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A marketing strategy is a plan for how your business will reach the right customers, what you'll say to them and which channels you'll use to do it. It ties each campaign to a goal, like more leads or repeat orders, so every dollar and hour you spend has a job.
This guide covers 13 marketing strategies, a seven-step process for building your own and where AI can take over the routine work.
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TL;DR: marketing strategies
13 marketing strategies: content marketing, social media, SEO, PPC, influencer marketing, PR, landing pages, advertising, affiliate marketing, retargeting, email marketing, AI marketing and partnership marketing.
Build a strategy in seven steps: set your goals, research your market, define your audience, identify their needs, choose your channels and budget, develop your messaging, then measure results.
Use the four Ps: product, price, place and promotion help you decide what to sell, what to charge, where customers can buy and how to reach them.
Use AI where it helps: AI agents can help you turn your business goals into a marketing plan, recommend relevant channels and coordinate the tasks needed to put that plan into action.
Review your strategy: check channel performance monthly or quarterly and revisit your strategy after major changes in your business or market.
What is a marketing strategy?
A marketing strategy is a plan for reaching the right customers, communicating what makes your business worth choosing and deciding which channels to use. It also sets out what you want to achieve, from building brand awareness to increasing sales, and how you'll measure progress.
If you're learning how to start a business, a marketing strategy helps you work out how to find customers and get them interested in what you offer. Established businesses need one, too, especially when launching a product, reaching a new audience or trying to increase sales.
Start by looking at what your business offers, who it's for and why customers might choose it over the alternatives. Understanding product marketing can help you explain those benefits and position your offer for the right audience.
A solid marketing strategy includes:
Business goals, such as building brand awareness or selling more products and services.
Your target market, including who your customers are and where to reach them.
Buyer personas and customer demographics, when they help you understand your audience.
Competitor research, including how other businesses market and price their offers.
Customer benefits, or the problem your product or service solves.
Your value proposition, explaining what sets your offer apart.
Brand messaging, so your main points stay consistent across campaigns and marketing materials.
Airbnb built a strategy around user-generated content, encouraging guests to share photos and stories from their stays on social media using #Airbnb. These posts showed potential travelers the range of places they could stay and offered a glimpse of other guests’ experiences.
If content is your focus, our guide to building an AI content strategy is a good next read.
Why marketing strategies matter
A written strategy makes you decide what you want, who you're talking to and how you'll reach them. In practice it serves four purposes:
Brand awareness: getting your name in front of the right people.
Stronger customer relationships: with both existing and potential customers.
Competitive advantage: through more website traffic, stronger brand awareness or both. For the theory, read the work of Michael Porter, who developed the concept of competitive advantage.
Progress toward business goals: whether that means building a brand or selling more.
A strategy also protects your budget. Money is usually tight when you're starting out, and a clear plan keeps you from spending it on things that don't move your goals. Without a definition of success, you can't measure your small business marketing results either.
There's data to back this up. The Content Marketing Institute's 2026 B2B trends report, based on a mid-2025 survey of 1,015 B2B marketers, found that 97% have a content strategy. Among those whose strategy improved, 74% credited refining it, more than the 51% who credited new technology. Having a plan is now the baseline. Revising it is what moves results. The survey covers B2B content strategy and is self-reported, so treat it as a signal, not a promise. It's a good reason to put a yearly review on your calendar.
Marketing strategy vs marketing plan
People use the two terms interchangeably, but they do different jobs.
A marketing strategy is the big picture: what you're trying to achieve, who you're targeting and how you'll stand out. It can also surface threats to your long-term sustainability.
A marketing plan is the detail. It lays out which campaigns you'll run, when, on which channels and how you'll track your marketing ROI. The plan puts the four Ps of marketing into action and supports a more integrated marketing approach, meaning one consistent message across every channel.
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13 best marketing strategies
No single strategy works on its own. These 13 cover most of what small businesses use today, and the right mix depends on your audience, budget and goals. All of them work better when your audience trusts you, so aim to educate, inspire or entertain. For the wider picture, see our guide to the types of marketing and our roundup of marketing trends.
The 13 strategies at a glance:
Strategy | Best for | Typical cost | Time to see results |
Content marketing | Building trust and authority | Low to medium | Months |
Social media marketing | Reaching new audiences quickly | Low to medium | Weeks to months |
SEO | Steady, long-term traffic | Low to medium | Months |
Pay-per-click (PPC) | Fast, targeted traffic | Set by your budget | Immediate |
Email marketing | Repeat sales and loyalty | Low | Weeks |
Influencer marketing | Borrowing a trusted audience | Low to high | Varies |
Earned media and PR | Credibility and awareness | Low to high | Varies |
Landing pages | Turning visits into leads or sales | Low | Immediate once live |
Advertising | Scaling reach on a budget | Medium to high | Immediate |
Affiliate marketing | Testing new audiences with low risk | Pay on results | Weeks to months |
Retargeting | Winning back visitors | Medium | Immediate |
AI marketing | Routine work and first drafts | Low to medium | Immediate for drafts |
Partnership marketing | Sharing an audience with another brand | Low | Months |
This is a general guide. Cost and timing vary with your budget, market and how well each strategy is executed.
01. Content marketing
Content marketing means creating useful material, like blogs, podcasts, videos and webinars, that helps your audience before it tries to sell to them. It builds customer engagement and trust over time, and it helps you become an authority in your niche.
It's also a good place to start, because you can reuse the same content across your other marketing ideas, such as social posts and email newsletters.
The most popular content strategies are:
Content writing
Infographics
Video marketing
Starting a podcast
02. Social media marketing
Social media marketing means using platforms like Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn to build awareness, send traffic to your site and sell. It also works as a lead source, an audience research tool and a place to handle customer service. For more numbers, see our small business marketing statistics.
You can't be everywhere, so pick the platforms your audience actually uses. If you sell to professionals, a LinkedIn company page is a must. Otherwise, short video on Instagram Reels and TikTok is the quickest way to reach new people. It also gives you a shot at viral reach, which can move marketing metrics like traffic and brand visibility.
Social is also where first-mover advantage is easiest to win, because you can make and publish content faster than on almost any other channel. First-mover advantage is a concept in marketing where a company is first to market in a product category.
Paid social is worth testing too. Advertising on Facebook can bring in new customers quickly, and remarketing on social brings people back to finish a purchase. Facebook & Instagram Ads with Wix lets you create and optimize campaigns across both platforms from your site's dashboard.
If your site is on Wix, the AI marketing agent, Kleo, can draft your weekly posts from a content plan and send them to you for approval. When you add a coupon or service, it drafts a post announcing it.
Popular social networks for promoting a business:
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
LinkedIn
Pinterest
X (Twitter)
Recommended reading for your social media strategy:
Related reading: The dead internet theory and how to protect your brand from bots.
Read also: The art of cringe marketing.
03. Search engine optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of making your site and content easy for search engines to find, understand and rank. You can treat it as a core strategy or as one tactic among many.
Search is full of micro-moments, the instants when someone wants to learn, buy or do something. SEO is how you show up at those moments. People who find you this way already have intent, so SEO tends to lift sales as well as traffic. Driving traffic to your website is only part of the payoff.
Strong SEO starts with audience research, usually keyword research, so you know what people want before you write. Many specialists focus on one skill, such as technical SEO, which helps teams get more from SEO tools and match user intent.
To get started, learn how to do keyword research the right way. Then optimize your content and your wider online presence for the high-intent keywords you picked. Built-in SEO features take some of the guesswork out.
Masha Frant, Senior Technical SEO at Wix, puts it like this:
“SEO can feel like a lot. Wix breaks it into steps, with built-in checklists and structured data support, so you always know what to do next.”
If your site is on Wix, Kleo can run the keyword research and suggest better title tags and meta descriptions. You approve every change.
SEO for AI search
Search now includes answers written by AI. Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity pick short passages from pages that state something clearly, so write sections that make sense on their own. Open with the answer, add the detail after it and name things in full: "Kleo, Wix's AI Marketing Agent" works better than "the tool." Keep pages current, show who wrote them and keep your brand details consistent everywhere you appear online.
Rebecca Tomasis, Head of Organic Growth Marketing at Wix, says it goes beyond links:
"Links are only one part of the equation. What really matters is the broader web presence you create: consistent brand signals, content visibility and digital momentum that strengthen your site's authority over time."
04. Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a model where you pay only when someone clicks your ad. It drives targeted traffic through Google, Bing and social platforms, and it gives you tight control over spend.
Clicks are getting more expensive, but more of them convert. WordStream by LocaliQ's 2025 benchmarks, built on 16,446 campaigns across 23 industries, put the average Google Ads click at $5.26, the average conversion rate at 7.52% and the average cost per lead at $70.11. Your numbers will vary by industry, so use these as a yardstick and track your own return.
Search ads are the most common type. You bid on keywords to appear at the top of results, so a local bakery could bid on "best cupcakes near me" and show up first for nearby customers. Display ads work differently: banners on related sites, or social ads aimed at specific demographics, interests or behaviors.
PPC is easy to track, so you can measure your return on investment (ROI) closely. It suits quick lead generation, seasonal offers and product launches.
How to get started:
Keyword bidding: use tools like Google Ads or Bing Ads to find high-volume keywords for your business and build targeted campaigns.
Social media ads: run campaigns on platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn to reach specific audience segments.
Retargeting ads: show ads to visitors who left without acting so they come back.
05. Email marketing and newsletters
Email marketing means sending messages to people who've opted in to hear from you, from newsletters to automated campaigns.
For email marketing campaigns to work, the message has to be worth opening. Skip the spammy "Buy now" emails. Good email marketing builds a relationship and earns trust.
According to Amanda Buhse, owner and COO of Coal and Canary:
"We focus a lot on our email marketing from our Wix site. One of our emails alone has generated over six hundred orders and over $40k in revenue. Currently, we send out newsletters and emails once a week now."
You can automate emails, but always add value. These newsletter examples show how companies of every size sound different and interesting to subscribers. When you make a newsletter, run A/B tests to improve performance. A newsletter and email strategy can strengthen ROI, improve retention and influence purchases.
Email marketing tips:
Build your list with a pop-up on your website.
Share engaging content, such as blog posts, user-generated content and videos.
Personalize with first names and content based on how each person engaged with your site.
06. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing means partnering with people who have an engaged following so they promote your brand. Celebrity branding is one version, using high-profile creators. It works much like word of mouth marketing and referral marketing.
Influencers hold reach or authority in a specific niche, so you put your brand in front of their followers without spending years building your own audience. Their endorsement can also nudge people to buy.
Choose creators who relate to your product and share your brand values. Don't skip nano and micro-influencers. Their audiences are smaller but often more engaged, which can suit a small business better. Campaigns like this can support market penetration as part of a wider mass marketing strategy.
07. Earned media and PR
Earned media is publicity you didn't pay for: coverage in newspapers, on TV and radio, in podcasts and on online publications. After you launch your business and website, it's how you spread the word and reach a wider audience.
Coverage from a third party carries a credibility that ads can't buy. You can pitch journalists and podcast hosts yourself, or hire a PR agency if you don't have the time. Either way, good marketing in this area gives people a reason to talk about you.
08. Landing pages
A landing page is a standalone page with one goal: conversions. No matter how well your other channels perform, your landing pages and website have to convert for the effort to pay off.
Speed matters, because a slow page loses people before they see your offer.
Follow landing page best practices to increase your website conversion rate. Wix's landing page builder starts you off with those practices built in.
Wix's landing page templates have customizable designs, well-placed CTA buttons and key information above the fold, and they're built to be mobile-friendly. Upload your images, change the text and you're set.
09. Advertising
Advertising is paid promotion of your products or services, from social media ads to TV and print advertising. There are many types of advertising. Online advertising is the easiest to target, track and measure, so you can see what each paid dollar produces.
Learn how to advertise on Google early. Google is the largest search engine, and ads let you show up for the keywords tied to your offer. Advertising on Google and many social platforms is also known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
Mr. Uchimura, founder of KUOE KYOTO, says connected ad tools let him start marketing right away:
"Thanks to Wix's integration with Google and Meta Ads, I was able to start marketing my brand the moment the shop went live. Today, we've expanded with an English site and are receiving orders from customers all over the world."
To choose the right advertising methods, consider:
Your audience
Costs and budget
Timing and length of your campaign
Creative assets you already have
10. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based partnership: other people promote your brand and earn a commission on the sales they bring in. You set up a program, affiliates share your products on their social accounts, blogs or other platforms and their sales are tracked through unique affiliate links.
Because you only pay when a sale happens, it's a low-risk way to test new audiences. Pick affiliates whose audience fits your product.
11. Retargeting
Retargeting means showing ads to people who already know your brand, such as visitors to your site or people who looked at a product. You can reach them through display ads, social ads or email. It helps in three ways:
Brand awareness: you stay top of mind for people who've already visited, so they remember you when they're ready to buy.
Leads: visitors who looked around and did nothing may need a nudge, like a discount or a free trial.
Sales: people who abandoned a cart or left without buying may only need a reminder.
Track the results on whichever platform you pick, so you can see what's actually working.
12. AI and agentic marketing
AI marketing means using AI to plan, write, schedule and measure your marketing. Agentic marketing goes a step further: an AI agent takes a goal, works through the steps across your tools and checks with you before anything goes live.
For a small team, that means recurring jobs like a weekly social post, a monthly newsletter or a keyword refresh stop depending on who has time that week. AI can also draft first versions of captions, email copy and meta descriptions. It doesn't know your customers the way you do, so read and edit everything before it goes out. For more, see our guides to AI marketing and the agentic AI platform.
Wix has three tools worth knowing:
Kleo, Wix's AI Marketing Agent plans and runs SEO, social media, email and Google ad work for your Wix site. It builds a monthly content plan from your site data and goals, refreshes keyword research every six months and never publishes without your approval. It runs on AI credits, which come with Wix Premium plans.
Symphony by Wix is an AI agent platform for independent business owners and small teams. One orchestrator coordinates agents for marketing, scheduling, client communication and operations, and each agent draws on 20 years of Wix knowledge from more than 300 million businesses. It works whether or not your site is on Wix, and agents ask for your approval before they act. Our guide to what Symphony by Wix is has the details.
Base44 is an AI app builder and part of Wix since June 2025. Describe an app in plain language and it builds one with a database, user logins and hosting. Marketing ideas to try: a lead-capture tool, a referral tracker or a pricing calculator.
Ronny Elkayam, COO and Head of R&D at Wix, on who Symphony is for:
"They're the ones that move faster, see opportunities earlier and act on them. A two-person eCommerce brand shouldn't have to compete at a disadvantage against a company with a full marketing department. Symphony levels that playing field."
Tool | Best for | Your control |
Kleo, Wix's AI marketing agent | SEO, social, email and ads on a Wix site | Approve, edit or dismiss every task |
Symphony by Wix | Running a small business, marketing included | Approve actions before agents run them |
Base44 | Building custom marketing tools | You decide what to build and when to publish |
Start with the job that eats the most time. All three sit on a platform that brings together website creation, SEO tools, email marketing and AI agents, so you can run marketing without stitching separate tools together.
13. Partnership marketing
Partnership marketing means teaming up with another business to reach shared goals. By combining audiences, strengths and resources, both brands expand their reach, raise visibility and drive sales.
A popular approach is co-marketing, where two brands create and promote content or campaigns together. A fitness app might partner with a health food brand on a joint eBook about nutrition and workouts and share it with both audiences. A travel company might team up with a luggage brand on a giveaway so both reach a bigger crowd.
Pooling resources saves time and cost, and it builds business relationships along the way.
Ideas to get started:
Co-branded content: shared blog posts or videos that feature both brands.
Joint events: webinars, workshops or live events that bring both audiences together.
Affiliate collaborations: partners who promote your brand for a commission.
Subscribe to the Wix blog for a weekly dose of marketing tips and industry trends.
How to create a marketing strategy in seven steps
Follow these seven steps in order and write each answer down as you go. By the end you'll have a one-page strategy you can share with anyone who works on your marketing.
01. Define your goals
Pick one to three goals and put a number and a date on each. "Grow awareness" is hard to check. "Reach 5,000 monthly site visitors by March" isn't.
The SMART method works well for setting objectives, and a SWOT analysis shows where you're starting from. If you've been marketing for a while, run a quick marketing audit first so you know what's already paying off.
Good goals might be to build brand awareness, break into a new region or grow online sales by a set percentage. The more specific and numerical they are, the easier they are to track, measure and repeat.
If building your brand is a goal, choose a domain name that matches your business and complete your domain registration early to keep your branding consistent.
02. Research your market and competitors
Before you pick channels, find out what's already out there. Search your main keywords and read the first page of results. Note who ranks, what they promise and what they skip. Look at two or three competitors' sites, pricing and social accounts, and read what customers say in reviews, forums and support emails.
Keep a simple sheet with three columns: what competitors do well, what they miss and where you can stand out. That gap is the start of your value proposition.
Keyword research is the fastest window into what people actually want.
If your site is on Wix, Kleo, the AI marketing agent, runs keyword research for you and refreshes it every six months.
03. Identify your target audience
Once you know exactly who you want to reach, the right strategies get easier to pick. Your messaging and platforms need to fit your target audience and target market.
Start with demographics like age, gender, region and interests, then add competitor analysis for context. Build two or three simple buyer personas, or run market segmentation to split one big audience into groups with different needs.
04. Understand your customer's pain points and your value proposition
You need to know what your ideal customer struggles with regularly. Line up your product, price, place and promotion to solve those problems and you'll have a better shot at scalability.
Then write your value proposition in one sentence. If you can't say why someone should pick you over the next option, keep working on it before you move on.
05. Select your marketing channels and set budgets
Where does your audience spend its time: social media, search, newsletters, industry publications? Once you know, choose the types of marketing and marketing channels to focus on. A niche channel can work very well, but spreading across two or three often pays off. Pick a few core platforms and do them properly. The at-a-glance table above can help you compare cost and timing.
Consider whether offline marketing could add value, then decide how you'll use these two approaches:
Direct marketing reaches people through personalized channels like email, direct mail, SMS or social messages. It suits tailored offers that need a quick response.
PR builds your brand image through press releases, media outreach, events or partnerships. The goal is awareness and trust.
Set a budget for each channel, along with your KPIs and clear targets like ROI, engagement or lead generation. Use marketing tools to manage campaigns and a marketing plan template to stay organized.
06. Decide on your messaging, creatives and implementation plan
Now write the message and choose the format. If you want to show customers what your product can do and your audience spends a lot of time on YouTube, a video campaign fits. Match the format to where and how your audience likes to learn.
Then build a simple content calendar so the plan survives a busy week, and put each channel's budget and goal next to it.
07. Measure and adjust
Check your numbers on a fixed schedule: weekly for fast channels like ads and social, monthly for SEO and email. Compare each result against the goal from step one. Keep what works, fix what's close and cut what isn't moving.
A simple monthly habit helps: pick one thing to double down on and one thing to drop. The tracking table further down shows which numbers to watch for each goal.
The main elements of a marketing strategy
Element | Action item | Why it matters | Checklist |
Target audience | Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) | Use data to find the specific person who has the problem you solve | [ ] |
Market research | Perform a SWOT and Competitor Analysis | Identify your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats compared to competitors | [ ] |
Value proposition (USP) | Clarify your Unique Selling Proposition | If you disappeared tomorrow, what would your customers miss that they can't get elsewhere? | [ ] |
Goals and KPIs | Set SMART Goals and trackable metrics | Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound targets | [ ] |
Channel selection | Pick 2-3 core platforms | Check where your audience actually hangs out e.g., LinkedIn vs. TikTok | [ ] |
Content strategy | Create value first content | Plan content that educates or entertains before it sells. AI can help draft but humans must edit | [ ] |
Customer journey | Map the awareness to advocacy path | How does a stranger become a lead, then a buyer then a fan who refers others? | [ ] |
Budget and tools | Allocate spend and select your tech stack | Decide your ad spend vs. organic effort and pick tools (CRM, Email, Analytics) to automate | [ ] |
AI and automation | Choose one or two AI tools for routine work | Agents like Kleo can draft plans and posts, but you approve everything before it goes out | [ ] |
Brand voice | Set a consistent tone and visual style | Bold and edgy or safe and professional, it should be the same on every page | [ ] |
What are the 4 Ps of marketing?
The 4 Ps of marketing are product, price, place and promotion: the four things you control in any marketing strategy. Change one and the other three usually need to move with it.
Product: what you sell and the problem it solves.
Price: what you charge, which also signals how customers should value it.
Place: where and how people can buy, such as your website, a market stall or a marketplace.
Promotion: how people find out about you, through SEO, email, social posts, ads or PR.
Picture a small candle shop. The product is hand-poured soy candles. The price sits above supermarket candles because each batch is small. The place is an online store plus two weekend markets. Promotion is a monthly email, a few Reels and blog posts people can find on Google.
Many marketers now add a fifth P: people. It covers everyone a customer deals with, from the person who answers a message to the one who packs the order.
What is the marketing funnel?
The marketing funnel is the path customers take from first hearing about you to buying and coming back. It has four stages, and each one needs a different approach:
Awareness: get noticed through ads, social media or SEO.
Consideration: share helpful blogs, reviews or videos that answer questions.
Decision: use discounts, free trials or personalized messages to encourage action.
Retention: keep people engaged with loyalty programs, helpful emails and good customer service.
Retention matters as much as winning new customers. The top and bottom of the funnel aren't separate jobs either.
Omer Shai, CMO at Wix, describes the balance this way:
"From day one, we're doing brand, and when we're doing brand, we're thinking about performance; and when we're doing performance, we're thinking about brand. We try to optimize them all at the same time."
The 4 growth strategies (Ansoff's Matrix)
Ansoff's Matrix is a framework that maps four growth strategies, based on whether you sell existing or new products to existing or new markets:
Market penetration: sell more of your existing products to your existing market. It's the lowest-risk option. Example: Starbucks Rewards, which encourages existing customers to visit more often.
Market development: take existing products into new markets, such as a new region or customer segment. Example: Netflix taking its streaming service into more than 130 new countries in 2016.
Product development: create new products or features for the market you already serve. Example: Apple adding the Apple Watch for people already using iPhones.
Diversification: offer new products to new markets. It carries the most risk but can open the door to significant growth. Example: Amazon launching Amazon Web Services, a new product for a new market of businesses and developers.
The right quadrant depends on your goals, your appetite for risk and your market. Many businesses combine more than one over time.
Marketing strategies examples (and why they work)
Wix: Content marketing with education in mind
Wix runs a podcast, Now What, that interviews leaders about the future of business, design and eCommerce. Each episode shares practical lessons on succeeding as an entrepreneur while technology keeps changing. Wix also turns some episodes into blog posts and social content, so people can take in the same ideas in whichever format suits them.
Airbnb: guests as the marketing channel
Airbnb encouraged guests to share photos and stories from their stays on social media, tagged #Airbnb. That user-generated content showed the range of places to stay and built trust among travelers.
Spotify Wrapped: personal data turned into a shareable recap
Every December, Spotify turns each listener's year of listening data into a personalized recap called Spotify Wrapped. People share it on social media, so customers do the promotion. It works because it's personal, timely and easy to share.
Caitlin Grace Art: an email list you own
Australian artist Caitlin Grace sells prints and commissions through a Wix eCommerce store, and she's built an email list of more than 10,000 subscribers through Wix. She also uses Wix invoicing to take deposits and final payments on commissions.
"If my socials were deleted tomorrow, I know my business would survive because I have built a list of people who have subscribed, wanting to receive updates and stay in the loop about my art. Over 10K people have subscribed so far, this has been made possible thanks to Wix."
Social platforms can change the rules overnight. An email list stays yours.
Kids Who Explore: one platform for a whole community
Kids Who Explore began as an Instagram community and grew into a global network of about 180 local groups and more than 5,000 event attendees a year. Founder Adrianna Skori runs memberships, events, a shop, a podcast, a blog and educational resources on Wix.
"Instead of managing separate systems for memberships, content, events, blogs, landing pages, forms and eCommerce we can manage it all in one place. That means less time troubleshooting technology and more time focused on our mission of getting families outside and connected to nature."
History Walks FXBG: analytics that pick the ads
Eugeniy Mikityuk launched History Walks FXBG, a walking tour business in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in November 2024 with no web experience. He uses Wix analytics to see where visitors come from and which days get the most traffic, then targets his Instagram ads to match. Within months he expanded to a second Virginia location and built the new site by duplicating the first.
Dumb Owl Productions: an AI team for a solo founder
Ben Goldsmith has run the film production and distribution company Dumb Owl Productions in Venice Beach, California, on his own for 13 years. He now uses Symphony by Wix AI agents to find growth opportunities, research distributors and improve his website and marketing.
"A cold outreach normally takes a full day of energy: finding the person and writing an email you're worried about. Symphony came back with six to 20 leads already identified."
Marketing strategy for different industries
A strategy should fit the industry you're in:
Retail: social media, influencer partnerships and seasonal promotions.
eCommerce website: email marketing, SEO and targeted ads.
Restaurants: Instagram for food photos, plus local search.
Tech and B2B: LinkedIn to share ideas and connect with business clients.
Local services: SEO for local searches, reviews and referrals.
How to track effective marketing strategies
Track every strategy against the goals you set in step one. That's how you know what's working and what to change while a campaign is still running. The right KPIs depend on the strategy, but this table covers the most common goals:
Goal | KPIs to track | Where to look |
Website traffic | Sessions, organic clicks, bounce rate | Wix Analytics, Google Search Console |
Leads | Form submissions, email sign-ups, cost per lead | Wix dashboard, your CRM |
Sales | Conversion rate, average order value, ROI | Wix eCommerce reports |
Brand awareness | Impressions, branded searches, social reach | Search Console, social analytics |
Retention | Repeat purchase rate, email open and click rates | Email marketing dashboard |
A few habits make tracking easier:
Install tracking first. Check that the right tracking codes are on your website and landing pages before a campaign starts. Some tools measure several KPIs at once, including traffic sources and traffic numbers, so know what you're measuring before you choose one.
Review on a schedule. Look at the data weekly, monthly or quarterly, depending on the channel.
Adjust when the data says so. If a social campaign isn't getting engagement, test a different format or posting time.
Keep an eye on the long game. Revisit your KPIs to check you're on track for your bigger objectives.
Ready to put your marketing strategy to work?
Your marketing needs a home base. Build your site with Wix, then use built-in SEO tools, email marketing and AI to start reaching the customers you just planned for.
Marketing strategies FAQ
What are the five key marketing strategies?
The five most common core strategies are content marketing, social media marketing, SEO, email marketing and paid advertising. Most small businesses start with two or three of them and add others as their budget and audience grow.
What are the four main marketing strategies?
The four Ps of the marketing mix are product, price, place and promotion. Together they shape every marketing strategy: what you sell, what it costs, where customers can buy it and how you communicate it. Some models add a fifth P, people. If you mean growth strategies, Ansoff's Matrix names four: market penetration, market development, product development and diversification.
How often should you update your marketing strategy?
Review your marketing strategy at least once a year and again after any big change, such as a new product, a new market or a shift in your budget. Many small businesses also check in each quarter to catch trends early.
What are the common mistakes to avoid in marketing strategies?
The most common mistakes are skipping audience research, relying on one channel, setting goals with no number attached and never looking at the data. Ignoring competitors and publishing AI-written content without editing it are two others.
What are 10 marketing strategies?
Ten common ones are content marketing, social media marketing, SEO, pay-per-click advertising, email marketing, influencer marketing, PR, affiliate marketing, retargeting and partnership marketing.
What is agentic marketing?
Agentic marketing is marketing run by AI agents that work toward a goal you set. Instead of answering one prompt at a time, an agent plans the steps, does the work across your tools and asks for your approval before anything goes live. Wix's Kleo and Symphony by Wix are two examples.
Can AI create a marketing strategy for me?
Yes, AI can draft one. Kleo, Wix's AI Marketing Agent, builds a strategy and monthly content plan from your site data and business goals for SEO, social media, email and paid ads. You review and edit each piece before it's published, because you know your customers best.
Who is an AI marketing agent for?
The AI Marketing Agent is for anyone that wants to get a helpful hand with their marketing efforts. It's a great tool for experienced marketing professionals or for small business owners with little to no marketing expertise.
