM Strategy for Your New Venture
Building a go-to-market strategy is critical before bringing your new product to the market. With the steps I shared in this guide, you’ll be well on your way to launching a product or service that solves for your future customers and becomes profitable in the marketplace.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
10 SaaS Onboarding Best Practices to Ensure Your Customers' Success
During my time as a client services manager at Yahoo and then Verizon Media, I witnessed firsthand how important good SaaS onboarding best practices are. I’ll never forget onboarding a major agency onto our ad server platform –– they were migrating from a competitor’s solution […]
ServiceDuring my time as a client services manager at Yahoo and then Verizon Media, I witnessed firsthand how important good SaaS onboarding best practices are.
I’ll never forget onboarding a major agency onto our ad server platform –– they were migrating from a competitor’s solution and had millions in annual digital ad spend at stake. Our initial approach of jumping straight into advanced campaign trafficking features almost derailed the entire partnership.
That experience transformed how I approach client onboarding. Instead of overwhelming new clients with technical capabilities, I learned to focus first on building trust and understanding their core workflow needs.
![→ Download Now: 8 Free Customer Onboarding Templates [Free Kit]](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/53/b6abbd56-b7d5-42bf-8a85-b7ae63ca70d2.png)
Through leading client platform training sessions and demos, I developed 10 key practices that consistently helped clients transition smoothly and start seeing value quickly. Here’s what I learned from working with both enterprise clients and internal teams at one of the largest ad tech platforms.
In this article:
During the onboarding process, you want to capture your customers’ attention because a successful onboarding can reduce customer churn, improve customer retention, and increase customer loyalty.
But before we get started with the onboarding checklist, we want to first understand the importance of a good SaaS onboarding experience.
Why Good SaaS Onboarding Experience Is Important
Wyzowl found that 86% of clients are more likely to remain loyal to a company that invests in onboarding content. This number alone emphasizes the value of a well-structured onboarding process.
I think good onboarding is critical to establishing trust and delivering value to new clients. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate that you care about their success, and that your product can actually assist them in achieving their goals.
When executed properly, onboarding can:
- Drive product adoption. By walking your customers through your product’s essential features and benefits, you may persuade them to utilize it on a regular basis and incorporate it into their workflows. This helps you achieve what we call product stickiness.
- Reduce support costs. A thorough onboarding process can answer frequent questions and keep users from stumbling into problems, resulting in fewer support tickets and calls.
- Increase customer lifetime value (CLTV). Satisfied clients who effectively use your product are more inclined to upgrade, renew their subscription, and promote your business through referrals.
Now, let’s take a look at some examples of how leading companies turn new users into power users through strong SaaS onboarding processes.
10 Modern SaaS Onboarding Examples
A great SaaS onboarding experience isn’t just about introducing users to features. At its core, the goal is to bring them to an “aha” moment as quickly and smoothly as possible. The best onboarding processes are intuitive, engaging, and personalized, ensuring users feel immediate value.
Here are ten standout examples that, in my opinion, set the gold standard or are redefining the function.
1. Command-First Onboarding: Linear.app
Linear simplifies SaaS onboarding by prioritizing speed and efficiency. Instead of bombarding users with tutorials, it quickly teaches keyboard shortcuts and introduces the command palette. Users may create their first assignment in seconds, reducing friction and giving them a sense of authority.
I appreciate this approach because it respects the user’s time. Instead of going through explanations, users learn by doing, which increases confidence and recall. Speed is essential in project management solutions, and Linear delivers by making users feel productive right away.
2. AI-Guided Setup: Notion AI
Notion AI personalizes onboarding through intelligent recommendations. Instead of giving users a clean slate, it recommends templates based on their role and organization size. It also introduces functions in stages, beginning with simple note-taking and progressing to advanced database functionality.
This onboarding method is effective because it lowers choice fatigue. The system guides users, so they don’t have to find out where to start. This strategy, in my opinion, is extremely beneficial since it turns a potentially daunting product into an intuitive, role-specific experience.
3. Split-Screen Learning: Arc Browser
Switching browsers can be difficult, but Arc makes it simple with its split-screen onboarding experience. Users can see their old browser alongside Arc, making the switch simple and intuitive. The browser automatically imports bookmarks and settings with visual evidence, ensuring users don’t start blank.
I think this strategy is amazing since it eliminates the fear of change. People are hesitant to switch tools because they are concerned about losing familiarity. Arc addresses this fear by keeping everything visible and structured during the onboarding experience.
4. Learn-by-Doing Command Training: Raycast
Raycast turns onboarding into hands-on command training. Rather than a passive walkthrough, the onboarding process proposes extensions based on the apps customers use, ensuring relevance for their specific needs.
This is an ideal strategy for a tool geared toward developers. I like how it transforms onboarding into a workflow rather than a tutorial, giving developers immediate benefits without interruptions. It makes learning feel like an integral part of the product experience.
5. Personalized Onboarding Surveys: HubSpot
HubSpot verifies relevance by launching a brief onboarding survey. Users answer a few questions about their company, industry, and ambitions, and the system customizes the dashboard and feature recommendations accordingly.
This strategy is effective because it minimizes information overload. I like how it shows consumers only the most important elements rather than a generic introduction. When onboarding feels personalized, users are more like to stay interested and explore further.
6. Actionable Guides for Team Adoption: Asana
Asana’s onboarding is designed for teams, not just individuals. The platform includes step-by-step instructions for setting up projects, assigning tasks, and using collaboration capabilities. Each step is actionable, ensuring that consumers do more than simply read.
I believe this method is quite effective because it focuses on team adoption rather than individual onboarding. A technology like Asana is most useful when used by a complete team, and this systematic approach ensures that happens.
7. Self-Serve Interactive Tutorials: Box
Box’s self-paced onboarding flow enables users to explore the site at their own leisure. Rather than linear lessons, users are directed through important features like file sharing and security settings via embedded tooltips and prompts.
I like this technique since it suits many learning styles. Some users want to dig in and explore, whereas others require more structured supervision. Box caters to both, ensuring that onboarding is intuitive rather than forced.
8. Simplified Sign-Up Process: Productboard
Productboard decreases onboarding friction by making signup simple. Instead of asking users to fill out lengthy forms, it captures only the most important information upfront, allowing them to use the platform right away. Once inside, a guided tour emphasizes essential features important to product managers.
This method is effective because it removes needless barriers to entry. If an onboarding process is tedious, users are likely to abandon it.
9. Progress Tracking with Gamification: FullStory
FullStory employs gamification to make onboarding more engaging. As users finish setup tasks, they receive visual feedback, badges, and awards. This approach makes onboarding a fun “challenge,” motivating users to explore and engage.
This is especially effective, in my opinion, because it appeals to human psychology. Progress monitoring gives consumers a sense of success, increasing the likelihood that they will finish onboarding and continue to use the site. It’s an effective strategy to lower drop-off rates.
10. Instant First-Task Completion: Loom
Loom’s onboarding focuses on immediate action. Instead of introducing the product, it just prompts users to create a short video. When users hit record, they immediately recognize the tool’s worth.
This one of my favorite onboarding strategies because it eliminates any friction. Users do not need to read or watch a lesson; they can use the product right away. It’s the most effective way to demonstrate value in seconds.
Why do I think these onboarding strategies work?
- Immediate value. Linear, Loom, and Raycast enable customers to perform a meaningful activity within minutes, emphasizing why the product matters.
- Reduce cognitive load. Notion AI and Arc help people ease into the experience by avoiding information overload.
- Personalized experience. HubSpot and Productboard tailor onboarding based on customer replies, making it feel relevant.
- Encourages active participation. To keep users engaged, Asana and Box provide actionable guides and interactive tutorials.
- Leveraged motivation and habit formation. FullStory’s gamification keeps users invested in the onboarding process.
The best SaaS onboarding experiences don’t just teach — they create immediate value. By focusing on hands-on learning, personalization, and seamless transitions, these companies ensure that users not only understand their product quickly but also feel compelled to keep using it.
SaaS Onboarding Checklist: Proven Framework for Success
The difference between a user who leaves and one who sticks around is a well-organized onboarding process. In fact, 82% of enterprise organizations consider their user onboarding strategy to be a crucial factor in driving value for their business.
Based on market insights, my practical experience, and some general best practices, I have created a tried-and-true SaaS onboarding checklist. Create a smooth, high-retention onboarding process by following these steps.
1. Pre-Onboarding: Establishing the Foundation for Achievement
Know your users well.
I always begin by learning about the needs, objectives, and problems of my clients. Donna Weber, author and leading expert in customer onboarding, says that “successful customer onboarding starts before the deal closes and extends beyond the customer’s first move within your product.”
To customize the experience, employ behavioral data, user interviews, and surveys.
Make sure expectations are clear.
I make sure users are always aware of what to expect before the onboarding process starts. For example, a landing page or welcome email should include the following:
- Timeline (e.g., “Your onboarding will take 14 days”).
- Key Milestones (e.g., “By Day 3, you’ll complete X”).
- Success Criteria (e.g., “You’ll be fully set up and trained by Week 2”).
Assign a dedicated AI assistant or onboarding specialist.
I designate a human specialist for high-value accounts and employ AI-driven guidance for self-serve users. This blended approach can significantly impact customer retention, which is crucial given that U.S. companies lose an estimated $168 billion annually due to customer attrition.
By providing personalized onboarding for key accounts and efficient self-service options, businesses can address the retention challenges faced across industries, where the average retention rate is around 75%.
2. Welcome & Setup: Creating Memorable First Impressions
Send a personalized welcome email.
Go beyond the generic “Welcome to [Product Name]” email. As someone deeply invested in good user onboarding, I’ve learned that first impressions are everything.
Here’s how I approach it:
- I always address the user by name and acknowledge their specific role within their organization. This shows I understand their needs.
- Based on my understanding of different industries and use cases, I provide a tailored getting started guide.
- I then create a concise 60-second video walkthrough of the initial steps, focusing on what they need to accomplish right now.
- I’ve found offering a calendar link to schedule a personalized onboarding call dramatically improves engagement early on.
Empower users with accessible self-serve resources.
Next, I ensure we have a comprehensive knowledge base, interactive tutorials, and contextual in-app guidance –– all up to date, of course. In my experience, providing these resources upfront significantly reduces friction and empowers users.
- Optimize for discovery. Ensure that your self-serve resources are easily discoverable. Use intuitive navigation, search functionality, and even proactive guidance like tooltips or contextual help icons to lead users to the information they need without them feeling lost.
- Feedback loop. Implement a system where users can give feedback on the usefulness of the resources. This not only helps keep the content relevant and updated but also shows users that their input is valued, encouraging further engagement.
Design an engaging, adaptive product tour.
I like to avoid boring, linear walkthroughs. Instead, I focus on creating interactive, behavior-driven tours. Here are some ways I frame that:
- “Explore This Key Feature” (Based on their stated goals).
- “Create Your First Custom Dashboard” (Leading them to quick wins).
- “Connect Your Data Sources” (If applicable to their role).
- “Set Up Team Collaboration” (Highlighting the collaborative potential).
Pro tip: I leverage tools like Appcues, Pendo, or WalkMe because I’ve found they’re very helpful for creating dynamic tours that adapt to user interactions and provide personalized guidance.
3. First Value: Delivering the ‘Aha!’ Moment Quickly
Guide users to their first quick win.
The faster users experience value, the more likely they are to stick around. I will often ask myself, “What’s the #1 thing a user must do to see value?” Then, I design onboarding to get them there immediately.
As Steve Jobs famously said, “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology –– not the other way around.”
Provide templates, pre-built configs, or integrations.
Instead of making users start from scratch, I like to offer:
- Pre-set dashboards tailored to common use cases.
- Industry-specific templates that address unique needs.
- One-click integrations with popular tools in their tech stack.
- Guided walkthroughs for customizing pre-built assets.
Offer real-time support and proactive check-ins.
Enhancing your onboarding process with real-time support and proactive check-ins is important for user engagement and retention. Here’s how you can implement these strategies effectively.
- Integrate live chat and chatbots. Implementing live chat or AI-driven chatbots provides users with immediate assistance, reducing frustration and improving satisfaction.
- Schedule proactive check-ins. Regular check-ins, especially during the initial stages, help address user concerns promptly and ensure a smooth onboarding process. These touchpoints can be automated messages or scheduled calls depending on user needs and preferences.
- Set up triggered messages based on user behavior. Use behavioral triggers to send personalized messages that guide users through key features or address potential obstacles. For example, if a user hasn’t completed a crucial setup step, an automated reminder can prompt them to do so, keeping them on track.
- Offer proactive video tutorials for visual learners. Offering video tutorials caters to visual learners and can simplify complex processes. These resources allow users to learn at their own pace and revisit information as needed, enhancing their understanding and engagement with your product.
4. Ongoing Engagement: Preventing Drop-Off & Driving Adoption
Arrange for follow-ups at significant turning points.
I send check-in emails using a data-driven strategy. This ensures users remain engaged and supported throughout their onboarding journey. Consider the following timeline.
- Day 3: Send a check-in email with the subject line, “How’s it going? Need help?” This early touchpoint addresses initial hurdles and reinforces support availability.
- Day 7: Send an email titled, “Tips to Optimize [Feature X],” offering insights into specific features to enhance user experience.
- Day 14: Reach out with, “Let’s Measure Your Progress,” encouraging users to assess their achievements and providing guidance for further advancement.
According to a study by ProductLed, 40% to 60% of users who sign up for service will never return after the first experience. Proactive follow-ups at strategic intervals can mitigate this drop-off by keeping users engaged and informed.
Offer advanced education and certifications that matter.
Creating a thorough instructional ecosystem is essential for maintaining user interest and platform proficiency. Structured learning paths keep users engaged and motivated.
For instance, a solid certification program helps users level up and prove their expertise:
- Tiered certifications to encourage progression
- Real-world scenarios to test how they apply platform features
- Digital badges for LinkedIn and internal recognition
- Exclusive perks like beta access and early feature previews
Make learning engaging, not a chore.
Regularly host live webinars with industry leaders, power users, and product gurus. These workshops enable users to address particular difficulties and obtain deeper insights by combining real-world demos with Q&A chances.
Users of all skill levels will find value in the topics, which range from basic ideas to complex application cases.
Foster a strong, self-sustaining community.
A thriving user community isn’t just a “nice-to-have” –– it’s a game-changer for long-term adoption. I make sure users have a go-to space to:
- Swap tips and best practices with peers.
- Access user-created content like workflows, templates, and integration guides.
- Join monthly challenges that push them to explore new features.
- Give direct feedback to the product team and influence future updates.
Keep up documentation that’s actually useful.
Nobody wants to dig through outdated or overly technical docs. I maintain a clean, accessible knowledge base packed with:
- Step-by-step guides with short video tutorials.
- Case studies showing successful implementations.
- Developer-friendly technical docs.
- Ongoing product updates and feature deep dives.
By making education and community a core part of the experience, I ensure users not only get the most out of a platform, but also feel invested in its long-term success.
Below is more detail — and lots of lived-in tips — for great customer onboarding. Keep in mind that onboarding tools are also essential here.
1. Connecting Sales and Onboarding
Early in my career, I experienced the problems that arise when sales and training work separately. The disconnect led to unhappy customers, churn, and a lot of internal finger-pointing. I soon understood that getting these teams on the same page is not just a good idea –– it’s necessary for a great customer experience.
Making a shared training guide that both sales and customer success teams can use has helped me a lot with this. We also hold regular talks to stay aligned. The key is to have a clear process for handing off information, making sure that sales shares all important customer data.
Sales prepares everything, and training makes it work. When I’ve seen this done correctly, the effects are always amazing.
My Tips
- Make a checklist for deal stages in your CRM. Make sure sales reps fill out a script in your CRM (like Salesforce or HubSpot) before they mark a deal as “Closed Win.” This helps make sure important training information, like customer goals and use cases, is recorded in a uniform way.
- Joint Sales/CS demo reviews. Record sales demos and have the customer success team review them to find any gaps in expectations that can be addressed early during training.
2. Including Customer Success in the Sales Training Process
I truly think that sales training is not complete without a focus on customer success. New sales hires should meet with the training teams. They should attend talks with the onboarding team to ensure a good onboarding experience.
Think about it –– how often have you heard a salesperson make big promises, but then the team in charge of getting customers started has difficulty delivering?
I’ve seen this situation happen too often. I suggest adding a “Customer Success 101” section to the sales training and having regular learning events between teams. When you help your sales team focus on what happens after a sale, you build a better way to keep customers happy.
My Tips
- Product certification for selling. Create a simple product certification program for sales reps. This helps them understand the main features of a product or service and clearly explain benefits to potential customers.
- Onboarding simulation in sales training. Set up a role-playing activity where sales reps pass a pretend customer to the training team. This will help them understand how the customer support team handles new customers.
3. Engaging in Customer Research
Being prepared makes a big difference. Researching a customers’ business, industry, and team before a call makes the conversation easier and more effective. Without preparation, it’s easy to miss important details or ignore issues that are more important to them.
You can use tools like LinkedIn and Crunchbase to quickly find useful information to help you understand their needs and guide the conversation. Putting in a little extra effort helps build trust and create a better experience for others.
My Tips
- Ideal customer profile deep dive. Ensure your onboarding team has a solid knowledge of your ICP. Look up companies that fit this description before the first call so that the discussion stays on track.
- Monitor customer tech stack. Use tools like BuildWith to identify other products your customer is using. This helps you understand their existing ecosystem and potential integrations.
4. Emphasizing Early Contact With Prospects
I really believe that onboarding teams should talk to possible customers early on. I understand that sales teams might be worried about distractions from finishing deals, but I believe that building relationships with customers early on is very important.
In my experience, it helps build trust and clarify expectations. It also gives the onboarding team a better idea of the customer’s concerns and hesitations before they even sign up.
I suggest meeting with the sales representatives first to agree on strategies and plans for training. Working together this way makes things easier and customers are happy.
My Tips
- Provide a “technical discovery call.” Provide a free technical call with an expert to help new customers before they complete their purchase. This deals with technology issues and shows how onboarding is beneficial.
- Create a pre-sale onboarding checklist. Develop a simple checklist for sales reps to review with prospects. This outlines the basic setup needed (like API access and user rights) for a successful start.
5. Making New Customers Feel Welcome
A common mistake companies make is putting off the welcome process for new customers. I understand that things can get hectic, but I’ve learned that connecting well at the start is very important for establishing the mood of the whole relationship.
I suggest adding “new customer welcome time” to your team’s plans. If they feel overlooked, they are less likely to be enthusiastic about working with your team. Focus on new customers and respond to them within 24 hours to keep them engaged!
My Tips
- Automated welcome series. Create an automatic email series in your marketing tool that starts when a deal is closed. Add a personal video from the onboarding team and links to important tools.
- New customer Slack channel. Set up a special Slack channel for new users to ask questions and get fast help during their first week.
6. Being Available When Customers Need You
Following up on what we just reviewed, I encourage everyone to always be ready to assist new buyers. From what I’ve noticed, customers are usually excited when they buy something and it’s important to take advantage of that energy.
From what I’ve seen, reaching out to the customer within the first day helps maintain their excitement. Otherwise, people might lose motivation and begin to doubt their buy.
My Tips
- Live chat help on onboarding pages. Add a live chat feature to your training pages so that new users can get help right away.
- Office hours for new customers. Set up weekly “office hours” for new customers to come and ask questions to the training team in a group.
7. Delivering Value Immediately
When I discuss onboarding in the freemium world, I talk about the “Aha” moment and getting your users there quickly.
Now, it should be no different with higher-touch onboarding. I’ve seen customer success teams spend their first onboarding sessions simply welcoming the customer, discussing goals, and scheduling following steps, without getting anything done.
Those topics are important, but you can complete something as simple as turning on one tool and ticking off one basic task, and the feeling of making progress can put the customer at ease.
My Tips
- Feature first focus. Identify the single most impactful feature for your new customers and design the initial onboarding flow to focus exclusively on that feature.
- Template/preset library. Provide a library of pre-built templates or presets that new users can quickly customize to achieve initial value.
8. Ensuring Your Onboarding Content is Resource-Rich
Businesses frequently spend a lot money on content marketing for their products and services, but they rarely provide comparable materials for onboarding. This is a squandered opportunity because, ultimately, 90% of consumers believe that businesses should enhance their onboarding procedure.
I always advise creating webpages, downloads, and tools that describe your onboarding and customer success offerings. The most useful materials are visual ones. High-quality information has a significant impact on empowering your customers and creating positive expectations.
My Tips
- Interactive checklist for onboarding. Just like we discussed earlier, create an interactive onboarding checklist that walks new users through the necessary setup procedures and monitors their progress.
- Use case-specific instructional videos. Create brief, targeted video lessons that show how to use your product or service to address particular issues for various use cases or industries.
9. Streamlining and Simplifying Processes
I really appreciate the efficiency that comes from automating repetitive tasks during the onboarding process. From my experience, manually scheduling calls and sending welcome emails can consume a lot of time. I prefer to set up an automatic welcome email for the customer, which includes the next steps, their points of contact, and details on how to schedule time with them.
It would be beneficial to utilize the marketing team’s automation tools for developing customer onboarding campaigns. This approach also guarantees a uniform and high-quality experience for your customers.
My Tips
- Automated monitoring of usage. Establish automated monitoring of essential usage metrics within your platform to pinpoint customers who might be facing challenges or not maximizing their product experience.
- Personalized in-app messages. Initiate tailored in-app messages according to user actions (e.g., “It seems you haven’t explored Feature X yet. Take a moment to watch this brief video that will guide you through the process.”).
10. Reinforcing Goals (Keeping the “Why” in Mind)
I’ve found that customers often struggle to understand why they’re doing certain things in a particular order when they start using a new tool. In my opinion, it’s important to provide context and explain the “why” behind every task.
Aim to understand your customers’ short-, medium-, and long-term goals and priorities. What does success look like to them? Understanding these goals helps build trust and reduce anxiety at the beginning of your customer’s lifecycle.
My Tips
- Goal setting kickoff call template. Create a structured template for your initial kickoff call that focuses on identifying the customer’s key goals and defining measurable success criteria.
- Progress report automation. Automate the generation and delivery of progress reports that show customers how their usage of your product or service is contributing to their defined goals. The more they can see it, the better.
Make Your Onboarding Experience Memorable
Having spent my career in customer experience, it’s clear that onboarding remains at the core of long-term customer success. It’s not just about showing features, but it’s also about building trust by quickly delivering value to the user. Seeing companies like Linear, Loom, and Notion AI demonstrate that reinforces how critical the experience really is.
While researching and writing this article, I was reminded that the best onboarding focuses on getting users to feel competent in the platform. By putting yourself in the user’s shoes, you can help create a seamless experience that makes every step in using the product that much easier.
By implementing this onboarding checklist and the best practices it entails, you can help your customers become more engaged in your product, transform new users into expert champions, and ultimately drive long-term success for your business.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
LinkedIn for Social Selling: How to Research, Prospect, & Sell on Platform [+ New Data]
If you haven’t heard the news, I’m here to deliver it: social selling on LinkedIn, my dear reader, is all the rage. Try picturing this: you connect with a prospect on a Thursday, have a discovery chat locked in by Tuesday, demo by Friday, and […]
SalesIf you haven’t heard the news, I’m here to deliver it: social selling on LinkedIn, my dear reader, is all the rage.
Try picturing this: you connect with a prospect on a Thursday, have a discovery chat locked in by Tuesday, demo by Friday, and then boom — you’ve got a deal closed before the weekend. We both know that this is a salesperson’s dream.
But you see, that magic doesn’t just happen. You won’t get those results without a stellar LinkedIn social selling strategy. And maybe you’ve already got a LinkedIn social strategy that’s working well; maybe you don’t.
Either way, to help you boost your effectiveness, I spoke to a few sales experts and asked them for their best tips for social selling on LinkedIn. Read on to learn their advice, strategies, and tactics to help you take your LinkedIn game to the next level.
Table of Contents:
- Why Social Selling is So Effective on LinkedIn
- LinkedIn Social Selling Mistakes to Avoid
- LinkedIn Social Selling vs. Traditional Selling
- LinkedIn Social Selling Best Practices
- LinkedIn Profile Tips for Salespeople
- Social Selling on LinkedIn: Examples
- How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn
- My Last Words on LinkedIn [+ FAQ]
Why Social Selling is So Effective on LinkedIn
To help you better understand why salesfolks are turning to modern social selling and LinkedIn as their go-to strategy, I’ve gathered some stats from HubSpot’s 2025 State of Social Trends Report and 2024 Sales Trends Report about the broader landscape of selling — for companies and the customers they serve — on social:
- 70% of brands plan to sell products directly through social in 2025. (HubSpot State of Social Trends Report)
- Only 40% of B2C marketers and 30% of B2B marketers are currently selling their products on social platforms. (HubSpot State of Social Trends Report)
- 69% of marketers agree that more shopping will happen directly on social than on brand websites or third-party marketplaces in 2025. (HubSpot State of Social Trends Report)
- 45% of B2B companies use LinkedIn. (HubSpot State of Social Trends Report)
- Sales pros say that social media is among the top five (ranking at #4) most effective sales channels. (HubSpot Sales Trends Report)
- Social media content is the most effective type of sales enablement content; salesfolks who use it in their role are 58% more likely to perform over goal this year. (HubSpot Sales Trends Report)
While there isn’t much recently released research about the impact of social selling on LinkedIn specifically, I have a few guesses as to why social selling on LinkedIn has become so effective in recent years. Here’s my philosophy:
1. User-generated content (UGC) has become more popular, which means social selling has become more popular.
As HubSpot’s 2025 State of Social Trends Report revealed, 24% of marketers say one of the most significant benefits of building social media communities is incentivizing user-generated content.
At first glance, you may think this statistic isn’t super telling, but allow me to explain further. If anything, this statistic does indicate a clear shift in how customers — your customers — respond to content in the new age of social media. They trust peer-created stories over highly polished branded messages.
UGC allows salesfolks and companies to showcase real experiences with their products and/or services. When a salesperson shares how a client solved a challenge using their solution — or even better, when the client shares it — that content feels trustworthy, relatable, and worth their investment (whether it be their time, money, WOM, etc.).
2. When it comes to social selling on LinkedIn, it’s not about hard selling.
Social selling on LinkedIn is about two things: connection and context. It’s about how the salesperson — or even other customers — has been able to extract value from a product or service and, moreover, how that value aligns with the needs of their extended communities.
Rather than showing up in someone’s inbox with an aggressive pitch, successful social sellers lead with:
- Insight
- Experience
- Problem-solving content
- Honesty (especially about the results they’ve seen)
They tell stories. They break down lessons learned. They highlight use cases. This approach makes potential buyers more receptive because it comes across as helpful, not transactional.
3. Social selling on LinkedIn allows potential prospects to understand how a product or service works in the real world.
No one wants to feel like they’re being swindled. With social selling, prospects get a sneak peek at how your solution is used, what outcomes it drives, and how others in similar roles benefit from it.
It shifts the perspective from “here’s what we offer” to “here’s what it looks like in action” and “here’s how I made it work for me as someone in X role.” When done well, this transparency builds curiosity, making prospects more likely to reach out or respond (when the time is right).
4. Social selling (in a more broad sense) allows for authentic, more organic customer relationship building.
Because salesfolks interact with customers over shared interests and/or pain points through social selling tactics, they’re more likely to build trust and rapport behind the sale. Thus, these relationships are rooted in conversation, not conversion.
The result? Warmer leads, better customer retention, even referrals; here’s why this happens:
- People are far more likely to do business with someone who gets them without asking for anything in return (or forcing a pitch).
- Down-to-earth conversations create memorable interactions, which increases the chances of being top-of-mind when a need arises.
- Trust built over time often leads to introductions and referrals because happy prospects are more inclined to advocate for someone they’ve built a real connection with.
Although social selling on LinkedIn does indeed work, you should know what not to do before you do it. Next, I’ll discuss what you want to avoid in your approach and outreach strategy.
Pro Tip: Before you develop your social selling strategy, it’s crucial to determine how and what you’ll use to manage your social media presence. HubSpot’s Social Media Management Software, available through Marketing Hub, can help you do that (but without all the cross-platform confusion and headaches). I recommend trying it, especially if monitoring mentions and engagement are top priorities for your social selling plans.
LinkedIn Social Selling Mistakes to Avoid
There’s a learning curve for everything, my dear reader. It’s easy to fumble the bag when you’re new to LinkedIn, social selling, or both. However, the learning curve is never the problem. You’re not the problem either. A lack of awareness, however, usually is.
To help you sidestep errors that could set your LinkedIn social selling efforts back by months, here’s what I suggest avoiding if you plan to prioritize LinkedIn for prospecting, fostering client/customer relationships, and, most importantly, selling products and/or services:
1. Avoid leading with a sales pitch. LinkedIn isn’t Shark Tank.
Want to know the quickest way to get ghosted on LinkedIn? Hit someone with a sales pitch right after they accept your connection request.
Here’s why this will never work: it feels ambush-y. People want to connect with humans, not humans cosplaying as billboards. Social selling is about trust, so you need to offer legitimate value before you talk business.
2. Avoid abandoning your account.
You don’t have to live on LinkedIn, but disappearing for weeks at a time won’t help your visibility or build your credibility. You’re building relationships; just like in real life, people notice when you ghost.
So, keep your profile refreshed, relevant, and ready for engagement. Also, I recommend:
- Posting at least once or twice a week.
- Thoughtfully interacting with your network (this can be done in whatever way works for you, whether it be reposting, commenting, liking their content, etc).
- Regularly checking and accepting connection requests (don’t let them stack up … I’m speaking from experience).
3. Avoid posting content that isn’t relevant to what you’re offering.
While personality and authenticity are important, your content should align with your brand, expertise, and services. Posting random memes or sharing news with zero tie-ins to your value proposition confuses your audience and, over time, dilutes your message.
If you find yourself blanking on how to strike a balance between what you want to post and what you should post, I suggest asking yourself the following questions (then use your responses to build out content pillars that can guide your approach):
- Does this support how I want to be perceived?
- Will this help my audience solve problems, learn something, or see me as a go-to resource?
- Is this relevant to the services or solutions I offer directly or indirectly?
- Does this prompt my audience to think, engage, or take action in some way?
Remember: every post is an opportunity to reinforce what you’re known for.
4. Avoid ignoring engagement opportunities (‘cause that’s where all the magic happens).
Engagement is LinkedIn’s currency. If you want to see results quickly, you’ve got to commit to consistently showing up and interacting with intention.
Likes and comments aren’t just social fluff — they’re conversation starters. If someone comments on or likes your post, if they view your profile, that’s a signal to interact, not ignore.
That said, here’s what I recommend doing if you’re eager to build momentum on LinkedIn but unsure about where to start:
- Reply to comments on your posts (I highly suggest blocking out time on your calendar just to scroll through comments and reply to ones that pique your interest, even if they weren’t directly linked to your post).
- Respond to DMs promptly (even a short, friendly reply goes a long way in keeping connections warm).
- Tag folks (on opportunities that reminded you of them, on posts of tools or hacks they could utilize in their role, etc.).
Pro Tip: Using HubSpot’s AI Social Media Post Generator, also available through Marketing Hub, is an excellent time-saver for managing engagement opportunities without having to manually every notification you receive. With features like schedule and post, you can stay consistent (in every way, BTW) without being online 24/7.
LinkedIn Social Selling vs. Traditional Selling
I’m going to assume that you already know this. Still, I’ll say it anyway: social selling on LinkedIn and the well-known hustles (IYKYK) of traditional selling are two completely different ballgames.
Times have changed, so social and traditional selling have inevitably gone through many lifecycles. However, at the core of each methodology lies simple differences. I’ve put together a graphic and compiled a list of key contrasts to help you see the distinctions between the two. Take a look:
Traditional Selling
As briefly outlined in my graphic above, traditional selling is often transactional and focused on short-term wins. It’s the cold call, the elevator pitch, the impersonal email blast, the networking small talk … I hope you’re picking up what I’m putting down. In short, traditional selling relies on high-effort, high-volume tactics to build business, such as:
- A sales-first mindset
- Quota-driven tactics
- In-person meetings or networking events (as primary touchpoints)
- One-size-fits-all pitches
Essentially, traditional selling involves any sales technique that converts leads quickly. And while this may have been efficient for a long time, it hasn’t always prioritized being personable.
Therefore, it’s no longer the only (or the best) way to build a customer base, especially if your goal is to earn repeat business and loyal clients.
Social Selling
Conversely, social selling (quite literally) flips the script — and not the cold-calling one. Social selling is relationship-based and thrives on authentic engagement. Instead of forcing a pitch, you’re gaining trust by:
- Nurturing long-term opportunities (instead of pushing for quick wins)
- Engaging with prospects through personalized outreach
- Creating and sharing relevant content to demonstrate authority and insight
- Targeting quality over quantity by identifying the right-fit audience
While traditional selling might get your foot in the door, social selling helps you stay in the room — and build something meaningful once you’re there.
LinkedIn Social Selling Best Practices
So far, I’ve covered why social selling on LinkedIn is effective, the mistakes you should avoid while building your presence, and how social selling differs from what you know (and love … or hate) about traditional selling. This means there’s only one thing left for me to discuss: how to put your best foot forward when actually using LinkedIn to, well, sell.
Throughout this blog post section, I’ll guide you through how to do two foundational sales things on LinkedIn: prospecting and researching. I’ll also cover tons of underused LinkedIn features you probably didn’t know about.
Let’s get into it.
How to Prospect on LinkedIn
Here’s something I never thought I’d admit: LinkedIn is a lead generation goldmine, and there are tons of strategies for finding prospects. I’ll discuss each, ranked from most common to least, and how you can utilize them to get the most out of your time on the platform:
1. Search
I’ll start us off easy. Thanks to LinkedIn’s vast user base, ability to see mutual connections, and a wide variety of filters, I’d argue that its search capabilities are the most potent and well-known way to identify potential customers.
If you have the free version of LinkedIn, you can look for prospects with the following qualifiers:
- Connections: You can choose to find first-, second-, or third-degree connections. Here’s the difference between the three types.
- Mutual Connections: This option lets you find a prospect connected to one of your current connections. This is a great way to find potential common areas that you can use to start a conversation.
- Locations: You can find the prospects nearest to you or in your target geographical area.
- Current Company: Use this filter to find prospects at target businesses.
- Past Company: Use this filter to find prospects who share common ground with you. For instance, if they worked at one of your former employers, you can use this information to open up the conversation.
- School: Another handy feature for finding common ground. You can use this filter to find alumni from your college who might be good prospects.
- Industry: This filter lets you find prospects in target verticals.
- Profile Language: If your company plans to expand internationally, you can use this filter to find prospects outside your country. Just be sure you can speak their language.
- Open To: You likely won’t use this filter. It lets you look for users who are open to pro bono consulting and joining nonprofit boards.
- Service Categories: This filter lets you find prospects offering consulting services in various industries. It may be a good filter if you target freelancers in your prospecting strategy.
- Keywords: This filter allows you to search by first name, last name, title, company, and school.
2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator (Paid)
I highly recommend investing in LinkedIn Sales Navigator if you already do a fair amount of prospecting on the platform. Not only can LinkedIn Sales Navigator users run very specific searches, but they can also save leads and accounts to the HubSpot CRM with a single click.
Now, there are various tiers you can sign up for. They’re as follows:
- Sales Navigator Core: You get 50 monthly InMail messages and advanced filters. Best for individuals.
- Sales Navigator Advanced: This is best for teams. It offers 50 monthly InMail messages, advanced filters, and administrative tools.
- Sales Navigator Enterprise: This is the best option for enterprise teams. It offers 50 monthly InMail messages, advanced filters, and CRM integrations.
Check out all features and pricing here. When using Sales Navigator, you’ll find two handy features for prospecting: Advanced Search Filters and Saved Search.
Advanced Search Filters
LinkedIn Sales Navigator users can use 40+ advanced search filters that help you find the exact and most qualified prospects. Once you see them, you can prioritize those with the most connections to build rapport, and it surfaces the right signals to help you engage at the right time.
Saved Search
Suppose your ideal customer is a product marketer at a medium-sized consumer goods company in the Pacific Northwest. Rather than periodically running a search for that type of prospect, set up a saved search.
Then, depending on your timing preference (daily, weekly, or monthly), LinkedIn will send you email alerts with new search results. Essentially, you’re getting a steady stream of pre-qualified prospects in your inbox.
3. “People Also Viewed” Sidebar
Once you’ve found a prospect, navigate to their profile and find the “People Also Viewed” box in the right-hand column of their profile. As they say, “The friend of my prospect is another prospect.”
4. Your Customers’ Connections
Looking for referrals? After you’ve closed a deal, look for status updates and posts from the customer stakeholders, especially your champion.
When other LinkedIn users comment or like your content, investigate them to see if they’re qualified prospects. Then, ask your current customer for an introduction or contact them directly (don’t forget to mention your mutual connection).
5. Notifications
LinkedIn sends notifications when a connection changes their profile. (Prospects must individually opt-in to allow their connections to receive notifications of profile updates, so I recommend using this tactic in tandem with another one.)
Every job change is a potential opportunity. Perhaps a customer is transitioning to a different company — they’ll probably be eager to implement a tool they already know. Or maybe your champion just made a lateral move. Could their new department benefit from your product like their old one did?
To see when people in your network have been promoted, changed jobs, or moved to a new company, periodically scroll through your Notifications section.
6. Lead Gen Forms
LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms come recommended by LinkedIn’s VP of Marketing, Jim Habig.
He spoke to my colleague and called the native tool one of its most potent lead-generation tools. He told her, “LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms streamline lead generation by auto-populating users’ LinkedIn profile information when they click on your ad.”
He continued, “This simplifies the process for users, allowing them to submit their information easily and boosting lead generation efficiency. Furthermore, the collected data can be synchronized with your CRM system.”
I recommend using this tool in partnership with your marketing efforts. If you’re putting out an ad on LinkedIn, use Lead Gen Form to capture information from anyone who interacts with your ad. Once you have their information, you have what you need for future nurturing opportunities.
7. LinkedIn Articles
To reach hundreds and potentially thousands of prospects, publish a LinkedIn Article (formerly LinkedIn Pulse) with advice or insights on a common pain point your customers face.
You can tag coworkers, business acquaintances, and/or customers in the comments to encourage some debate and make the post more visible. Then, wait for prospects to begin commenting.
Plus, since you’re discussing an issue that directly concerns them, there’s a good chance most of the participants will need your product, and you can begin forging relationships.
8. Social Selling Index Score
Find out how well you’re doing by checking your official Social Selling Index (SSI) score on LinkedIn (be sure to be logged in before clicking the link). This tells you how well you’ve established your professional brand, found the right people, engaged with insights, and built relationships.
Here’s a screenshot of my social selling index just to give you an idea of what it looks like. (Please don’t use my score as a reference … aim much higher than 23!)
How to Research on LinkedIn
Your prospect’s LinkedIn profile tells you basic but essential facts, such as their title and company, primary responsibilities, job tenure, location, and industry.
However, it also uncovers much more, like insight into their personalities, interests, and preferred communication styles. After skimming their LinkedIn summary and recommendations, try to gauge their character. How do others describe them? How do they describe themselves?
Take a look at former HubSpot executive Dan Tyre’s recommendations:
Terms like “enthusiastic,” “high energy,” and “passionate” are frequently mentioned. A rep selling to Tyre should strive to match his ebullience and optimism.
You should also review your prospect’s profile’s highlights, featured, activity, and interests sections. Here’s a brief overview of what you’ll likely see when peeking through a prospect’s profile:
1. Highlights
“Highlights” shows you any existing mutual connections and employment overlap. This is valuable fodder for building rapport; in your outreach email or InMail, you can mention something like, “I see you also did a stint at Dunder Mifflin” or “I’m a friend of Pam Halpert’s.”
2. Featured
LinkedIn’s “Featured” section shows your prospect’s content chronologically. You can see which posts they’ve liked, commented on, and/or published themselves.
3. Activity
Next is the “Activity” section. This section gives you a feel for their personal and professional interests. Did they comment on a thought leadership piece about nutrition in the workplace?
That could be a great jumping-off point for your first conversation. Did they like an excerpt from a book about leadership? Ask them for reading recommendations in your email.
4. Interests
Finally, check out the Interests section. The companies, groups, influencers, and schools they follow or belong to will appear here. Get a quick overview of their role models, professional communities, and more.
LinkedIn Profile Tips for Salespeople
Because you work in sales, you already know you’re targeting a different audience than most professionals. You want to appeal to prospects, not hiring managers and recruiters. To do so, you’ll need a professional profile.
That means your LinkedIn profile shouldn’t show how great you are at selling. Do you think customers care that you went to President’s Club or broke the team record for upsell revenue? Not in the slightest.
These details only remind them you’re a sales rep — which could encourage them to feel suspicious about your motives. So what do they care about? One thing: How have you helped customers similar to them.
Here are some suggestions I think you should heavily consider if you want to take your LinkedIn profile from sales-focused to customer-focused:
1. LinkedIn Headline
There’s a simple formula for creating a memorable, eye-catching LinkedIn headline:
“[Title]: helping [prospects] do X.”
For instance, you might use “BDR: Helping SMBs adopt inbound marketing” or Senior Sales Manager: Helping fitness studios go digital.”
LinkedIn Summary
Your LinkedIn summary should be one paragraph — two at the max. Prospects usually skim your profile, so anything longer won’t be read.
Describe your role, unique value proposition, and passion for the job. And don’t be afraid to give your summary a little personality. You want readers to feel like they know you already.
Here’s a sample summary:
“As a senior account executive for Briton Foods, I get to work with corporations to reinvent their food and beverage programs and make them healthier, tastier, and cost-effective. I studied nutrition in college and am passionate about healthy food. But I’ll be real: I eat almost as much chocolate as quinoa. Connect with me to learn how your company can start offering nutritious and delicious food to your employees.”
If you’re feeling stuck, check out these LinkedIn summary examples for salespeople.
2. LinkedIn Role Descriptions
Under your current position, you might write:
- Work with businesses in X, Y, and Z industries to reduce manufacturing defects by 3% on average
- Help customers reduce costs by $500,000
- Achieve 100% passing rate for safety standards for customers
These accomplishments tell a potential buyer, “I can positively impact your business.” Once they believe that, they’ll almost always accept your connection request, respond to your InMail, or agree to a call.
3. LinkedIn Profile Picture
According to LinkedIn’s very own data, simply having a picture — any picture — makes your profile 14 times more likely to be viewed.
This makes sense to me — if you have a generic icon, you look like a spammer.
But not all photos are created equal. Yours should represent you in the best light possible, meaning it looks like you, focuses on your face, has good lighting, and doesn’t have a distracting background.
I recommend hiring a professional photographer to take a headshot if you can afford it. It can cost a few hundred dollars upfront, but it’s a rewarding investment for a professional profile. Alternatively, call in a favor with someone good with a camera.
Once you’ve chosen a final contender, I recommend asking those around you (manager, peers, trusted friends, etc) to look at your profile picture and give you their first impression.
Do you seem friendly and open, or unapproachable and unprofessional? Getting feedback from multiple sources will reveal whether your image will help or hurt you.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can create an AI-generated headshot. My teammate Caroline Forsey recently tested Media.io, and you can read about it here.
Final Tips for Your LinkedIn Profile
The more fleshed-out your profile is, the more credible and legitimate you’ll seem. You can add your X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram profiles (if you use them professionally) for added social proof and linking. Your email and phone number should be visible as well, along with your company website.
Now that your profile is up to par and you know how to look up and connect with leads on LinkedIn, I’ll go over how to use the platform to land the sale.
Barrett J. King, Sr. Director of Revenue at New Breed, says, “First, let’s recognize that social selling is everywhere now — whether it’s individuals building personal brands or companies empowering their people to become go-to-market ambassadors on social. Because it’s so common (especially on LinkedIn), you’ll see exceptional social selling techniques right up alongside the noise.”
As I mentioned above, salespeople say social media is one of the most effective channels for selling. They also say it offers the highest quality leads, and high-performing salespeople are 12% more likely to use it when selling. So, how are they achieving that success?
LinkedIn Social Selling Best Practices
I asked sales experts to share some of their best tips for social selling on LinkedIn, and you can leverage their advice to join the ranks of high-powered sellers. Here’s what they had to say below:
1. Share valuable content.
First and foremost, you should share valuable, engaging content relevant to your ideal customer. Valuable content is the most relevant to your target audience and their pain points because otherwise, you risk speaking into the void.
Tyler Meckes, Growth Strategist at Impulse Creative, told me, “With social selling, being too generic will leave your true value diluted and will not be as effective in converting to meetings or business. Instead of broadcasting broad messages, today’s sophisticated, research-oriented buyers will see more value if the content you share strategically aligns with solving their specific pain points.”
I recommend sharing original content you (or your company) create, relevant insights from thought leaders in your target customer’s industry, or a combination of both.
Your overall goal is to share information that speaks to the main challenge or problem your prospects want to overcome because they feel more inclined to engage when they come across this content. It also helps build trust and rapport as you prime contacts for a potential sale.
2. Join LinkedIn groups that serve your target audience.
By joining LinkedIn groups, you can expand your potential reach and LinkedIn network, making it possible for those in the group to connect with you and view your profile even if you don’t have any mutual connections.
Don’t limit yourself by only joining groups relevant to your industry. Seek out groups your ideal customers belong to and be an active, engaged member of the groups you join. If you actively engage in the groups you use, potential customers can come across your content and recognize you as a source of valuable information.
Another bonus? Groups help you learn more about your audience. You can read through posts and comment threads to know what prospects are interested in and talking about, jump in and add helpful information, or even use what you’ve learned as a starting point to send a private message and initiate the conversation.
3. Personalize connection requests.
When sending connection requests to prospects or individuals you don’t know personally, including a personalized message is critical. By sending a personalized request, you provide the necessary context, telling this individual why they should add you to their network. This can help you stand out in a sea of generic requests.
To add a personalized note, click the “Add a Note” button when prompted before sending your connection request.
The note doesn’t have to be incredibly detailed, but it should provide context for your connection. Here’s an example:
If you’re feeling stuck, here are some points you could choose to include:
- A personalized greeting using their name
- Mutual connections (if applicable)
- Mutual groups (if applicable)
- A piece of content they engaged with
- Experience on their profile that stuck out to you
4. Facilitate meaningful conversations.
Once you connect with a prospect on LinkedIn, keep the conversation going. The personalized message you send when making your connection request can be a good conversation starter. Still, it’s probably not ideal to go in for sale immediately, and Meckes agrees. He says, “Another major issue I see [with social selling] is the all-too-familiar ‘connect-and-pitch.’”
Instead of asking for a meeting immediately in your initial request, you’ll want to stay in touch, remain on their radar, and nurture your relationship before giving an ask.
Meckes’ shared his favorite cold-prospecting process with me:
- Connect without any asks.
- Follow the prospect’s account to keep track of what they post.
- Engage with their posts, share content they may be interested in to provide value, and, when appropriate, keep the conversation going by commenting on their posts.
- Use a timely and relevant trigger from something they’ve said to introduce how you’ve helped others similar to them.
- Use an interest-based call-to-action to determine if it’s a significant enough pain worth solving.
He says, “Only after you’ve built rapport – and a relationship – have you earned the opportunity for your own ‘ask.’”
5. Take conversations offline.
After building rapport, don’t be afraid to take the conversation offline. When you feel the prospect is ready to begin having more serious sales conversations, offer to set up a phone call or meeting time to learn more about their concerns and offer solutions on behalf of your company.
Social Selling on LinkedIn: Examples
How do you begin social selling straight from your profile? Take a look at examples from top companies and salespeople on LinkedIn below:
1. The Hypothetical Question
What better way to generate engagement on one of your posts than by asking a question?
Why not ask a question directly addressing your target buyer?
In this example from our LinkedIn page, we ask, “You’re hired as a CMO and tasked with doubling your company’s brand awareness. Where do you start?”
I find this post to be effective because:
- CMOs are one of our target personas.
- We get to understand their challenges with this question.
- It prompts thought — it’s not a question that can be answered by a simple yes or no.
In the same way, I recommend asking questions that target the type of people you’d like to sell to. Once you receive comments, respond, continue the conversation, and connect.
2. The Listicle
Yes, listicles still work. The best part? They’re relatively easy to write and can touch upon topics your prospect will likely relate to.
In this example, a sales leader shares which sales tactics annoy him. You don’t have to write such a pointed listicle. Instead, you can touch upon common pain points that your prospects face. In that way, they can chime in and air their frustrations — and you can begin to position your product as the solution.
Listicles that are short and to the point align with King’s tip on simplicity: “Longer posts aren’t better posts,” he says. “If you can get it across in 15 words, do it.”
3. The Thought Leadership Post
In this example, a representative from a software outsourcing company discusses what to look for when hiring a software engineer. He effectively addresses his target prospect’s core desire: outsourcing software labor so that they can grow their business.
Part of being a thought leader on LinkedIn means bringing your prospects a fresh, new perspective about what they want and need, and King says you can do so by being creative. He says, “Don’t copy other sellers and thought leaders. Be bold. Consider your experience and perspective, and meet audiences where they are.”
Meckes gives a similar tip based on the mistakes he’s observed in other social sellers: “One of the biggest mistakes I see in social selling is also one of the biggest pitfalls of traditional selling — that is being too generic, casting too wide of a net, and ultimately not having any type of strategic approach to social outreach.”
4. The Resource Pitch
Yes, you can pitch directly on your posts — but you have to be strategic about it.
In this example, the poster asks about a common pain point. She then outlines some steps her prospects could take to resolve the pain points and ends the post by inviting the users to comment “CLOCKWORK” to get a resource.
To me, offering a resource is the key. By giving your prospects something for free, you can automatically begin a conversation once you send the resource to their inbox.
5. The Inspirational Story
Share a quick narrative with a lesson learned, and you’ll be sure to engage prospects who feel the same way.
In this example, a TV professional shares a conversation about why she posts on LinkedIn. She ends the story with a positive takeaway and invites users to follow her hashtag.
While it seems like inspirational stories are all over LinkedIn lately, there’s nothing wrong with them — in fact, positivity can do a lot to brighten up your prospects’ day. It’s especially effective if the takeaway connects to your prospects’ pain points.
Pro Tip: If you’re struggling with what to post, I strongly recommend tapping into the beautiful, tremendous powers of AI. When utilized for social media, HubSpot’s Breeze AI can suggest personalized posts tailored to your audience (and the best times and days for posting) and help you draft copy that feels true to your voice and style.
Even if you don’t want to use AI for all of your social media efforts, I think you should at least use it to spark ideas, streamline your workflow, and beat any dreaded content blocks.
How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn
A personal brand is the reputation you’re known by. It can usually be summarized in three to eight words. For example, Jeff Bezos’s personal brand might be “Driven, passionate, hyper-intelligent, and business-minded.” Tina Fey’s could be “Funny, strong, self-deprecating, quirky, and brave.”
Your personal brand isn’t necessarily positive. If you’re overly pushy with prospects, “aggressive” will become part of your brand. If you’re manipulative or dishonest, “untrustworthy” will define you.
Luckily, LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for intentionally shaping and promoting an appealing personal brand.
First, identify the adjectives you want prospects and customers to know you for. These should be realistic but aspirational. To give you an idea, you might pick “event marketing expert” even if you’re still building your event marketing knowledge.
Then, figure out what content you can create to showcase those traits.
Here are the main areas of your profile that reflect your personal brand:
- Your summary
- The recommendations you’ve received
- Your posts
I recommend creating “themes” that run throughout your profile. For example, my summary might mention my passion and expertise in event marketing. Then, I’d ask a coworker to recommend me and mention how valuable my events marketing strategy advice is to customers. I’d also write a few posts about events marketing (i.e., how to get started, best practices, etc.).
Then, when a prospect looks at my profile, they’ll quickly see I’m well-versed and a credible resource in events marketing.
My Last Words on LinkedIn [+ FAQ]
If you made it this far — first of all, you’re a real one. Second, you now know that social selling on LinkedIn isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a strategy that works when done right.
If you use LinkedIn correctly, it can be one of the most valuable tools in your arsenal — not just for finding leads but also for building genuine, trust-based relationships that turn into lasting business.
So, flesh out your strategy, optimize your profile, and start connecting with buyers who actually want to hear from you.
Oh, and if you’ve got any lingering questions, I’ve got you. Check out the FAQs below:
- What is LinkedIn Sales Insights?
- How to Avoid LinkedIn’s Commercial Use Limit
- How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile For Sales [Visual Template]
And hey — if you’re going to shoot your shot, ensure it’s from the right angle.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Using AI to Get Your Business Branding Right — My Favorite Tips and Tools
I grew up a Nintendo kid (and yes, that includes the original NES console and Duck Hunt Zapper). For those who remember the Nintendo GameCube, you know a memorable brand experience. How could anyone forget this nine-second clip of branding brilliance? Whenever I think of […]
MarketingI grew up a Nintendo kid (and yes, that includes the original NES console and Duck Hunt Zapper). For those who remember the Nintendo GameCube, you know a memorable brand experience. How could anyone forget this nine-second clip of branding brilliance?
Whenever I think of “branding,” I go back to my memory of the GameCube boot-up screen and the feelings of joy and anticipation it evokes. That makes a brand work — the experience behind the logo. But getting your brand experience right is incredibly hard for any marketing team. Logos, visual identities, copy, websites, social media — “brand” requires tons of attention and work.
![Download Now: The Annual State of Artificial Intelligence in 2024 [Free Report]](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/53/b72f2b25-8cc9-4642-9a1b-1e675d3d273b.png)
So, I’m always on the lookout for ways to build a brand stronger, faster, and better than before. And AI tools for branding have come a long way these past few years to enable more sophisticated brand identity creation and growth.
Let’s look at AI for branding as it stands today and how your team can start building a memorable brand that clicks with consumers.
Table of Contents
- AI for Branding
- Why use AI tools for branding?
- Types of Branding Tools with AI
- Best AI Tools for Branding
AI for Branding
Brand building isn’t just making logos. You need strategy, consistency, and scalability to reach your audiences and grow your impact. Welcome to AI’s biggest role within marketing teams in 2025.
Marketers have toyed with AI for several years. That tracks with what McKinsey has found: Most AI adoption has happened at the individual contributor level (i.e., the social media manager whipping up posts).
But, AI is showing the potential for greater strategic business value. As 2025 unfolds, I believe we’ll see a shift in tool adoption, from ICs experimenting with ChatGPT to deeper integration into everyday workflows.
The Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute recently found that 36% of marketers have infused AI into their daily workflows. Its research also showed a profound shift from marketers just “experimenting” with AI to actually implementing it in their everyday work.
Marketers deploying AI are seeing better results across their bodies of work. SurveyMonkey’s latest AI survey found that, of the marketers using AI:
- 93% use it to generate content faster.
- 81% use it to uncover insights more quickly.
- 90% use it for faster decision-making.
Our research shows that four out of ten marketers are using AI to write copy and outlines for long-form content. They’re also using AI to learn how to do things — not just research for articles but tutorials on writing better content or using tools more effectively.
In 2025, I think we’ll see AI become the marketing team’s branding copilot.
Teams are using AI for content support and customer experience personalization already. AI in content marketing is helping to define and scale brand identities while keeping everything on-brand and consistent. AI’s role will expand, provided marketing teams better structure their internal data architectures and continue investing in AI education and training.
But that copilot piece matters. You shouldn’t concede all branding decisions to an AI partner. Instead, the best-performing marketers will learn to operate alongside their AI branding tools, leaning on its strengths while keeping human creativity and ingenuity at the heart of their brand.
Pro tip: How else are marketers using AI across their organizations? Download our AI Trends for Marketers report for more.
Why use AI tools for branding?
While AI tools for branding can bring many benefits, AI is like any other tool. You need to know how, when, where, and why to use it. You wouldn’t use a hammer to drive a screw into a wall; likewise, AI used without planning and intention can stymie or even damage your brand.
Efficiency and Authenticity
Most talk around AI adoption focuses on efficiency gains — get more, faster, with your team. Rosier predictions from McKinsey show the potential for saving 60-70% of an employee’s time with AI tools. While efficiency is certainly part of the benefit, I don’t think efficiency alone is sufficient, especially with branding needs.
Garin Hobbs, Martech Expert at InboxArmy, agrees. “AI pushes branding toward efficiency, but efficiency without intent weakens identity. I can’t even count how many companies plug AI into content creation and label it innovation, yet the output lacks depth.”
Hobbs continues by sharing how an AI tool’s thoughtful application helped his company. “In my experience, AI works best analyzing customer sentiment at scale, then feeding those insights back into brand messaging,” he said.
“Here‘s my favorite tactic: instead of letting AI write entire emails, I used it to identify specific phrases customers responded to in previous campaigns. Weaving those into fresh copy led to a 19% higher conversion rate. We were shocked — it actually worked! AI shouldn’t replace creative instincts — it should reveal patterns that inform smarter human decisions.”
A branding AI tool doesn’t replace creativity (or creative talent). It supports their efforts while buying back their time and effort.
Hyper-Personalization of Content
Personalizing your marketing content is a bare minimum. Everyone knows “Hi, Alex!” in your email is a first name field.
Now, we’re looking at hyper-personalization, which involves understanding a buyer’s individual behaviors and preferences and changing content to match. These highly customized experiences can reduce customer acquisition costs by as much as 50% and increase marketing ROI by 10-30%.
But, there’s no easy way any marketing team could hyper-personalize at a meaningful scale. Enter an AI branding tool.
However, before you turn your AI loose, give it the structure for personalization at scale while keeping things authentic. Tristan Harris, Sr. VP of Marketing at Next Net Media, shares more.
“For businesses navigating this balance, conduct a brand touchpoint audit identifying moments of genuine differentiation versus functional interactions — this reveals where AI implementation preserves rather than dilutes authenticity,” he said. “The most effective approach I’ve seen connects authentic human expertise with AI-driven personalization at scale rather than choosing between them.”
Harris also points to the importance of voice in this process: “Create clear AI usage guidelines for customer-facing content that specify which brand elements must remain human-crafted, preventing the subtle voice erosion that has damaged many well-intentioned automation efforts.”
Brand Consistency at Scale
Harvard Business Review reports a well-defined brand strategy, with consistency across every touchpoint, can drive 10-20% increases in annual revenue. A branding AI tool is basically purpose-built to protect consistency wherever your brand appears.
But, as Nirmal Gyanwali, Founder & CMO and WP Creative, notes, the buck does not stop at the AI tool.
“We‘ve had to be intentional about how we integrate AI. It’s incredibly useful for tasks like generating content outlines, analyzing customer sentiment, helping us spot patterns we might have missed,” he said. “But when it comes to storytelling and brand voice, that’s all human.”
Balancing the human aspect of a brand while staying consistent is a high-wire act that involves putting faith in your team to represent you well.
“I‘ve learned that you can’t just set an AI tool loose and expect it to build authentic connections,” Gyanwali said. “AI needs a human filter. We‘ve built brand guidelines into our AI tools, but we also trust our team to step in and say, ‘That doesn’t sound like us.’ It’s about working with AI, not letting it take over.”
Types of Branding Tools with AI
“Branding” can be a busy word — a lot goes into building and growing your company’s brand. And AI tools often only solve particular branding problems. Let’s talk about the most common branding tools you’ll come across and how AI integrates to help you get the job done.
Logo and Visual Identity Creation
A brand’s look is typically the first thing a potential customer sees. And, when you get it right, the memory can stick forever. You can probably picture the Nike Swoosh or McDonald’s Arches right now, can’t you?
If you want to design that kind of memory, you might want help from an AI-powered logo maker. These tools use functions similar to text generation to create logos based on your preferences, similar industry brands, and desired color schemes.
Now, the Swoosh is famous because it’s the same everywhere. AI logo makers also typically offer full brand kits with fonts, color palettes, and social media assets. You can maintain a cohesive visual identity as you build your brand.
Website and Landing Page Builders
Your website is still an important part of making your first impression on a customer. And what an impression it has to be: Studies show you have 50 milliseconds to make that first impression. That’s as fast as a gearshift on a Lamborghini. How can you possibly appeal to users that quickly?
AI-driven website builders can help you make that powerful first impression.
These tools can generate copy and visuals, but their real benefit is in design suggestions. You can use AI’s data repository to pick the best-performing designs, improve layouts, and optimize your user experience to nab their attention and keep them scrolling. Some tools are even adding integrated chatbots and dynamic personalization for even better engagement.
Pro tip: Use HubSpot’s CMS platform to build and manage your website using AI. Start by generating a free AI website.
Copywriting and Brand Messaging
My writer’s heart needed time to get comfortable having AI perched on my shoulder, the stochastic parrot it may be. However, time and practice have shown me how these AI-powered writing assistants can, well, assist.
Copywriting tools can generate headlines, product descriptions, email campaigns, SMS text, and social media posts — anywhere you need words. In particular, I’ve found value in AI as a brand messaging amplifier. It’s great at repurposing long-form content into more digestible chunks, which can help you reach more people without writing the same sentence dozens of times.
Branding Research and Competitive Analysis
Marketers need to crunch data to find better ideas and drive stronger results. But, I’d venture to guess many marketers did not choose their field to conduct deep statistical analyses. And, with so much data popping into existence (over 400 million terabytes of data globally every day), it’s impossible for marketers to keep pace.
Branding research AI tools help you analyze competitors, track brand sentiment, and identify consumer trends to keep your brand strategy sharp. These tools review that mess of data using machine learning and natural language processing, scanning online conversations, social media mentions, and industry reports to get the good stuff.
The models then crunch that information into insights, generated in real time and with useful context. You can get ahead of market shifts and adjust your brand positioning and messaging accordingly.
Social Media and Content Creation
I’ve heard, “Can you turn this into a Facebook post?” more times than I can count. While forcing brevity can elicit creativity, writing endless posts can drain any marketing team. And, as social media platforms shift their audiences and best practices, you could use help keeping pace.
AI-powered social media tools can generate posts, captions, pictures, audio, and video using your brand style. It can review your content’s past performance, competitors’ content, industry trends, and audience behavior to create the strongest posts and find the right time and channel to deliver your message. Sentiment analysis can even review the emotions behind a post and recommend sentiment-driven messaging to calm an angry customer or cheer on a happy one.
Brand Consistency and Guidelines
Yes, I prefer the Oxford comma. No, most companies I’ve worked with don’t let me keep it. Those small decisions add up to create your brand’s feel, and it should be consistent wherever your customer sees you.
Brand consistency and style guidelines keep content on track, but it’s a lot to handle yourself. AI tools can centralize your brand’s elements and flag inconsistencies in your content before it hits the internet (e.g., the wrong heading font in a blog post). Your AI tool can enforce guidelines, automate content approvals, and keep your team aligned with internal brand messaging.
Marketing and Ad Creative
Which message will perform the best? And how do you make it perform even better? These questions could inspire dread in any performance-focused marketer. But, with the right AI tools, answering them could actually be refreshing.
AI can generate ad creatives, but it can also predict your campaign’s performance and suggest ways to optimize your messaging. A/B testing can happen in real time and at scale, with AI analyzing thousands of ad variations to get things just right.
Pro tip: HubSpot Marketing Hub has several AI-enhanced features to run and manage ad campaigns. Check out our free AI tool for advertising to start.
Best AI Tools for Branding
Now that you’ve seen the benefits, let me recommend a few AI branding tools to bring those benefits to life.
HubSpot Breeze AI
The best AI tools for branding operate within your current framework. It should be simple to activate, use, and adopt AI. So, if you’re using products in the HubSpot ecosystem, it only makes sense to use an AI tool integrated with your HubSpot suite.
HubSpot Breeze AI has lots of options for managing and growing your brand with AI. The writer in me looks first at content development. That’s more than just producing words; it’s understanding the context of your work in relation to your company and the larger marketplace.
The Breeze Content Agent brings that context and helps you deliver more targeted content with speed and scale. And, it sits atop your HubSpot ecosystem, so you can test, learn, and iterate quickly.
Gamma
Marketers just can’t escape a good slide deck. But, I’m not a fan of tinkering endlessly to get that photo in the perfect spot. Between ideation, copy, and design, presentations can burn a lot of valuable work time.
I’ve used Gamma for over a year now to help me solve that challenge. You can bring your notes to the platform, and Gamma will generate gorgeous presentations. The platform lets me toy with the specifics, such as the voice and tone of any generated copy or what image types get used (e.g., Common Creative licensed or AI-generated).
Once you have a presentation in hand, you can add, remove, and change content at your convenience. You can also generate documents or landing pages and publish them online directly. I’ve used the landing page feature before to spin up a new content consulting offer, and Gamma did a great job.
I wish Gamma had a brand kit option like Canva does, where I could save and reuse common branding assets. But, it’s a strong and well-stocked marketing presentation-building tool at $10-20 per seat per month.
Notion AI
I use Notion as a document repository and information management tool, but the company’s built-in (paid) Notion AI feature has vastly improved over the past year. As projects grow in scope and scale, I end up with documents throughout my Notion database. Notion AI rounds up that information and transforms it into useful insights and actions.
If you want the most from Notion AI, plan your internal knowledge architecture intentionally. I’ve found the AI writer unremarkable. But when I need that solid quote I wrote eight months ago, Notion AI delivers. It’s great for managing brand consistency across your team and finding the best insights and ideas from your data.
Get Notion AI added to your current Notion build for $10 per seat per month.
Canva Magic Studio
I’ve always liked Canva’s image creation and manipulation tools to get the right look set for my brand assets, social media graphics, and blog and website images. So, when the company debuted the Canva Magic Studio, I eagerly hopped on board.
Magic Studio offers generative AI and AI-powered editing tools to prepare your pictures and video. You can create and manipulate images using text-based commands and create professional-looking results. It’s a powerful design tool that’s helped me shift creatively from words to visuals.
You can use Canva for free, but you won’t have access to the best AI features until you upgrade to the Pro Plan at $15 per seat per month.
Designs AI
If you’re looking for an all-in-one AI branding tool, Designs AI is a strong candidate. The free tools alone are interesting and helpful. For instance, AI Chat lets me access several LLMs to accomplish tasks.
The free plan is very limited, so I wouldn’t integrate Designs AI without paying for it. But, the paid plan lets you work with images, logos, text, audio — whatever your branding needs require.
Designs AI offers a few plan choices, but the Pro Plan (at $69 per month) is likely the best choice for AI power users.
Copy.ai
Copy.ai is doing something interesting in the AI branding space. The company bills its service as the Go-to-Market (GTM) AI Platform. It includes multi-platform brand-specific content but extends across the entire buying experience.
Copy.ai is also leaning into workflow management and AI agenting, which I think are promising future additions to an AI-powered marketing team.
I’ve tried Copy.ai’s free writing generators — and it’s good work for a generic model. Once you integrate the platform into your system, you can get more specific content better attuned to your brand.
You can try a free plan, but the $49 Starter Plan really gets you up and running. If you’re ready to lean into workflow support, go for the $249 Advanced Plan.
Durable
I’d first heard about Durable when I was building my consultancy’s website. I ended up using another tool, but I enjoyed Durable’s feature set — which has grown since last I looked.
Durable can help you build your websites, blogs, invoicing, and brand identity on one platform. I’m typically careful when a platform promises many options, but Durable impressed me with its reach and success so far.
At $15 per seat per month, you get everything you need to build and launch your web products. If you need extra help with invoicing, social media posts, or Google PPC campaigns, upgrade to the $25 Business Plan.
AutoDraw
I am a whiteboard fanatic. Drawing helps me communicate branding ideas with others when I can’t find the words. But, my artistic abilities stop at stick figures. That’s why I’m so drawn to AutoDraw.
AutoDraw uses AI to analyze your input (like a stick figure person), and it will select drawings most closely resembling your artwork. It’s a sketchbook that automatically adjusts my drawings so I can communicate ideas for visual design faster without continually erasing my creations. For logo brainstorming or visual identity creation, it’s a surprisingly useful tool.
AutoDraw is an AI experiment and is free to use.
Adobe Firefly
From a generative AI standpoint, Adobe Firefly does much of what other design tools can do but with more advanced options available. For instance, Firefly offers a 3D generative workspace, helping you quickly design “dimensional” brand graphics, packaging, and illustrations. That’s a slick feature for retail or ecommerce brands.
Firefly creations also come with licenses for commercial use. With an enterprise-level focus, Adobe tools usually reflect those kinds of business considerations. And, as part of the Adobe Suite, Firefly integrates across all Adobe products.
You can use Firefly for free, but I wouldn’t bother unless you’re willing to pay. Individual licenses start at $9.99 per month (though be sure to read your Adobe contract’s terms and conditions carefully for cancellation fees and penalties).
10Web
I host my company’s website on 10Web — and that hosting piece is important. I can build, launch, and manage my site from one place, with no other hosting needs required. It’s a complete feature set that makes sense for my small business needs.
I like 10Web’s AI page creation tool; however, I’ve found it takes more hands-on tinkering than I sometimes want. However, once you build your site and give content to the tool, you’ll generate more brand-accurate results.
Your costs will vary depending on website hosting needs, but spend in the $25-36 per month range to get smaller websites up and running.
Brandmark
I’m a big fan of upfront pricing models — let me make and buy a logo and tell me how much it costs. Couple it with AI’s help, and you have a strong logo creation tool. Brandmark brings AI to logos, color palettes, and typography to help create a logo that screams you with a clear and affordable pricing structure.
You enter your company name and slogan and provide a few descriptive words and color choices. From there, Brandmark does its thing — I like the polished and professional look of each logo option.
You can edit your logo using an AI chat (like talking to a designer). And when you’re ready, Brandmark can give you marketing mockups so you can see how your logo fits across your visual identity.
Logos start at $25, but you can buy your logo’s commercial license and full brand kits for additional fees.
Backstroke
I’ve found better AI branding tools either need unique information from your company or run their operations using hyper-specific models. Backstroke deploys a specialized AI model trained on B2C ecommerce email marketing content, which leads to stronger email campaigns.
I’ve gotten to see it in action through email and SMS campaigns, and it brings excellent AI horsepower to an ecommerce program. While it’s certainly not the most comprehensive tool available, I think it flourishes in its deep focus.
You’ll need to demo the product live and kick off the sales cycle for pricing. But, Backstroke has a free subject line generator and trend identification tool you can try.
Looka
I like the AI image generation tool Looka provides for logo design. You can design some very nice logos, and you get results that are unique to the market.
Looka also offers a brand kit option: apply your logo to over 300 templates, from letterhead to social media profiles. It’s an easy way to keep your brand’s visual identity consistent across platforms and media.
Looka’s pricing gets a little complicated, which is probably my biggest gripe with the platform. You can buy each logo for $20, but you don’t get full ownership unless you buy the premium logo package for $65. And your brand kit is an annual subscription that runs $96 per year.
It’s not a massive expense, but I don’t like feeling limited in how I own and use my brand assets. That said, if a human brand designer is simply too far out of your price range, Looka is a fine alternative.
Shopify Logo Maker
As with most people, I like when “free” actually means free. Some AI brand asset development tools will give you previews that require a subscription to edit. Not so with Shopify’s Logo Maker.
The Logo Maker does just that — making logos you can download and use anywhere. They’re optimized for Shopify shops, but you can use the image on other sites or social media. You can also generate business names, slogans, and domain names for free (essential components for a Shopify presence.)
The app is free to use. Now, you’re not getting the fanciest logos for free, but if you need to spin up a few brand assets or explore AI’s usefulness, start here.
ChatGPT Custom GPTs
I still think people are sleeping on custom GPTs with ChatGPT, which can help you better manage your brand and create highly specific branded content. Within a custom GPT, you can write detailed instructions for your model’s context window and include PDFs of branded copy. For example, I include PDFs of my consulting company’s blog posts to help the GPT better represent my voice and tone across content types.
A custom GPT is great for content generation and repurposing. You get a lot of power at your fingertips for $20 per month.
Build the Best Business Brand with AI
Not every brand needs that GameCube-level memorability, but every brand needs distinctiveness and consistency. You can build and nurture such a brand using AI and human creativity to reach and win over your audiences.
The best marketing teams in 2025 won’t just automate branding work. Instead, they’ll figure out how to use AI as a strategic co-pilot while keeping people at the center — marketers and consumers alike. Begin with these tools and explore opportunities to put AI to work for you.
