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Turn your ideas into a website you love with Wix →   When it comes to running a successful painting business, implementing effective marketing strategies is key. Painting marketing is a type of marketing  that is not just about promoting your services; it's about creating a connection with your potential clients, establishing trust, and setting the foundation for long-term business growth. In this article, we’ll dive into various painting marketing strategies  you can implement whether you have an established marketing plan  or are just starting a business in the industry. From leveraging social media platforms  to showcase your work and gather testimonials, to employing SEO techniques that ensure your business ranks high on search engine results, each strategy is designed to enhance your visibility and credibility in the market.  Building a website for your business, passion project or side hustle should be easy and exciting. With Wix, you can customize and launch a professional website in minutes, no coding needed. Wix is all about simplifying the process so you can focus on what matters most–bringing your ideas to life. So why wait? Let’s get started on creating the website you’ve always wanted. 9 painting marketing ideas To grow your painting business, you need to employ a variety of small business marketing strategies that will help you attract new clients and keep your current ones engaged. Here are nine actionable marketing ideas, complete with examples and tips on how to implement them effectively. Create and optimize your painting website Use social media marketing Utilize local SEO and Google My Business Email marketing campaigns Referral programs and word-of-mouth marketing Networking and partnerships  Direct mail and traditional advertising Content marketing and blogging Community involvement and sponsorships 01. Create and optimize your painting website To jumpstart your painting marketing, begin by understanding how to make a website  that showcases your portfolio, services, and expertise. Consider using a website builder  like Wix to create a visually appealing and user-friendly site for your painting business. Your painting website will need: Homepage : Feature high-quality images of your painting projects and a gallery of your work. Include clear navigation to different sections of the website for easy browsing. Online portfolio : Display detailed galleries of your work, including images and descriptions of different projects. Adding before-and-after photos can highlight your skills and transformation capabilities. Team page : Introduce yourself and any team members with profiles that share your background, expertise, and experience in painting. Including client testimonials or reviews can boost credibility. Services information : Provide detailed information about the painting services you offer, from residential to commercial projects, and explain what clients can expect when working with you. Contact information : Make it easy for potential clients to reach out by including a contact form, your email, and phone number prominently on the site. Learn more: Wix SEO What is graphic design Background design 02. Use social media marketing Social media marketing  is a powerful tool for reaching potential clients and promoting your painting business. Create profiles on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to showcase your work, share updates and promotions, and interact with potential clients. Post images of recent jobs, share customer testimonials, and execute targeted ads that showcase your services through effective social media marketing strategies. Raise customer engagement by responding to comments, sharing before-and-after photos of projects, and offering paint maintenance tips. 03. Utilize local SEO and Google My Business For service-based businesses such as painting contractors, local searches play a crucial role. Start by claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing to boost your visibility in local search results. Encourage your happy customers to share their positive experiences on Google My Business, enhancing your reputation and drawing in more local clientele. To further increase your chances of appearing in local search results, weave local keywords into your website content and meta tags.  04. Email marketing campaigns Creating targeted email campaigns  is a potent tool to keep your audience engaged and interested in your painting services. Start by creating an email list. Encourage website visitors to subscribe to your newsletter by offering enticing incentives. Once you have a subscriber list, segment it based on customer interests, previous projects, or their interactions with your website. This strategy enables you to tailor your communication, ensuring each email resonates with its recipient.  For showcasing your latest projects, consider creating a visually appealing newsletter that includes high-quality images of the before and after states of your projects, along with brief descriptions that highlight the challenges faced and the solutions you provided. This not only demonstrates your expertise but also inspires potential customers to envision the transformation that your services can bring to their own spaces. In addition to showcasing your work, email campaigns can also be used to promote special offers or discounts. This can entice customers who may have been considering your services but were hesitant due to budget constraints. By offering limited-time promotions, you create a sense of urgency and encourage potential customers to take advantage of the opportunity before it's gone. 05. Referral programs and word-of-mouth marketing One of the most powerful ways to generate new business is through word-of-mouth recommendations. People are more likely to trust a service or product that has been recommended by someone they know and trust. To tap into this effective marketing strategy, consider implementing a referral program for your existing customers. This can be as simple as offering them discounts or rewards for referring their friends and family to your services. You can also ask satisfied customers to leave reviews or testimonials on your website or social media platforms. These positive reviews can serve as social proof and help attract new customers who are researching your services. 06. Networking and partnerships  Building relationships within the community not only helps expand your customer base but also allows for potential collaborations and growth opportunities in the future. Partner with local hardware stores or interior designers who can refer clients.You can also attend industry events, conferences, and trade shows to connect with potential collaborators or clients. Additionally, consider joining professional associations or online communities related to your industry. These platforms can provide opportunities for networking, learning from others, and sharing your expertise. 07. Direct mail and traditional advertising While digital marketing  is crucial in today's market, traditional marketing methods continue to hold value. Designing brochures and flyers allows businesses to produce visually appealing print materials that showcase their services effectively. Additionally, targeted mail campaigns enable companies to distribute these materials directly to areas where they have previously succeeded or aim to broaden their market presence. 08. Content marketing and blogging Sharing your expertise through content marketing is an effective way to build trust with potential clients. By starting a blog , you can offer valuable tips on selecting the right paint colors or explain the importance of regular home maintenance. Additionally, focusing on topics that interest your audience, such as the latest trends in paint technology or showcasing successful projects you've completed, can further engage and inform potential customers. Learn more: What is content marketing 09. Community involvement and sponsorships Participating in local events is a strategic way to boost your brand's visibility and demonstrate your commitment to the community. This approach not only helps in fostering a positive image but also in building meaningful connections with potential customers who value community engagement. By showing that your brand cares about and invests in local initiatives, you can significantly enhance your reputation and deepen your connection with the community. Launching your painting marketing strategy Once you have a grasp of the various marketing ideas available, it's time to put them into action. A well-planned painting marketing strategy can be the difference between a thriving business and one that struggles to find clients. Identify your target audience Knowing who needs your services is key to crafting messages that resonate. Each segment has unique needs and preferences. For instance, residential customers might prioritize quality and trustworthiness, while commercial clients could focus on efficiency and scalability. Tailoring your marketing approach to address these specific requirements will make your efforts more successful. Your target audience  may include: Homeowners : Often require interior or exterior painting to maintain or increase the value of their homes. Real estate agents : May need painters to help prepare properties for sale. Commercial property owners : Look for reliable contractors who can handle larger projects. Builders and developers : Seek partnerships with painters for new construction projects. Set clear objectives Once you have identified your target audience, it's crucial to set clear objectives for your marketing efforts. These objectives should align with your overall business goals and be measurable so that you can track the success of your campaigns. Some common objectives for a painting business may include: Increasing brand awareness : Making potential customers aware of your business and services. Generating leads : Getting potential customers to express interest in your services. Driving sales : Converting leads into paying customers. Building customer loyalty : Encouraging repeat business and positive word-of-mouth referrals. Identify your budget and tactics Before you start any marketing initiatives, it's important to determine how much you can afford to spend on marketing and allocate your resources wisely across different channels. Low-cost options for a painting business may include: Social media marketing : Utilizing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to showcase your work and connect with potential customers. Email marketing : Sending newsletters or promotions directly to interested customers' inbox. Referral programs : Offering discounts or incentives for customers who refer others to your business. Local partnerships : Collaborating with other local businesses or organizations to cross-promote each other's services. Create a timeline Develop a schedule for when each aspect of your marketing plan will be implemented. Break down your goals into actionable steps and assign realistic deadlines to each task. This approach helps in prioritizing your marketing activities and allocating resources more efficiently. Additionally, a well-structured timeline allows you to monitor progress and make necessary adjustments along the way, keeping your marketing strategy agile and responsive to market dynamics or customer feedback. Remember to factor in key dates that are significant for your painting business, such as local community events or holiday seasons, to maximize the impact of your marketing efforts. Set goals to measure success of your marketing efforts It's crucial not only to set goals but also to have systems in place to measure whether those goals are being met. By regularly reviewing metrics, you can fine-tune your strategy for better results. Flexibility is key; what works today may need adjustment tomorrow as markets and technologies evolve.  Consider these metrics: Lead generation : Track how many new inquiries or potential clients each marketing channel  brings in. Conversion rates : Monitor how many leads turn into paying customers. Customer acquisition cost : Calculate how much it costs you, on average, to gain one new customer. Return on investment (ROI) : Measure the profitability of your marketing efforts by comparing the revenue generated to the cost of the campaigns. Execute your plan Launch your campaigns in alignment with the planned timeline, ensuring to make adjustments as needed based on their performance metrics. It's crucial to monitor the results closely and be flexible in your approach, allowing for timely tweaks or shifts in strategy to optimize outcomes. This dynamic process will enable you to respond to market changes or audience feedback swiftly, maximizing the effectiveness of your campaigns and achieving your desired goals. Why invest in painting marketing? Investing in marketing for your painting business is not just about spending money on advertising ; it's about strategically creating a brand  and growing your customer base.  A solid marketing strategy can yield numerous long-term benefits, including: Sustainable business growth : Consistent marketing efforts can lead to steady increases in business and revenue. Brand recognition : Developing strong brand recognition over time can serve as a significant competitive advantage , leading people to trust and choose your services over competitors. Customer loyalty : Effective marketing keeps you connected with customers, encouraging repeat business and referrals. Market adaptability : A good marketing strategy allows you to quickly adapt to market changes and customer needs. Painting marketing FAQs How do I get clients for my painting business? To attract clients to your painting business, a multi-faceted approach is key. Start by networking with local businesses, real estate agents, and contractors who can refer potential clients to you. Pair this with a strategic advertising campaign that blends both digital and traditional methods to maximize your visibility to prospective customers. Don't overlook the importance of Local SEO; ensuring your business ranks well in local search results for painting services can significantly boost your visibility. Additionally, getting involved in community events is a great way to raise brand awareness and connect with the community. What are some tips and tricks for marketing myself as a house painter? Marketing yourself as a house painter involves several key strategies. First, showcasing your work is crucial; use high-quality photos of completed projects in all your marketing materials. Next, leverage customer testimonials. Sharing reviews from satisfied customers can significantly build trust with potential clients. Additionally, attracting new customers with special offers, such as promotions or discounts for first-time services, can be very effective. Finally, providing educational content on topics like paint maintenance or color selection can help position you as an expert in the field. What are effective strategies for expanding my painting business? To expand your painting business, consider diversifying your services. By offering extra options like wallpaper removal or deck staining, you can attract a broader customer base. This strategy not only enhances your service portfolio but also opens up new revenue streams, making your business more appealing to a wide range of clients.

Turn your ideas into a website you love with Wix →   Farm marketing is an essential aspect of the agricultural industry that involves strategies and practices aimed at promoting and selling farm products. Simply producing high-quality agricultural products isn't enough. You need to effectively communicate the value of your products, build relationships with buyers to bridge the gap between your farm's offerings and the consumers' needs By engaging in this type of marketing , you're not just selling products; you're telling a story, sharing your farm's unique narrative, and connecting with people who care about where their food comes from. This connection can lead to increased customer loyalty, better pricing opportunities, and a stronger presence both locally and online. Whether you're looking to expand your reach or just starting a business , embracing farm marketing strategies  can pave the way for sustainable growth and success in the agricultural sector. Building a website for your business, passion project or side hustle should be easy and exciting. With Wix, you can customize and launch a professional website in minutes, no coding needed. Wix is all about simplifying the process so you can focus on what matters most–bringing your ideas to life. So why wait? Let’s get started on creating the website you’ve always wanted. 10 farm marketing ideas To elevate your farm's market presence, consider these innovative strategies for farm promotion: Develop a strong brand identity : Create a memorable logo and consistent messaging that reflects your farm's values and product quality. Learn how to create a website : Ensure your online presence effectively showcases your products, narrates your farm's story, and offers straightforward purchasing options. Utilize social media marketing : Share behind-the-scenes content, harvest updates, and customer testimonials to connect with your audience on a personal level. Offer farm experiences : Host tours, pick-your-own events, or workshops to draw people to your farm and create lasting impressions. Collaborate with local businesses : Partner with local restaurants, stores, and schools to expand your reach and build community support. Implement email marketing campaigns : Keep in touch with customers through regular newsletters that highlight new products, special offers, and farm news. Attend farmers markets : Use these events to engage directly with consumers, get feedback, and increase brand visibility. Leverage content marketing : Write blog posts or articles related to farming that can educate your audience and improve search engine rankings. Run promotions and contests : Encourage word-of-mouth marketing by creating incentives for customers to share their experiences with your farm. Invest in paid advertising : Use targeted ads on platforms like Google or Facebook to reach potential customers who are searching for products like yours. Pro tip: use farm name generator to create a unique and memorable brand Craft your farm marketing plan Creating a farm marketing plan  is a strategic move that can guide your efforts and help you achieve specific business goals. Here's how to start marketing your farm effectively: Steps to start marketing your farm: Define your objectives : Begin by setting clear, measurable goals for what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts. Know your products : Understand the unique features of your products and how they meet customer needs. Identify your target market : Determine who is most likely to purchase your products and tailor your messaging to resonate with them. Analyze competitors : Look at what other farms are doing and identify opportunities to differentiate your offerings. Choose marketing channels : Decide on the best platforms to reach your audience, whether it's through social media platforms , local markets, or online advertising . Components of a successful marketing plan in farming: Product analysis : Assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to your agricultural products. Market research : Gather information about market trends, consumer preferences, and pricing strategies. Marketing mix : Develop a mix of product, price, place, and promotion strategies that align with your farm's goals. Budgeting : Allocate resources efficiently across different marketing activities without overspending. Learn more: Small business marketing Why start farm marketing? Embarking on farm marketing can bring numerous benefits and significantly enhance the profitability of your agricultural business. Here's why it's worth investing time and resources into marketing your farm: Increased visibility : Effective marketing puts your farm in front of more potential customers, both locally and online. Better customer relationships : Through marketing, you can engage with customers, receive feedback, and build loyalty. Enhanced credibility : A strong marketing presence can establish your farm as a reputable source for quality products. Ready to make a website? Get started with our AI website builder  today. Farm marketing FAQs How can I market my farm with a small budget? There are many cost-effective ways to market your farm, such as creating a social media presence, attending local farmers' markets or events, collaborating with other businesses or organizations, and utilizing word-of-mouth marketing through satisfied customers. It's also important to utilize free resources, such as creating a website or blog to showcase your farm and products. What are some unique ways to market my farm? Consider hosting events or workshops on your farm, offering on-farm tours, partnering with local restaurants or grocery stores, creating a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, and participating in community outreach programs. These initiatives can help attract new customers and build stronger relationships with existing ones. How important is branding for my farm's marketing? Branding is crucial for differentiating your farm from competitors and establishing a recognizable image that speaks to the values of your business. This includes everything from your logo and packaging to the tone and messaging used in all marketing materials. Consistent branding helps create a strong identity for your farm and builds trust with consumers. It also allows you to communicate your unique story and mission, which can be a major selling point for customers who care about where their food comes from.

Turn your ideas into a website you love with Wix →   Real estate marketing is the promotion of residential or commercial properties to potential buyers, tenants and investors. As a real estate professional, understanding the nuances of this type of marketing  can help you improve your connections with potential clients and grow your business. Real estate marketing is a comprehensive process that includes identifying your target audience, crafting compelling messages and choosing the right channels to reach out to those who may be interested in what you have to offer. In this article, we'll explore the various facets of real estate marketing. You'll learn about some important marketing principles, innovative marketing ideas tailored for real estate professionals and marketing strategies  that can amplify your reach. Whether you're an experienced estate agent or just starting out with your real estate business , these insights will help you develop a robust real estate marketing plan  that resonates with your audience and sets you apart in a competitive market. Building a website for your business, passion project or side hustle should be easy and exciting. With Wix, you can customize and launch a professional website in minutes, no coding needed. Wix is all about simplifying the process so you can focus on what matters most–bringing your ideas to life. So why wait? Let’s get started on creating the website you’ve always wanted. What are the foundations of real estate marketing? Real estate marketing is a strategic approach to attracting potential clients who are looking to lease or buy property, whether commercial or residential. It's about showcasing properties in the best light and making connections with those who are looking for their next home or investment.  As with any type of marketing, the 4 P's of marketing in real estate are fundamental concepts that can guide your strategy. They include: Product:  In real estate, your product is the property you're selling or renting out. Understanding your product involves knowing every detail about the property, from its features and benefits to its potential drawbacks. Balancing the pros and cons of each property is an important part of this. For example, let's say you have an older house that needs renovation work located in a sought after school district. You’ll need to promote what makes the property attractive to the right family, while being open and honest about the work it will need.  Price:  Setting the right price for your property is critical. It should reflect the value of the home, be competitive within the market and meet your client's financial expectations. Place:  This refers to where you market your properties. It could be via a real estate website  such as your own, local newspapers or even through networking events. The 'place' should align with where your potential clients are most likely to b e found.  Promotion:  This encompasses all the tactics you use to get the word out about your properties. Promotion can include digital marketing strategies like email campaigns and social media ads as well as more traditional methods like signage and print advertisements. 6 effective real estate marketing strategies To thrive in the real estate market, you need to employ a variety of marketing strategies that can capture the attention of potential buyers and sellers. Here are six actionable ideas that can help you elevate your real estate marketing efforts: Create and optimize your real estate website Start a blog Use social media marketing Email marketing campaigns Virtual tours Local collaborations and networking 01. Create and optimize your real estate website You’ll want to kickstart your real estate marketing by knowing how to make a website  that showcases your listings, services and expertise. You can get started with a website builder , like Wix, to create a real estate website  that is visually appealing, user-friendly and friendly. Your real estate website will need:  Homepage: This should include high-quality images of the type of properties you sell or lease and a search bar for your property search. It can also include featured listings or properties. Crucial is clear navigation to different sections of the website Property listings : This means detailed property listings with images, video tours, descriptions and other relevant details. Consider including maps showing property locations to make it easier for prospective buyers to search.  Agent and team pages: These should include profiles and contact information for real estate agents or team members, as well as information on their expertise and experience. It’s also a good idea to include testimonials or reviews from clients Neighborhood information: Guides and information about different neighborhoods and communities are very helpful for people searching for a new property and can help them narrow down an area or property.  Mortgage calculator : Including a tool to help visitors estimate mortgage payments based on property price, interest rate and other factors is useful to have.  Contact page: This usually means a contact form or clear contact details for inquiries. It may or may not include your office locations with maps and directions and working hours.  Lead generation forms:  Add forms   for visitors to request property viewings, schedule consultations, sign up for newsletters and whatever else is relevant. Call-to-actions (CTAs): Also include prominent buttons or links encouraging visitors to take specific actions like contacting an agent or scheduling a viewing Branding : Make sure your website is consistent with your branding and includes your real estate logo , real estate slogan , brand colors and any other visual elements that represent your company. This will help build brand recognition and trust with potential clients. Once you’ve created your website, you’ll want to make sure that potential real estate clients can find it. Make it easily discoverable by search engines by implementing SEO best practices.  Learn more: Wix SEO 02. Start a real estate blog You might also want to consider starting a real estate blog  to attract more visitors to your site. Write informative blog posts about the real estate market and produce video tours of your properties to showcase your property offerings.  Some examples of blog posts to promote your real estate business you could write are: Top 10 things to consider before buying your first home: A comprehensive guide for first-time homebuyers, covering factors such as budgeting, location, property type and tips for navigating the buying process. Trends in the housing market: What to expect in [current year]: An analysis of current real estate trends, including insights on housing prices, supply and demand, interest rates, and predictions for the market in the near future. How to stage your home for a quick sale: Tips and tricks for homeowners looking to sell their property quickly, including advice on decluttering, arranging furniture, and enhancing curb appeal to attract potential buyers. The benefits of investing in rental properties: A breakdown of the advantages of investing in rental properties, including passive income, tax incentives, property appreciation, and strategies for successful property management. Exploring up-and-coming neighborhoods in [city name]: A guide to emerging neighborhoods in a specific city, highlighting factors like affordability, amenities, school districts, and potential for property value appreciation, aimed at prospective homebuyers or investors seeking growth opportunities. Learn more: How to start a blog 03. Use social media marketing Effective real estate marketing should also involve using social media platforms , such as LinkedIn or Facebook, to engage with potential buyers and sellers. Popular ways to market on social media include sharing high-quality images, interactive posts and timely updates about your listings. As part of this you might also want to invest in paid social media advertising strategies to reach a wider audience.  Some real estate agents use YouTube as part of their social media marketing  efforts. With a focus on video content it can be a great way to showcase yourself as a professional and to highlight the properties you have available.  How important is social media in real estate marketing? Social media is crucial in real estate marketing as it allows for: Showcasing properties visually Building personal brand and credibility Engaging with potential clients easily Sharing market insights and tips Targeting specific demographics through ads Leveraging user-generated content Hosting virtual open houses or live Q&A sessions 04. Email marketing campaigns Consider creating targeted email marketing campaigns  as part of your real estate marketing efforts. This might involve creating personalized email campaigns that speak directly to the needs of your audience with compelling calls-to-action that encourage recipients to take action or engage with your business.  Keeping your clients informed with regular newsletters that highlight new listings, market trends, and helpful tips for buyers and sellers is also an effective way to market your business.  “A newsletter cultivates an engaged readership that goes beyond the casual blog visitor from SERPs. It allows you to build a community around your content and establish deeper connections with your audience, keeping subscribers anticipating your next email and fostering brand loyalty. It provides a direct channel to share your latest posts, showcase different voices, and promote offerings - retaining readers between blog visits. A newsletter turns casual visitors into an invested audience that keeps growing alongside your blog.” Dor Cohen, distribution specialist at Wix.com Pro tip: Invest in some helpful real estate marketing automation to streamline processes and maximize time. 05. Virtual tours Virtual tours are a large part of real estate marketing by allowing you to create virtual tours of your available properties which provide a way for clients to explore your homes from the comfort and convenience of their own home. Here are some key benefits and considerations when using virtual tours in real estate marketing: Improvised viewing experience : Virtual tours allow viewers to explore every corner of a property as if they were physically present, providing a more engaging and interactive experience compared to traditional photos or videos. Increased reach and accessibility:  Virtual tours can be accessed from anywhere at any time, making it easier for out-of-town or busy buyers to view properties without the need for physical visits. Time and cost savings:  By offering virtual tours, real estate agents can pre-qualify potential buyers and prioritize serious leads, reducing the need for multiple in-person showings and saving time for both agents and clients. Competitive edge:  Using virtual tours sets listings apart from competitors and demonstrates a commitment to utilizing innovative technology in marketing properties. Remote sales and international buyers:  Virtual tours cater to remote buyers and international investors who may be unable to visit properties in person, expanding the potential buyer pool and facilitating long-distance transactions. When creating visual tours to market property it’s important to prioritize   high-quality visuals in order to effectively showcase your properties. This might include incorporating interactive elements like hotspots, floor plans and 360-degree views to enhance engagement. You can then promote your virtual tours across multiple platforms, including social media, real estate websites and email marketing campaigns to maximize exposure. Track how well this type of content performs across your various marketing channels, so you can understand if it worked and how it might be improved.  06. Local collaborations and networking Successful real estate marketing is all about relationship building and engaging with communities. Partnering with local businesses for open houses or sponsoring community events is one way to get in front of the people who may use your services. Some more specific examples include:  Partner with local businesses such as interior designers, home stagers, moving companies or landscapers who are also targeting new homeowners and then build a referral network together. Organize events or workshops with local businesses related to home buying, home improvement or real estate investments to provide educational content and network with potential clients at the same time.  Collaborate on marketing campaigns or co-branded materials with complementary businesses like mortgage brokers, home inspectors or insurance agents to leverage each other's audiences. Support community events, fundraisers or charities to increase visibility and demonstrate a commitment to giving back to the local community, while building your reputation as a trusted real estate professional. Learn more abou t event marketing . Participate in local networking events, chamber of commerce meetings, real estate associations or business mixers to connect with other professionals in the industry and potential clients. Identify and collaborate with local influencers ( influencer marketing ), bloggers or social media personalities who can help promote your listings or share your expertise with their followers. Create special offers or discounts in partnership with local businesses for clients who purchase or sell through your real estate services, providing added value and incentivizing referrals. Connect with local newspapers, magazines, radio stations or online platforms to feature your listings, market updates or expert insights in order to reach a broad and diverse audience within your community.  Looking for the perfect platform to build your real estate website? Check out the best real estate website builders  for agents and professionals. How to build your real estate marketing plan When developing your real estate marketing strategy, consider the following: Identify your target audience : Understand who your potential clients are, what they're looking for and where they spend their time. This knowledge will guide all of your marketing efforts including how and where you target them.  Analyze the competition:  Look at what other real estate professionals in your area are doing. Identify gaps in their strategies that you can exploit to differentiate yourself. Or model what’s working.  Choose the right channels:  Select the marketing channels   that will best reach your target audience. This could include online platforms like social media and email, as well as offline methods such as networking events and print advertising. Create compelling content:  Develop content that resonates with your audience and showcases your expertise in real estate. This could be blog posts, videos, infographics or podcasts.  Learn more about how to create a landing page. Set SMART goals:  Ensure that your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. This will help you stay focused and track progress. Decide on your budget:  Establish how much you're willing to invest in your marketing efforts. Be realistic about what you can afford and allocate resources wisely across different tactics. You may also need to modify and tweak this after running a few campaigns.  Why invest in real estate marketing? Investing in real estate marketing is a necessity for anyone looking to succeed in this competitive industry. Here's why dedicating time and resources to your real estate marketing can pay off significantly. Competitive advantage : In an industry as competitive as real estate, standing out from the crowd is crucial. A strong marketing plan can differentiate you from competitors and position you as a leader in your local market. Build brand recognition:  Consistent marketing helps build brand awareness and establishes your reputation as a trusted real estate professional. Engage with clients effectively:  Through targeted campaigns, you can engage with potential clients on a deeper level, fostering relationships that could lead to repeat business and referrals. Stay top-of-mind:  Regular marketing efforts keep you at the forefront of potential clients' minds when they're ready to make real estate decisions. Real estate marketing FAQs What type of marketing is best for real estate? The best type of marketing for real estate depends on your target audience, budget  and goals. However, a mix of digital and traditional marketing strategies is often most effective: Digital marketing :   Uses online platforms such as social media, email, and search engines. It's cost-effective and allows for precise targeting and analytics. Traditional marketing:  Includes methods like print ads, billboards and direct mail. It's good for reaching local markets and non-digitally aware clients. What is property marketing? It's exactly the same as real estate marketing - the promoting of real estate properties to potential buyers or renters. What are some of the best ways to market a property? The best ways to market a property include listing on major real estate websites (or creating your own), professional photography that really shows the property off the best virtual tours and social media marketing. Hosting open houses and running property tours to showcase the space is probably still the most effective way to market real estate even in a digital age. What are the most effective marketing channels for real estate? Online listings (Zillow, Realtor.com) Social media (especially Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) Email marketing Virtual tours and 3D walkthroughs Local SEO and Google My Business Content marketing (blogs, videos, podcasts) Direct mail Open houses and property events Referral networks and partnerships What role does video play in real estate marketing? Video is increasingly important in real estate marketing for: Creating virtual property tours Showcasing neighborhoods and local amenities Developing agent profile videos to build trust Sharing client testimonials Providing market updates and educational content Live streaming open houses or Q&A sessions Creating engaging social media content

Get started by: Creating a website →  | Getting a domain → Neon and bright or pastel and muted? Monochromatic or full-on rainbow splash? A good color palette can set the mood and convey specific feelings, making it a treasured aspect in every design project, from fashion to website design and more. Yet, crafting the perfect color combination can often lead to us obsessing over tiny tweaks and adjustments of saturation, brightness and hue. Whether you're choosing a website color scheme or designing a logo for a client, this process can be tedious. To make things more efficient – and fun – we suggest utilizing some of the best color tools and resources that the internet has to offer. Once you have your palette, try our free website builder to see how everything works together. What is Wix? Wix is a powerful platform to consider when learning how to create a website , offering tools to design a fully customizable site.  It provides powerful tools to build, adapt and ultimately grow your site into anything you can imagine. Try it out for free now . Here are our top free color palette generator tools, covering everything from color schemes to complementary colors , to text readability and even the shades of your Instagram feed: 8 best free color palette generator tools Adobe Color CC Khroma Coolors Color Tool - Material Design ColorSpace Colorkuler Designspiration Muzli AI Color Combination Generator 01. Adobe Color: Explore existing color schemes and create your own Adobe Color is an advanced tool for getting your hues just right, making it one of the best color palette generators for professionals. On your first visit to the site, we recommend heading to the Explore section, where you can browse different user-crafted color palettes at random, or according to parameters like popularity and recency. When a particular color combo catches your eye, you can customize it to your project’s needs. To do so, add it to your library, then head to the My Libraries section, pick the color palette and click on ‘Edit this theme.’ Now, say hello to the Color Wheel - where the real fun happens. Here, you can tweak each color individually, or all at once, using its CMYK, RGB or other values, and control its brightness and darkness. You can set a ‘Base Color’ (marked by a white triangle at its bottom) and apply the color harmony rule to find new color schemes that match that particular shade. At any stage, you can check the accessibility of your color palette, to ensure that all visitors will be able to interact with your final result. Another useful feature on Color CC is ‘Extract Theme.’ It generates a color palette from any photo or image that you upload. You can play around with the shades, then once you’ve reached color-perfection, there are many ways to incorporate the new palette into your project. You can copy the hex codes into your clipboard, download an ASE file or save it into your Adobe libraries if you’re logged in with your Adobe ID. 02. Khroma: Infinite color palettes tailored to your style As a designer, your well-trained eye and personal style are perfectly on-point. Now, train a computer to share your exquisite taste level - and imagine what perfect color matching it could do for you! Product designer George Hastings rose to the task when creating Khroma, a website that figures out your color preferences using machine learning, and generates unique and personalized color combinations to match. When first opening Khroma , you’ll be asked to pick out 50 color shades that you love. Singling out 50 favorites does take a bit of time, but clicking on pretty colors can hardly be considered a tedious task. Once you’re done, the Khroma algorithm will generate color combos in five different displays: type on a colored background, color blocks, gradient, two-toned photographs and lastly, a palette made up of four colors. The combinations are laid out as an endless, Pinterest-like scroll that encourages discovery, or “digging for gold” as George describes on his UX portfolio . Pair this tool with a basic understanding of color psychology to ensure spot-on web designs that not only look the part, but that also evoke the intended emotions. Lucie Bajgart for Khroma 03. Coolors: Professional tools for color hunting Coolors is a highly useful and professional tool for perfecting the color scheme of your choice. This convenient generator offers a speedy way of finding the right shades for your project, whether you’re choosing color palettes for your business or for a new illustration. The website welcomes you with a randomly generated palette of five colors that fill your screen. Press the spacebar to explore more color schemes and watch as your screen transforms into a celebration of color. Once you hit a combination you like, hover over any of the colors to see the different menu options. You’ll be able to find similar shades of the same color, drag the colors elsewhere to rearrange your palette, adjust them by hue, saturation and brightness, or lock them. Coolors also allows you to upload an image to the site, and extract a color scheme directly from there. You can create color gradients with its Gradient Maker, check out trending palettes on the Explore page, and more. Once you’re happy with your palette, you can export it as a URL, PNG and more, or copy the hex code to use in your design. Another benefit is that Coolors is also available as an app. It lets you generate color palettes on-the-go, making it one of the most useful smartphone apps for designers. 04. Color Tool - Material Design: Test your UI color choices Material Design is a design system developed by Google, implemented across their range of digital products to ensure a cohesive visual language throughout. Designers and developers alike can take inspiration from it and adopt certain elements to use in their own interfaces. It includes many useful resources such as a free icon pack and many free fonts. Color Tool is just a small fraction of this staggeringly rich database of tools and information that Google’s Material Design provides. This simple and friendly generator is one of the most professional color palette generators, allowing you to test what your color palette might look like as part of a user interface design. The Material Design color system adheres to only two colors, a primary and a secondary, together with their light and dark variants. This limited palette ensures harmony, and together with a strict approach to text legibility and accessibility, it still allows for enough color leeway to ensure that all UI elements are easily distinguishable. These complex principles are much more approachable after a quick dive into the Color Tool. Once you select two colors - a primary color and a secondary one, the tool generates a few variants of each. The color scheme is then displayed in six UI wireframe examples, giving you a sense of how it would later come to life in your design. Color Tool also runs a quick and convenient accessibility test for you. Crucial for making your website accessible , this test shows you whether your color choices will allow for legible text on your site. 05. ColorSpace: One color, countless options If you have a color that you want to base your color palette around - whether it’s a brand color or just a shade that you really love - ColorSpace is the tool for you. Enter your hue of choice using its RGB values, hex code or by recreating it straight on the color wheel, and click ‘Generate.’ The website will instantly produce a generous amount of color combinations to match your color of choice. With anything from a gradient palette to a classy mix, you’ll discover many different paths you and your color could venture on. 06. Colorkuler: Let your Instagram account do the coloring If you showcase your design work on Instagram, Colorkuler can be a fun experiment. Extracting a color palette from your most popular posts, it reveals your true colors and helps you maintain a consistent brand identity. It’s as easy as typing in your handle to see what color scheme comes up. If you’re feeling indecisive, Colorkuler can be a useful tool for picking a color that reflects you and your personal brand. The only side note is that your account must be active and public for Colorkuler to be able to perform its magic. 07. Designspiration: See your palette in action Love the color palette that you’ve chosen, but still in need of inspiration on how to use it right? Designspiration’s color search allows you to select up to five colors and then browse a variety of designs and diverse stock photos that share the same palette (and make it work). You can get even more specific by searching for a certain kind of design content, such as infographics or hand lettering, or type in any other keyword relating to the content you’re interested in. Functioning as a color palette mood board, the feed will let you explore other designs and draw inspiration for your own creation. 08. Muzli AI Color Combination Generator: Color combinations for any project using AI Muzli AI Color Combination Generator is an intuitive AI tool that generates color palettes based on text input. Simply enter a word or a phrase, and the tool creates a palette that visually translates your input. This feature allows designers to rapidly produce and explore multiple color schemes related to their specific themes or concepts. Muzli is an efficient and user-friendly AI tool for generating color palettes tailored to your creative needs, saving time and enhancing design quality. Best practices for using the Muzli AI Color Combination Generator begin with typing a word or phrase that encapsulates the mood or theme of your project to generate the initial palette. Save each appealing palette to a personal collection, allowing for easy comparison and refinement. Continue to adjust your input to explore a wide range of color schemes, enabling a broader creative exploration. Subscribe to the Wix blog  for a weekly dose of fresh web design tips and trends. What to look for in a good color palette generator Choosing the right color palette generator can make or break your design process. Ease of use should be at the top of your list. A great tool helps you create stunning, balanced palettes without complicated menus or needing to master color theory. Simple features like drag-and-drop adjustments or easy-to-use sliders can save time and make a big impact. Look for tools that offer beginner-friendly presets along with advanced options so you can fine-tune as much or as little as you want. AI-powered tools are transforming the way we create. With machine learning, they can suggest color palettes based on design trends, photos, or your specific preferences, offering a personalized source of inspiration. These tools are especially helpful when you're starting from scratch and need a creative spark. Some even allow you to input a mood, keyword, or image, generating palettes that perfectly align with your vision—saving you valuable time and effort. Another important feature to consider is how easily you can export and integrate your palettes. The best tools let you copy hex codes, download palettes in formats like ASE or CSS, and sync with platforms like Figma or Adobe XD. Some even go the extra mile with accessibility features, like checking contrast ratios or showing how your colors will appear to users with color blindness. These aren’t just extras—they’re must-haves for creating inclusive designs that look amazing on all platforms and devices. Color palette examples How to pick a color palette Choosing a color palette is an important decision in any design project. Here's a step-by-step guide to picking a color palette that complements your design goals: Determine your project's goals and audience: Consider the type of project you're working on, the desired mood or atmosphere and the target audience. What emotions do you want to convey? Who are you trying to reach? Understand color theory: Familiarize yourself with the basics of color theory, including the color wheel, primary colors, secondary colors, complementary colors and analogous colors. This will help you make better choices for your own design. Gather inspiration: Look for inspiration from nature, art, design and popular culture. Create a mood board or collection of images that capture the colors and aesthetics you find appealing. Consider color psychology: Understand the psychological effects of different colors. For instance, red is associated with energy and passion, while blue is associated with calmness and tranquility. Experiment with different color schemes: Try out different color schemes, such as monochromatic (different shades of the same color), analogous (colors next to each other on the wheel), complementary (colors opposite on the color wheel, triadic (three evenly spaced colors on the wheel) and tetradic palettes. Experiment with varying color proportions and saturation levels also. Evaluate your choices: Review your color palette in the context of your design. Does it complement the overall aesthetic? Does it create the desired mood? Make adjustments as needed. Seek feedback: Share your color palette with others and gather their feedback. This can help you identify any potential issues or areas for improvement. Refine and finalize: Based on the feedback and your own evaluation, refine your color palette until you are satisfied with the overall look and feel. Here are some additional tips for picking a color palette: Use a color palette generator: There are many online tools that can help you create and visualize color palettes. Consider accessibility: Ensure that your color choices are accessible to people with color blindness or visual impairments. Test your palette in different contexts: View your color palette in various lighting conditions and on different devices to ensure it looks consistent. Don't be afraid to experiment: Have fun and don't be afraid to try out different color combinations. The right palette will emerge through experimentation and refinement. How many colors should a color palette have? The ideal number of colors in a color palette depends on the specific project and the desired effect. However, there are some general guidelines to follow: For a simple and minimalist design, a monochromatic or analogous palette with 2-3 colors is often ideal. This can create a sense of harmony and sophistication. For a more complex or dynamic design, a complementary, triadic or tetradic palette with 4-6 colors can be effective. This can create a sense of contrast, excitement and visual interest. Here's a breakdown of color palette options and their suitability for different designs: Monochromatic palette (1-2 colors): Ideal for minimalist designs, creating a sense of calm and unity. Analogous palette (3-5 colors): Suitable for harmonious and cohesive designs, evoking a specific mood or theme. Complementary palette (2 colors opposite each other on the color wheel): Creates high contrast and vibrancy, suitable for bold and energetic designs. Triadic palette (3 colors evenly spaced on the color wheel): Produces a dynamic and balanced visual impact, ideal for eye-catching designs. Tetradic palette (4 colors forming a rectangle on the color wheel): Offers a rich and complex color scheme, suitable for intricate and sophisticated designs. How to create a website color palette? Start by thinking about your brand’s vibe and the emotions you want your audience to feel. Whether you’re customizing website design templates  or creating something from scratch, your color palette sets the tone. Choose a primary color that really captures who you are, then experiment with colors that complement it. Try combinations like colors next to each other on the color wheel, opposites, or different shades of the same color. Go for a mix—a bold dominant color, a softer secondary one, and a contrasting accent for things like buttons or highlights. Make sure there’s enough contrast so your text is easy to read. Dark text on light backgrounds or light text on dark works best for accessibility. Test how your colors look on different devices—colors can vary a lot between mobile and desktop. Tools like contrast checkers can also help make sure your text is readable for everyone, including those with visual impairments. Wix's built-in color tools make applying and adjusting palettes simple. Wix website builder lets you experiment with preset color themes or create your own. Use the "Get image colors" app to generate palettes from your site’s images. The Theme Manager helps keep your designs consistent, and you can preview your color schemes across sections before publishing for a cohesive look. Color palettes FAQ How do I find my color palette style? There are a few different ways to find your color palette style when starting a business or building a webite. One way is to look at your favorite colors and see if they fall into any of the categories for color palettes. Another way is to think about the mood or feeling you want to create with your design. If you want to create a calm and relaxing atmosphere, you might choose a monochromatic palette with soft shades of blue or green. You can also use online tools to help you find your color palette style. There are many different color palette generators available, such as Coolors and Adobe Color. These tools allow you to experiment with different color combinations and see what works best for you. How to make a color palette online? Creating a color palette is simple with free color palette generators. Start by picking a base color and experiment with schemes like complementary, monochromatic or triadic using a color wheel. Many palette makers let you tweak shades, test contrast and export palettes for branding, web design or creative projects. AI-powered tools can even build palettes based on images, trends, or moods. Which two colors go well together? There are many different color combinations that work well together. Some popular combinations include: Red and yellow: This is a classic combination that is often used for festive designs. Blue and green: This is a calming and relaxing combination that is often used for nature-inspired designs. Orange and purple: This is a bold and eye-catching combination that is often used for modern designs. Pink and teal: This is a sophisticated combination often used for fashion. Black and white: This is a classic and timeless combination, most typically used for minimalist designs. What is the difference between a color palette and a color scheme? Color scheme and color palette are two terms that are often used interchangeably, but they actually have different meanings. A color scheme is a general framework for how colors are chosen and put together, while a color palette is the specific set of colors that are chosen within a color scheme. For example, if you chose a complementary color scheme, your color palette would include two colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Color palettes are more specific to your project because they include the actual colors that you'll use. Color schemes are more general because they're based on color theory and can be applied to many different projects. What are the different types of color palettes? There are many different ways to categorize color palettes, but here are 7 common types: Monochromatic palettes: These palettes use a single hue with different shades, tints and tones. Analogous palettes: These palettes use colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Complementary palettes: These palettes use colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Triadic palettes: These palettes use three colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. Tetradic palettes: These palettes use four colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. Split-complementary palettes: These palettes use two complementary colors and one or two colors that are between them. Neutral palettes: These palettes use shades of white, black, gray, and beige. What is a color palette? A color palette is a selection of colors that are used together to create a cohesive and visually appealing aesthetic. Color palettes are used in a variety of fields, including art, design and web development. What are 2024's top website color trends? Some of 2024's website color trends include: Luminous red Metallic gray Retro burgundy Mud Poison green Black and white Cobalt blue

When you think of a hacker, it’s likely you picture a villainous mastermind sitting in a dark basement, decked out in a black hoodie and the glow of their monitor as they try to steal precious data. But what if we were to tell you the hacker isn’t always the antagonist, and in bug bounty programs, hackers are actually the heroes? Meet bug bounty programs— programs that aim to reduce breaches over time by compensating “ethical hackers,” or non-affiliated security researchers, to spot holes in a company’s security infrastructure. The benefits of bug bounty programs aren’t limited to companies ethical hackers—you can gain a lot from them, too. When you learn how to make a website for your business, picking a website provider with a bug bounty program can give you the peace of mind that your chosen platform continually enhances their security. In this article, we’ll go over what bug bounty programs are, dive into their history, plus highlight how they benefit businesses big and small. Tip: Security experts manage the security for every website built on Wix—from threat prevention to real-time detection and rapid response. Learn more about how Wix website security can support organic growth and give you the peace of mind you need to run your business. What are bug bounty programs? Bug bounty programs are a way for companies to find and fix cybersecurity bugs. Companies will offer compensation to ethical hackers who reveal vulnerabilities in their systems. Bug bounty platform HackerOne recently found that 53% of organizations have lost customers over a security breach. Bug bounty programs can prevent these breaches from happening in the first place. Bug bounty programs Wix Airtable Snapchat Sony Uber 01. Wix Wix’s Bug Bounty program is managed on the HackerOne platform and invites website security researchers to submit a vulnerability report with relevant details to bugbounty@wix.com . Various issues or vulnerabilities include XSS attacks, SQL injection vulnerabilities, an unsecured API and more. “Our bug bounty program has been running for over four years, and some researchers have been working with it since its earliest days,” says Ifat Kooperli, who leads the vulnerability management domain in the Wix Application Security team, in an interview with HackerOne . “Researchers are integral to our application security because they have a deep understanding of our platform. The findings they submit are incredibly valuable to us because they can identify exactly what causes a problem, and our team can then focus on how it should be solved.” “By examining our researchers’ findings, we learn about our weak spots—both in specific features and laterally—when we see the same issue repeatedly across the platform,” said Kooperli. “When we see the same vulnerability repeatedly, we examine the root cause and find out how it can be mitigated across the platform.” Learn more about how your web hosting platform affects your security. 02. Airtable Cloud collaboration service Airtable works with those who find a security issue in their services that they should know about. Like many other prominent bug bounty programs, they work with HackerOne to take submissions. The company has paid out more than $132,000 in bounties, with most averaging around $100. Higher rewards are offered for more severe bugs—typically ranging from $500 to $5,000. 03. Snapchat To qualify for Snapchat’s bug bounty program , the researcher has to be the first person to report the specific vulnerability. A full description and report have to be submitted, including outlined steps on how to reproduce the glitch. The minimum reward is $250. You can earn up to $35,000, but Snapchat only awards that amount for identifying bugs affecting server-side remote code execution. ​As of April 2025, Snapchat has awarded over $1 million in bug bounties through its partnership with HackerOne celebrating a decade of collaboration in identifying and resolving security vulnerabilities. 04. Sony HackerOne manages the Secure@Sony program, Sony’s bug bounty program. You can check out the ethical hackers and submitted bugs on the program’s Hall of Thanks . Those that find viable bugs receive a “Secure@Sony Finder” T-shirt in return. 05. Uber Uber also posts their bug bounty program guidelines on HackerOne. Uber rewards high-quality reports that lead to resolution with a minimum bounty of $500. The company aims to pay these rewards within 14 days of accepting the submission. The benefits of bug bounty programs for companies When you first hear about a bug bounty program, it might seem improbable: Why would large companies and organizations invite researchers to find these security flaws? However, these programs come with a slew of benefits for corporations. Reduces vulnerabilities of attack As Hack_EDU explains , bug bounty programs often identify vulnerabilities before they can be used in attacks. These programs incentivize white hat hackers to proactively find flaws that ill-intentioned forces could exploit. Also, it gives in-house developers the chance to learn from the bugs that outside researchers found. Tip: Every vulnerability found in Wix’s bug bounty program is documented in its internal systems and analyzed for severity, type, and amount to help improve the company’s security posture through data-based decisions. Identify talent Bug bounty programs provide the opportunity for companies and organizations to discover talented researchers. If an ethical hacker submits a well-documented report that leads to a major security issue being fixed, it’ll likely catch the security team’s attention. Organizations and companies can then collaborate with these researchers on similar cybersecurity projects, or even hire them to work in-house. This might not be advantageous for a serial bug hunter though, who might make more money with a day job and finding one-off bugs that they collect bounty for. Tip: Wix employs over a thousand developers, dozens of ethical hackers, plus a well-connected (and unlimited) group of Bug Bounty researchers and a triage team that look for vulnerabilities in the platform at all times. Cost saving Understandably, organizations would prefer to catch bugs before a hacker exploits them. Spending financial resources on a bounty for a bug will often be more cost effective than dealing with a cyberattack that stems from a security flaw. Additionally, companies only give out rewards if someone finds a bug. Rather than pay researchers hourly to look for potential bugs, these organizations pay when researchers discover and correctly report a critical issue. Simulate attacks, practice, prepare and pre-empt These bug hunters look for the chinks in the armor of websites’ infrastructure without actually going in for the damage. Companies simulate a cybersecurity attack, but it won’t be to a large-scale effect that would cause major problems and take massive bandwidth to fix. When hunters submit reports, organizations can reproduce the bug for practice. Furthermore, running practice cybersecurity checks with in-house engineers can only do so much–sometimes it takes an outside perspective to see bugs. Tip: Every Wix site has built-in enterprise-grade protection and 24/7 security monitoring, so users can stay focused on growing their online presence. The benefits of bug bounty programs for ethical hackers Companies and organizations can gain a lot from bug bounty programs, but ethical hackers and researchers also benefit from these programs. First, ethical hackers can treat bug bounty programs as a chance to test their skills at finding security flaws in companies’ cybersecurity infrastructure. Since companies openly invite hackers to search for these bugs, ethical hackers can legally test their abilities against large companies and even some government agencies. Additionally, some ethical hackers view these programs as a way to make some supplemental income, almost like a freelance opportunity. Recent research from Intigriti found that 66% of ethical hackers surveyed are considering bug bounty hunting as a full-time career and that 96% would like to spend more time participating in these programs. Bug hunting offers enticing flexibility: you get to be your own boss and can work almost anywhere. However, experts want potential full-time bug hunters to consider a few points before taking the plunge. Community may be a benefit for bug bounty hunters. Security researchers share information on online forums and platforms like HackerOne facilitate collaboration. “It’s also important to keep researchers engaged and aware that you value their work,” says Kooperli of Wix. “Open communication on the HackerOne platform and other channels, sending branded swag, and other gestures can help your company build a relationship with your researchers.” History of bug bounty programs Netscape introduced the first bug bounty program  in October 1995. The company offered rewards to users who helped find bugs in the Netscape Navigator 2.0 beta software. Those who discovered significant security bugs won a cash prize. Netscape also rewarded those who found less concerning bugs with Netscape merchandise and items from the Netscape General Store. Since then, many websites, software developers and large organizations have run their own bug bounty programs. For example, iMozilla Firefox introduced their own bug bounty program in 2004—a program that still runs today . And Dragos Ruiu was so frustrated with how Apple handled security, that he launched the Pwn2Own hacking contest in 2007. At first, hackers received a laptop as their reward, but the competition has grown over the years. In 2022, the contest doled out a record amount of $800,000  to hackers. In their 2021 bug bounty program recap, Github touched on the most interesting submitted bug. Researcher yvvdwf  found a vulnerability with the GitHub Enterprise Server, pertaining to GitHub Pages’ option to personalize sites with different configuration options. GitHub didn’t properly restrict the user-controlled options, so an attacker could potentially read information on the Enterprise Server. Yvvdwf helped resolve the vulnerability and increased the product’s security. Recently, HackerOne compiled a list  of the 10 most commonly discovered security vulnerabilities, and cross-site scripting (XSS) took the top spot. In an XSS attack, a hacker injects client-side scripts into a website. As a result, they can impersonate another user, steal confidential information, deface websites and much more. The future of bug bounty programs As cybersecurity basics continue to evolve, so will bug bounty programs. New tools and products for those looking to host a website will mean that there will be new vulnerabilities for bug hunters to discover. Some bug bounty programs want to incentivize researchers with non-monetary rewards for certain reports. Other programs, such as Meta’s, are launching educational opportunities for researchers . Bug bounty program FAQ Are bug bounty programs effective? Yes, bug bounty programs are effective for identifying security vulnerabilities before malicious actors exploit them. They leverage a global community of ethical hackers, offering diverse perspectives and quick detection. Many major tech companies use them as a cost-effective layer in their overall cybersecurity strategy. What is the largest bug bounty payout ever? The largest bug bounty payout to date was a massive $10 million  from blockchain bridge Wormhole in 2022. This reward was given for identifying a critical vulnerability that could have caused major damage to the platform. In 2023, LayerZero launched a bug bounty program offering up to $15 million  for the discovery of severe vulnerabilities. While this record-breaking amount is available, it has yet to be claimed.

While some B2B partnerships are purely transactional, the best ones come from two forward-thinking enterprises teaming up to create added value for their joint customer bases. By bringing together ecosystems, thoughtfully integrating products and creating seamless user experiences, businesses can provide a truly maximized offering to their customers. And in addition to the impact on customers, a strong partnership means increased retention, acquisition and revenue for the brand. It can even positively affect productivity and company culture—creating new pathways to success. Some Channel partners at Wix In the case of Wix’s B2B  channel partnerships, brands can provide their SMB  customers with Wix’s leading web creation platform as a fully co-branded offering. This empowers companies to steadily fuel their own business growth while satisfying multiple customer needs at once. With 75% of global trade  flowing indirectly, more and more brands are embracing the channel partnerships business model. Enterprises that offer the dynamic Wix platform are giving their SMB customers the tools they need to create a complete online presence and thrive in today’s ever-evolving digital landscape. Wix empowers 258M+ users worldwide, with 1.5M average new users per month. The platform offers AI assistance to get SMBs online fast, and provides built-in solutions for any type of business , from eCommerce businesses  to service providers and hospitality. SMBs can sell their products online, take appointments, utilize omni-channel marketing and much more. Tip: As your customers start their businesses  and expand online, a business website  can fast-track their growth. Wix’s dynamic platform In order to cater to SMBs with the right intent at the right moment, the Wix Channels  team works hand-in-hand with enterprises to custom-integrate Wix directly into their own funnels and flows. This allows the enterprise to increase website builder  sales and ultimately maximize SMB eCommerce website  and online store  creation. Leveraging cross-team expertise, Wix Channels develops a unique full funnel partnership strategy  with the business partner in order to analyze flows, create advanced integrations and marketing opportunities, and continually optimize processes with the goal of driving business growth. Any type of business servicing SMBs can develop a Wix partnership and create added value for customers. From SaaS digital solutions to design and printing services, Wix can be customized to the business offering and integrated into the funnel. Enterprises can offer Wix’s drag & drop editor directly to customers, making how to create a website quick and intuitive , or they can offer professional website design services and create custom websites for clients. Either way, offering SMBs a complete online presence from the outset serves to naturally meet their needs. Enterprise and SaaS companies serving any stage of the SMB lifecycle can provide Wix products to customers in a seamless, combined offer: Online directories Legal services Insurance, accounting and payroll Design and printing services Banks, payment providers and fintech …and many more. “As Wix continues to evolve both their business and their products, we believe we can offer our customers the best website products on the market.” Sherilyn King, Senior Vice President of Sales at Yellow Pages Canada (Pages Jaunes) For enterprises that opt to create sites for clients, the partnership can bring on a serious shift in company productivity, and even culture. Working with Wix’s leading tech platform has helped enterprises welcome a new age of digital transformation. As the enterprise advances into the world of websites and digital business solutions, they upskill staff in-house with training provided directly by Wix experts. And by leveraging core platform features like web design templates , AI tools and Wix business solutions , teams have been able to reduce fulfillment time, allowing them to service more customers. Beyond website creation, Wix offers advanced site analytics  that can provide deep insights about customers’ businesses—insights an enterprise channel can leverage. Since the SMB acquires Wix solutions via the enterprise, the enterprise gains visibility into certain parts of their customers’ online business performance. By analyzing this data, an enterprise can better understand the SMB’s needs and which solutions would be the best fit. For example, if a customer’s traffic is increasing, an enterprise may want to suggest a CRM solution from Wix or one of Wix’s trusted third-party vendors. Read more: Rethinking the power of domains and B2B partnerships Drive growth with data True partnership means dedicated, ongoing collaboration and guidance. With nearly 20 years of experience providing cutting-edge technology to small businesses, Wix pours its expertise into nurturing a successful partnership . From technical product integrations led in cooperation with top Solutions Engineers, to hands-on training with experienced Success Managers and comprehensive guidance from Marketing professionals, Wix provides support throughout the entire partnership lifecycle. When it comes to partnership, two halves don’t make a whole. Rather, two leading brands can come together to create an innovative offering with new value in the market—benefiting both the shared customer base and the business partners alike. Who knows where the right partnership can take your business. Learn how a channel partnership  with Wix can drive growth for your business and your SMB customers.

After you create a website , social media marketing is an effective way to drive new traffic to your site, connect with your audience and remind previous customers to return. But how do you capture the attention of social media users when new content floods their feeds every second? The key is to share different types of eye-catching, conversation-starting posts. The challenge then becomes coming up with new social media content ideas when you’re already on there posting every day. To help you figure out what kind of content to post, you’ll find 20 suggestions below with examples from brands big and small. Social media content ideas Share your blog posts and other great content Develop how-tos, tutorials, and tips Announce big company news Publish industry headlines Show off data with infographics Create engaging videos Take advantage of trending topics Leverage user-generated content Show your personality with memes and GIFs Post an interesting quote Conduct an interview Let your audience meet your employees Put a spotlight on your customers Give your customers a look behind the scenes Create previews of upcoming offerings Do an unboxing video for your product Run contests and giveaways Host and promote your live events Team up with another brand Share influencer content 01. Share your blog posts and other great content Creating a blog and regularly publishing new blog posts, vlogs, or podcast episodes helps give search engines more proof of your site’s authority and relevance. This, in turn, can improve how well your site ranks and how much traffic it receives. However, it’s never a good idea to strictly rely on search engines to bring you traffic. By posting your great written content on social media, you can exponentially increase your reach and get more engagement. When sharing informational blog posts that are helpful and well researched, you will provide a lot of value to your followers which is key. Tip: use a url shortener to create the best link to go viral. Or add a social share button to your blog page. Here’s an example of how we published a blog post from the Wix Blog on our Facebook page to inspire thought leadership: 02. Develop how-tos, tutorials, and tips While your blog is a great place to share tutorials and practical tips with your audience, social media gives you the chance to quickly guide them step-by-step in real-time. Platforms like YouTube or Instagram’s IGTV allow you to record lengthier how-tos, but you can easily share bite-sized tutorials on other social media platforms too. Here’s an example from Mac Cosmetics using an Instagram Reel to teach people how to keep their skin from looking dry in the winter: 03. Announce big company news Social media users don’t need to know every time you update your app’s software or hire a new admin. But the big company news that affects them? Yes, sharing that kind of information on social media is a great idea. You can follow Tesla’s lead on this one who retweeted Elon Musk’s new car model announcement. Letting fans and anyone interested know exciting changes can help with building buzz, boosting social signals , generating excitement and even boosting sales. 04. Publish industry headlines When operating a business, it’s only natural for you to stay up to date on what’s happening in your industry. This allows you to stay ahead of the curve and provide your audience with the latest and greatest offering. That said, your customers aren’t always savvy to know everything that’s going on. Sometimes they are, but they’d really benefit from a reminder and insider tips from you in order to make the most of it. Take this LinkedIn post on Zynga’s page as an example. Here, Zynga provides value to its audience with information about the rapid growth in the mobile gaming industry. 05. Show off data with infographics Using infographics is one of those social media ideas that’s a no-brainer. Infographics are a great way to spice up your blog content as they turn what would otherwise be a text-dense post into something attractive, easy to read and shareable. On social media, though, you won't want to post the whole thing. Instead, pull out a powerful bite-sized nugget like this one on Think with Google's LinkedIn page. Also, if you want to ensure your infographic or report doesn't get missed, stats or numbers certainly get people to stop and pay attention. 06. Create engaging videos Video is a very user-friendly social media marketing format. For one, auto-playing videos do a great job capturing people’s attention as they scroll. What’s more, it’s much easier for users to watch a video than to try and read a lot of text to learn about products or the company. Furthermore, funny or entertaining videos are appreciated by users and are a great way to spike your view count. Lego did an excellent job creating an enticing stop motion video on YouTube called Saving Thanksgiving. It has received over 86 million views, a massive reach of people who will see their product used creatively. 07. Take advantage of trending topics It’s not too difficult to find out what’s trending on social media, be it a person, place, meme , event or even a challenge. Most of these platforms have a dedicated section with trending topics to look at for ideas. You can also use Google Trends to get a sense of what people are talking about and create content around it. This social media marketing strategy (in which brands utilize trending topics, events or memes to connect with their audience) is called trendjacking . Chipotle Mexican Grill often leverages big holidays or events to push out new social content, like this below post for the US elections. So long as it’s in line with your social media branding and isn’t too controversial, take advantage of the trends to create relevant content. Learn more: What is Brat? 08. Leverage user-generated content User-generated content (UGC) has become a useful marketing strategy for brands and an excellent way to increase your social media presence . Here’s how it works: A customer tags your brand in one of their posts. You notice how awesome it is and how well it shows off your product and decide it’s worth sharing with your audience. Not only does this kind of content build a lot of consumer trust as they get to see your products or services used by real customers, but it also boosts loyalty in your existing customer base. Just remember to tag the creator in your post, so they are credited and can see that you’re proud to show them off on your feed or Story. Here’s an example from the Museum of Ice Cream’s Instagram feed: 09. Show your personality with memes and GIFs Whether you create custom GIFs or repurpose popular memes, adding the occasional touch of levity to your page is a good idea. In just a few seconds, you can tell your audience a lot about your brand’s personality and style. These kinds of graphics also tend to be very engaging. GIFs, for instance, are a lot like videos in that the motion encourages people to slow their scroll and see what’s going on. This custom-made GIF on the Starbucks ’ Twitter page shows how just the tiny bit of movement can bring a brand’s product to life on social media: See our guide on how to use Twitter for more platform specific ideas. 10. Post an interesting quote There are entire social media pages dedicated to inspirational quotes. Evidently, people appreciate hearing different voices that send positive messages. You can post quotes that are aligned with national holidays such as Martin Luther King Day or Women’s History Month. In the Adobe example below, you can see their WomenCreateWednesday Instagram post with a powerful quote embedded into a colorful background: Posting on Instagram? Don't forget the importance of your bio page. Hopp helps create the most stunning and fast-loading bio pages with ease. It is highly customizable, its unique search feature ensures that your followers can access your links quickly and easily like never before. 11. Conduct an interview A lot of times, interviews are done in longer formats, like articles or videos. But social media has taken another twist on interviews. There are ways to use the limited space that social media gives you to publish bite-sized interviews. LinkedIn is a good platform for interviews as its character limits aren’t as strict as platforms like Twitter. Here’s a great example from Upwork that shared a spotlight interview snippet on their LinkedIn feed. 12. Let your audience meet your employees Show the world the amazing team that stands behind your brand. It not only humanizes your business but also lets people get to know your company and who you're made of. Pinterest uses a similar format when posting an employee spotlight post on LinkedIn that says "The women of Pinterest weigh in on the kindest corners of the internet." There are other ways to get your employees involved in your social media content. For example, you could hand the mic over to them and let them do a takeover of your channel for the day. Who better than the people working for your brand to show off your facilities and your products in action, right? You could even get inspired from the example above and use your Pinterest marketing efforts to achieve it. 13. Put a spotlight on your customers We've already seen how to put the spotlight on customers by posting user-generated content to your social feeds. Using a spotlight post for a customer is another way to let them take the stage and authentically advocate for your brand. Take a look at how Airbnb has put a unique spin on this in its customer spotlight series of posts. Essentially, these posts are a highlight reel from an Airbnb customer’s trip. Not only does it show off how great their experience is, but it also gives exposure to the host’s property too. That said, customer spotlights aren't going to make sense for every brand, so don’t sweat it if you don’t have people’s photos to show off. You can create social media graphics containing customer testimonials instead. Or you can do interview-style posts that serve as case studies of their experience. 14. Give your customers a look behind the scenes While your offering is ultimately what customers pay for, that doesn’t mean they have no interest in what it took behind the scenes to make it a reality. There are a lot of things people might be interested in getting a peek at, like your workplace setup, process, or the team at work. If you feel like it’ll enrich their understanding of what it is you do and why, or just be a fun thing for them to see, feel free to share it. Here’s a unique example from Walmart’s YouTube channel that includes a lot of behind the scenes footage in their “Meet Your Grocery Picker” series. Katie, whose job it is to find high-quality products for customers’ online orders, takes us through the process of grocery picking. This video is a part-employee spotlight, part-behind the scenes and part-product promotion, showing you that combining different types of content can be really effective. 15. Create previews of upcoming offerings You can generate a lot of anticipation, support, and customer buy-in on social media by teasing what’s to come in terms of your products, services, events, locations, and more. It doesn’t take much either. Simply give your followers a preview of what they can expect and when, as Foot Locker does on Twitter when announcing a new retro Nike shoe. The tweet includes the release dates and where you can find the shoe. As your brand gets closer to the upcoming launch, you can use social media channels to gather emails from people who wish to be notified once the offering is live. This is useful for predicting how well the launch will do and also gives you another way to stay in touch with your audience with email marketing campaigns down the road. 16. Do an unboxing video for your product There’s an entire genre of social media content called unboxing videos. Basically, someone goes shopping or buys something online and then records themselves opening it up and using it once they’ve received it. While it’s beneficial to have real customers creating this video on their own, brands themselves can take advantage of this trendy type of content. Here Wayfair demonstrates how this grilled cheese maker gets setup. Why did they choose this product out of the many on Wayfair’s site? Well, this post is in honor of National Grilled Cheese Day. What a clever way to combine a product showcase with special calendar days and holidays. 17. Run contests and giveaways Your website isn’t the only place you can reward customers and incentivize them to come back for more. A common social media marketing tip is to run contests or giveaways that customers, followers, and random social media users can participate in. Like with any social media content you share, it needs to be on-brand. It also should be something people care about. For instance, Visa’s cash giveaway on Twitter lets the winner donate $25,000 to the small business of their choice. Considering Visa's financial industry, this giveaway prize is highly relevant. 18. Host and promote your live events As people spend more time online, it only makes sense for companies to host more of their events on social media. With platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, it’s easy to schedule, promote, and host live events like Q&As, webinars, and mini-conferences. And unlike real-world events that require extensive coordination of physical items, spaces, and people, these are often much easier to get up and running. If you want to see one such example of this, Origins recently ran a Facebook live event. Not only did Origin’s skin expert provide great recommendations for Mother’s Day gifts, but she also interacted with the event’s attendees in real-time too. After the live event is over, you can upload the recording as a video or IGTV so the people who missed it can still consume the useful content. 19. Team up with another brand Brands partner with other brands to enhance their offering. If you have an established partnership with a brand that’s also active on social media, it’s not a bad idea to loop them into your content strategy. Take a look at how H&M promotes its partnership with Lemlem. In the video below, the founder of the ethical clothing line talks about the company’s mission while H&M followers get to see items from the line. One reason to do this is to boost awareness of a partner’s involvement in your brand—especially if its mission is something that people gravitate to or it’s already an established household name. Another reason to partner with another brand is to broaden your reach on social media. If you look at Lemlem ’s Instagram page, you’ll see that they have 129k followers and share some of the H&m content. Even if there’s some overlap with H&M’s followers, these posts will likely bring new page visits and lead people to H&M's store. 20. Share influencer content If influencer marketing is part of your social media strategy, make sure you’re making the most out of their produced content. Sure, it’s a huge bonus to have them promoting your social media content to their large and engaged audiences. However, you’re going to have an even more fruitful and meaningful partnership if you promote their images (check our our social media images sizes guide to get started) and videos on your channels as well. Take Athleta’s partnership with Simone Biles. While Biles may be the ambassador wearing the company’s workout clothes, Athleta is on Facebook congratulating the athlete on her recent athletic achievement. If you can show that your influencer isn’t just in it for the money, and your brand isn’t just doing it for the clout, this partnership will mean a lot more to your followers and customers. There are so many ways to make influencer content work for your brand - our guide to TikTok for business is just one of these ways.

When you think of social media marketing, what platforms first come to mind? Most likely it’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. While you wouldn’t be wrong to prioritize these platforms, LinkedIn is another useful social media tool that shouldn’t be overlooked. With more than 900 million members in 200 countries across the globe, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and one of the most-utilized social platforms. Much like deciding to create your own website , using LinkedIn is an effective platform for building your online marketing strategy. With that in mind, let’s dive into the benefits of LinkedIn marketing and how to use it to grow your business. What is LinkedIn marketing? Why use LinkedIn marketing? How to use LinkedIn marketing to grow your business LinkedIn marketing best practices What is LinkedIn marketing? As the name suggests, LinkedIn marketing is the process of using LinkedIn as part of your business’s social media marketing strategy. By posting carefully crafted content, businesses and individuals can use LinkedIn to build relationships, showcase their expertise and boost brand awareness. Additionally, LinkedIn’s native features, such as job postings and sponsored content, can be used to get companies in front of specific audiences. Why use LinkedIn marketing? Whether you’re a business owner, marketing professional or self-creator, you’ll find that there are several advantages to promoting your business on LinkedIn . For starters, when someone visits LinkedIn, they’re likely already in a business mindset. Unlike other social media platforms that attract users who are looking to be entertained, LinkedIn users are there to specifically advance their careers and network within their industry. B2B companies in particular will find a high concentration of their target market on LinkedIn. For this reason, the platform plays a vital role in capturing leads for many B2B businesses. In fact, a recent study from HubSpot shows that LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than other social media platforms, generating a visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 2.74% compared with Twitter (0.69%) and Facebook (0.77%). Even small businesses and brands have a good chance of being noticed by their target audience on LinkedIn, since the content isn’t diluted by the usual clutter of personal posts and political discussions. Customers visit LinkedIn for marketing and business-related content, and generally have high intent when they browse. Another advantage of LinkedIn is that it’s highly versatile. Whether you’re there to network, advertise, recruit or build brand awareness—the platform provides many tools that allow businesses to hone in on a specific marketing goal. It also works as a part of local marketing and more global efforts. How to use LinkedIn marketing to grow your business Because of the many uses and advantages of LinkedIn, it’s worth dedicating time and effort into building a robust LinkedIn marketing strategy. In the following section, you’ll learn how to get started: Set up a LinkedIn page for your business Create a content strategy Post organic and paid ads Get insights with LinkedIn analytics Publish articles on LinkedIn Keep your page’s content fresh and relevant Send messages through InMail Use targeted status updates Attract new followers to your page 01. Set up a LinkedIn page for your business Most customers who discover or look up your business on LinkedIn will come across your business page. That means it’s essential to make sure that your page is on-brand and optimized for engagement. The main distinction between a LinkedIn business page (a.k.a. company page) and a personal LinkedIn profile is that Linkedin Pages are public and can be viewed by anyone. By contrast, individuals who want to connect with another individual’s profile must request to do so and await approval. A LinkedIn Company Page gives you one central place to post content about your business. At the top of your page, you can grab viewers’ attention by including your logo and mission statement. You also have the option to fill in an About section that gives an overview of your company. Or, you could include a Product section that directs people to your offerings. Be sure to keep your company page up-to-date, and maintain a brand style and tone that’s consistent with your other social media accounts. Pro tips: Explore LinkedIn banner ideas to level up your brand design , too. 02. Create a content strategy As you build your network, make sure the posts you create are optimized to capture leads, drive engagement and get website traffic. It will take time to perfect your strategy, but from the beginning, you should put thought into what types of content will help you reach your KPIs. For example: If you’re aiming for engagement, compelling videos, polls and questionnaires are a great way to not only share about your brand, but also encourage followers to comment and participate. Gated content like guides, eBooks and templates are a strategic way to gain leads. These resources can be offered for download in exchange for a user’s email address. For building brand awareness , informative posts from your company blog can help to drive traffic to your site, while PR content or articles from external experts can help to establish your brand as a thought leader. Of course, just like any other social media platform, LinkedIn uses an algorithm to choose which posts to display most prominently. To optimize your posts: Include engaging visuals, like images, videos and infographics Commit to a consistent posting schedule Use a clear call-to-action Keep your copy short and concise Create LinkedIn polls to drive engagement Lead with questions Quickly respond to comments Tag relevant people and pages Include hashtags (see tip number 5 below) 03. Post organic and paid content Once your business page is set up, it’s time to start posting. LinkedIn focuses heavily on building relationships through meaningful content, and there are many effective types and ways to do this—from videos and blog posts, to sponsored ads and catchy polls. Organic tactics like engaging with relevant discussions, curating posts on topics that matter to your audience and crafting thought-leading articles or videos are all ways to build a dedicated following. In terms of paid posting, the platform offers different types of ads, including: Sponsored content: Native ads that appear in the LinkedIn feed. Sponsored messaging: Direct messages that appear in people’s inboxes. Dynamic ads: Ads that are automatically personalized to your target market. Text ads: PPC (pay-per-click) and CPM (cost-per-thousand) desktop and mobile ads. The benefit of using paid ads is that they help you reach new audiences immediately. LinkedIn lets you target ads by company size, job title, skills and more. You can additionally run LinkedIn’s Matched Audiences , which lets you retarget known contacts and website visitors. Because these contacts have already shown interest in your brand, matched audiences have a higher potential to convert. 04. Get insights with LinkedIn analytics As with any marketing strategy, in order to grow and make the most of your time, effort and money, it's important to keep track of how your activity performs. To do this, you can use LinkedIn’s built-in analytics tools like the Campaign Manager, which gives you real-time insights on your LinkedIn campaign performance, as well as demographic insights that you can use to improve your targeting strategy. Tracking conversions on LinkedIn is another great way to understand which ads are driving leads, purchases and sign ups. Likewise, you can compare metrics like clicks, impressions and social actions to optimize past posts and inform your LinkedIn marketing strategy going forward. 05. Publish articles on LinkedIn Publishing Platform Did you know that you can publish articles through LinkedIn? This feature is available to all members and admins of a LinkedIn page. Publishing an article on LinkedIn is similar to doing so on a platform like Medium—except that you don’t need to open a separate blogging account. These articles are displayed in the Activity section of your profile, plus shared on your followers’ news feeds. One of the benefits of publishing on LinkedIn is establishing your authority through the platform. Your business can benefit from having a byline on LinkedIn that, over time, reflects your level of expertise. LinkedIn articles are also indexed in Google, meaning they can improve your company’s online visibility. 06. Keep your page’s content fresh and relevant LinkedIn’s Content Marketing Score and Trending Content resources give you insights into the performance of your organic and paid posts. Your Content Marketing Score measures how audiences engage with your content and how your results compare to your competitors’. It also gives you a breakdown of how different types of content perform. Whether you’re posting company updates, sponsored content or group posts, you’ll be able to gauge which strategies are working best for your business. Trending Content is another useful resource to inform your content efforts. It highlights trending topics for specific audiences, giving you a window into what you should be writing about. From there, you can also check out which content gets the most shares from different audience groups, helping you hone in on the topics that resonate with your target market most. 07. Send messages through InMail InMail is a paid feature on LinkedIn that allows you to contact anyone, even if they aren’t your connection. It’s an invaluable tool for reaching prospective clients, connecting with potential partners or influencers and sourcing new talent. The message goes directly into recipients’ email inboxes too, meaning that you can essentially email people, even if you don’t have their email address. According to LinkedIn , InMail response rate is three times higher than regular email. The tool also has built-in analytics to show what type of messages drive responses. 08. Use targeted status updates Publishing daily status updates is an effective way to keep your followers engaged and informed. But you can take this step even further by posting targeted status updates tailored to specific audience groups. For instance, LinkedIn’s marketing tools allow you to filter updates based on company size, industry, seniority, job function, geography and language. The benefit of this is that you can adapt the content of your status updates according to different customer personas. These targeted updates will appear on your page, as well as on the users’ LinkedIn feeds. 09. Attract new followers to your page Creating content that is interesting, informative and relevant to your target audience will naturally lead more valuable LinkedIn followers to your page. On top of that, there are multiple strategies, tools and tactics that you can use to reach a dedicated following effectively over time. First, you can leverage the networking power of the platform to your advantage. Ask influencers to promote your page, publish guest posts by leaders with a large following or sponsor content that will lead new visitors to your brand. Secondly, you can utilize native features, such as job postings and surveys, to draw attention to your page and drive engagement. Lastly, you can link your LinkedIn page directly to your website and other marketing assets (social media pages, marketing emails and more so it’s easy for visitors to find. LinkedIn marketing best practices Ready to reap the full benefits of the platform? Here are some best practices to help optimize your LinkedIn marketing strategy: Don’t be hesitant to network LinkedIn is, first and foremost, a networking platform. This makes it a powerful tool for finding new clients, collaborators, sponsors and employees. If you’re looking to generate leads, for instance, you can search on LinkedIn for people who fit the criteria of your target audience. Once you’ve made these connections, there are many ways to communicate with your network. Using your LinkedIn Business page, you can reach out to them directly by sending a message to introduce yourself, your product or service (this is a common practice). Another effective practice is to share daily status updates and weekly blog posts. This will ensure your followers have the chance to engage with your brand on a regular basis. Get your team involved No matter the size of your business, encourage your employees to proactively engage with your business and promote your content on LinkedIn. Aside from following your page and sharing company posts, your employees should feel empowered to celebrate company wins and share their proudest moments through their own profiles. To maximize your reach even further, tag individual in posts using @name. By doing this, your brand’s content will not only be viewable to the followers of your business page, but also to your employees’ followers or the followers of anyone else who is tagged. Use hashtags Another effective way to strengthen your LinkedIn marketing strategy is to use hashtags in your posts. To choose hashtags strategically, use the LinkedIn search bar to see how many people follow a specific thread. Also, check the industry that the hashtag attracts and how the hashtag is being used before incorporating it into your own content. Each time you post, aim to include about three to five hashtags. Use a mix of broad hashtags, like #ecommerce or #digitalmarketing , and specific hashtags that are more finely tailored to your target market. Don’t worry about the more specific hashtags having a lower number of followers; these can actually help you narrow your reach to an audience with higher intent. Build your email marketing list Think of your LinkedIn connections as prospective subscribers to your email list. You can message each of your connections with a personalized thank you note and inviting them to stay connected via your email list. As part of the email, include a direct link to the email signup page. For this to be successful, it’s important that you offer value in exchange. Tell your acquaintances what they’ll receive by signing up—you could even throw in a freebie, like a coupon, at signup—and offer your services as a fellow industry professional. Join and create LinkedIn groups LinkedIn groups are online hubs where professionals with similar interests can gather, network and exchange ideas. Joining LinkedIn groups that are relevant to your target market is a clever way to do some user research—i.e., putting yourself in your audience’s shoes and listening to their priorities and pain points. It’s also an opportunity to interact with new audiences and establish a relationship with prospective clients while strengthening your authority. You can alternatively create a new group of your own and invite certain people to join it. As you grow your group, you’ll foster a platform where your prospects are gathered together in one place. Here, you can share valuable company content, establish your expertise and build a community of like-minded professionals who not only lean on your brand, but also each other for advice. Just make sure to avoid using these groups to push sales; instead, focus on providing genuine value and building quality relationships.

Anyone who's ever built a digital marketing agency knows there’s a lot to juggle: the time crunch of short deadlines, working with clients who ghost, trying to win back angry clients, managing a team of designers (without micro managing a team of designers). Agency life isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s also rewarding for marketers who want more control over their work. And a blueprint, like the Wix Studio -approved one below, can help you manage the logistics of launching, running and scaling your digital marketing agency. Jump ahead to the section most relevant to you. What is a digital marketing agency? If you're already looking into starting a digital agency, you probably know what it is. But here's a quick overview so you know what you're getting into. A digital marketing agency uses online strategies and platforms to promote businesses, increase brand awareness and drive measurable growth. Today's digital marketing agencies are both creative and strategic, merging data and emotion to drive results for their clients. Here’s a closer look at what digital marketing agencies do. Craft digital strategies: Digital marketing agencies begin by developing a comprehensive digital strategy tailored to a client’s business goals. This means understanding the target audience, analyzing competitors and identifying the best digital channels to use (like social media, email marketing or content marketing). Optimize websites for search: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a cornerstone of digital marketing. Agencies optimize their clients’ websites to rank higher in search results, so potential customers can find their products or services online. Check out these agency website examples for inspiration, Create engaging content:  Content is king in the digital realm. Digital marketing agencies produce high-quality, engaging content—blogs, videos, infographics and social media posts—that resonates with the target audience and drives engagement. This content not only attracts visitors but also builds trust and authority. You can even use cool fonts to engage your audience further. Social media marketing:  Social media is a powerful tool for brand building and customer engagement. Agencies handle all aspects of social media marketing, like developing a content calendar, creating posts, managing interactions and running paid social campaigns. They know how to leverage platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter to boost visibility and engagement. Email marketing: Agencies design and implement email marketing campaigns that nurture leads and convert them into loyal customers. They craft personalized emails that provide value, promote products and keep the brand top-of-mind. Analyze data: Data analysis is crucial for measuring the success of digital marketing efforts. Agencies use analytics tools to track key performance indicators (KPIs), such as website traffic, conversion rates and ROI. Then—and this next part is key—they share insights and next steps. Is a digital marketing agency a good business to start? Yes, but it's not for the faint of heart. Digital marketing agencies have serious profit potential in the growing digital economy.  But you 'l l need to stay up-to-date on the latest web trends, compete with other digital marketing agencies and manage increasingly demanding clients if you're going to succeed. Still, starting a digital marketing agency is rewarding work for creatives committed to making an impact for their clients and for those keen to start a business of their own. How to start and run a digital marketing agency in 10 steps Take time to think through your plan, and you’ll set yourself up for success (and streamlined operations) later. Address the points below through a detail-oriented lens; the more specificity you sprinkle in, the stronger your foundation will be. 01. Write a business plan Your business plan is basically your GPS as you move forward. Check out this free business plan template for your new agency, and make sure to: Define your business idea Clarify the market and competitive landscape Outline your marketing strategy State your value proposition Identify/anticipate potential risks Seek investments and strike partnerships Set benchmarks, goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) A cohesive business plan is the best way to start your agency. Make these points explicit in a singular document to articulate your vision and provide a framework with which to assess the impact of possible decisions. Above all, a business plan provides clarity and context, answering stakeholders’ most frequent questions. Remember: business plans lay the groundwork for your strategy, but you need to stay flexible should any unexpected moments arise (spoiler: they will). Write one with intentions to follow through, but pivot when necessary. 02. Determine your niche, audience and services Who do you sell to? It’s a simple question at face value, but the answer changes a lot about your business. For starters, your ideal client might have specific needs that others don’t, which can impact what services you can offer, or how much you charge for them. Begin by identifying what niche your agency fills in the market. In other words, how are you different? You can do this by identifying your USP (Unique Selling Proposition), or what you offer that no one else can replicate. To find your USP, run a SWOT analysis (sometimes called a ‘situational assessment’) to gauge how you differ from other agencies. This includes articulating your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as they relate to your competitors in order to determine what you alone bring to the table. Note: There should be a natural fit between your USP and your ideal customer. Find yours, and your agency will click with your intended audience, because it speaks to who they are (or want to be). When it comes to starting a digital marketing agency, understanding how to create a website to showcase your services and projects is important. 03. Set your sales and marketing strategy How  you reach your audience is as important as who  you reach. Start by identifying where your prospects spend most of their time. Is it LinkedIn? A niche community? Maybe they listen to a daily podcast during their commute? Or, perhaps they’re an avid blog reader and would sign up for a newsletter. Learn more about starting a blog for your agency. Enter: why you need to create a marketing plan. This includes defining your marketing channels (social media, SEO, PPC and so on), developing buyer personas, identifying the jobs-to-be-done (JBTD), articulating inbound and outbound strategies, establishing your pricing strategies and planning out your finances and budget. Of course, you’ll also want to build out that initial client pipeline, which you can kick start by asking for leads through your network. 04. Build your team If you have a successful solo practice, you might be wondering, “who should be my first hire?” It’s a question every founder wrestles with, and the answer depends on who will help you maintain your business so that you can focus on growth. That could mean hiring a salesperson to close more deals for you, or a creative to do more of the manual labor. You might also opt to hire a CMO. Fill in the gaps (your personal weak points), with a bias towards the particular space that promises the greatest immediate ROI for your agency. From there, implement systems and establish workflows and procedures to make your hires’ lives easier. Use project management tools such as Monday or Trello to centralize task management, and host regular meetings to hold more nuanced conversations and build team chemistry. Ultimately, laying the foundation for a strong agency culture starts with your leadership team. There are certainly ways to motivate creative teams, though you need to embody the vibe and culture you want your company to express. Reflect on how you want to train new employees, and build out collaborative structures (such as the pod model) early, which empower teams to stay agile in order to best service clients and close the feedback loop. Some emerging roles to consider down the road: digital experience managers (responsible for maintaining brand cohesion across a multichannel strategy), influencer marketing managers and a director of client services. Teams function best when they have clear goals 05. Lead with vision Leading an agency requires more than strategic planning and effective management, it demands a visionary approach that goes beyond the day-to-day operations of the business and taps into the essence of what the agency stands for. Leaders should push their crew to challenge the status quo, all the while protecting the larger vision the company aspires to achieve. Do this by: Setting ambitious goals and seeing them through Creating frequent opportunities for brainstorming Creating a promotional ladder for emerging leaders in your company Regularly celebrating (and amplifying) employee achievements Striking exciting partnerships that birth new capabilities at your agency Regularly speaking with clients and prospects to learn which areas of your agency’s operations need improvement 06. Get new clients Getting new clients calls for a formalized process for sourcing leads (see: is doing free work ever ok?), onboarding clients and managing the relationship, starting with a full-on contract or SLA (service-level agreement). Protect yourself down the line and ensure you get paid by putting pen to paper, all while communicating a sense of professionalism. You’ll likely also encounter several clients who, throughout the course of your relationship, begin to expect more than what was previously agreed to. It’s a real (and common) problem that persists if you don’t set boundaries, so it’s important to know how to avoid scope creep. 07. Set your growth intentions Scaling an agency means doubling down on what works. Growing an agency means trying new things entirely. To scale, put routine work on autopilot with automation and look to secure recurring revenue for your services. Growth looks like adding entirely new service offerings, identifying new customer segments, striking new partnerships and leveraging growth hacking techniques to expand client outreach. That’ll usually come after you’ve scaled up. The difference between scaling and growing is easy to visualize. You scale your operations, whereas you grow your capabilities. Ideally, you do a bit of both at your agency, but the only real way to track it is to set the intentions and the metrics. What are you scaling/growing? And how will you measure success? Are you trying to increase blog traffic through your newsletter? Do you want more followers across your social media channels? Growth doesn’t happen accidentally, so you’ll need to set your targets ahead of time. Treat them as a north star, and weigh all of your decisions against them. 08. Adjust your business plan for your new reality There comes a time when an agency outgrows their previous strategy and must evolve by adapting to a new reality. This may come during massive changes in the market, or perhaps you have more clients than you can handle, and it’s time to upsell and charge more for your services. You might be at the stage of your growth where it’s time to explore new markets, or you might be responding to times of crisis (see: 6 ways to recession-proof your agency). Whatever the root cause is, address the need for change head on. Formalize new standardized procedures to provide your teams with much needed clarity and a well-structured plan. Refer back to the how to write a business plan section above and address each change point by point. Determine where the greatest changes have occurred within the plan and what changes need to be made. Do this as proactively as possible, so you can respond to internal and external pressures instead of reacting to them. 09. Manage your money effectively The unwritten rule of growing/scaling your agency is a strong command of your finances. Cash is oxygen for a business, so make it easier to breathe by handling it well. That means managing expenses properly with a budget you determine on a quarterly basis based on your performance and available balance. Set the minimum sales volume needed to cover your costs, evaluate the profitability of your offerings and create pricing plans, identify opportunities for cost reduction and assess how feasible your business model is. As the leader, you should always have a clear view of all the costs associated with running the business (though it never hurts to hire a CFO when your agency is ready for it). Strong financial management is long-term financial planning. Over the course of running, managing and scaling an agency you’ll come to find that the age old adage rings true: it takes money to make money. 10. Don’t lose your soul as you expand Since culture is often regarded as ‘the glue that holds companies together,’ you’ll want to maintain the positive qualities of your work culture so they don’t get diluted as you scale. Empower teams to fail fast (and fail forward), stay informed about industry trends, set realistic goals and invest in personal development. At the company level, implement continuous improvement strategies such as regular feedback sessions and continuous testing (like A/B testing, user testing and heat maps). A proactive and receptive approach to experimentation will help you make the necessary course corrections to go the distance. The tools you need to start a digital marketing agency in 2025 To start a digital marketing agency, you'll need the most up-to-date tools to streamline operations and deliver effective campaigns. SEO tools: Semrush and Ahrefs are crucial for keyword research and the former is now integrated with Wix. Check out more in the video below. Social media management tools: Hootsuite or Sprout Social can help you schedule posts and manage multiple social accounts. An end-to-end web creation platform : Wix Studio  allows agencies to design exceptional sites at scale. And as a marketer, you'll be able to fast-track client projects with native marketing integrations . Project management tools: Use Asana, Trello or Monday to organize tasks and track progress. Advertising platforms:  Use Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager and LinkedIn Ads to reach target audiences. Communication tools:  Slack, Microsoft Teams or Zoom allow for real-time communication. Learn how to save your images in PNG or compact JPEG in seconds.

One of the first steps in starting a business is determining your target market. This step alone can be the basis for what products you create, how you brand your business and ultimately who you market to. With that in mind, you’ll need to develop assets that resonate with your target market. Start by creating a business website that represents your business and uses language and visuals relatable to your audience. Consider what niche you can fit into and what separates your business from the competition. From there you can create messaging, branding and advertising designed for your target market and convert more leads into customers. Keep reading to learn more about defining your target market and gain expert tips on how to implement this targeting throughout your business strategy. What is a target market? Your target market is your product’s primary consumer. Once you know who this is, you can tailor your branding and marketing efforts toward them. A target market can be composed of a broad group, such as married men over 40 in the US, or it can be quite narrow, such as urban, health-conscious, vegetarian women in Texas. Your market will depend on the particular consumer needs your product addresses. The three key aspects of a target market include: Demographics: Age, gender, income, education or employment status. Geographics: Primary location of your market. Personality traits: What they like and dislike, as well as where they shop and their favorite brands. To pinpoint your target market, you’ll need to analyze data about your product niche, your customers and your competitors. You'll also need to understand more about the specific types of target markets in more detail. What are the types of target markets? In general there are several ways business owners can categorize target markets. For the most part target markets are divided into the following four main types: demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral. Demographic This type of target market is defined by a number of demographic variables such as age, gender, income, education, and family size. Companies might target specific demographic groups based on their buying habits and purchasing power. Geographic Geographic target markets are defined, as the name suggests, by geographic variables such as region, state, city and population density. Psychographic Psychographic variables such as lifestyle, values, personality, and social class make up the definition of this target market. Behavioral This type of target market is defined by consumer behavior, such as the benefits sought, usage rate, and customer loyalty. It's important to note that a business may choose to target one or multiple types of target markets, depending on their specific business objectives and marketing strategies. Why are target markets important? Understanding your target market is a crucial aspect of developing a successful business. Below we explore the main reasons why understanding your target market is so important in order to ensure a profitable business. Better customer segmentation : Understanding your target market allows you to segment your customers more effectively, which in turn helps you tailor your marketing messages and products to meet their specific needs and preferences. Increased focus and efficiency: Focusing on a specific target market allows you to be more efficient with marketing resources while avoiding wasting time and money on efforts that are not likely to reach or resonate with your target audience. Improved brand reputation: Understanding your target market can help you establish and maintain a positive brand reputation by allowing you to align your brand with the values and interests of your market. Increased customer loyalty : By understanding your target market and delivering products and services that meet their needs and expectations, you will foster a loyal customer base that is more likely to recommend your brand to others. Better decision making: Understanding your target market provides valuable insights that can inform important business decisions, such as product development, pricing strategies and distribution channels for marketing efforts. Target market vs. target audience? Often used interchangeably, target market and target audience are not the same thing. Your target market is the end consumer while your target audience is to whom your company advertises. While your target market might fall into your target audience, who you advertise to may not, in the end, be the one who consumes the product. To clarify, let’s look at an example: Kids toys, for example, have a very clear target market: children. In addition, toys are often marketed toward children who identify with a specific gender category. Nevertheless, kids don’t purchase their toys, their parents do. So toy companies must focus their advertising strategies on parents (the target audience) to sell toys for their kids (the target market). For example, Generation Alpha , kids born between 2010 and 2025 with millennial parents, play with much different toys than their parents did because millennials have different consumer preferences than their Baby Boomer parents. Rather than shopping in big-box stores for brightly-colored toy packages, millennial parents are more likely to purchase clean, minimalistic, and gender-inclusive toys from Instagram ads or Amazon. Therefore, toy companies are using Millennial preferences (the target audience) to sell toys to their Generation Alpha kids (the target market). How to determine your target market Gather consumer data Know your product’s benefits Investigate your competitors Segment your audience Write a target market statement Refine your research 01. Gather consumer data The first step in defining your target market is to learn more about your customers. Even if you’ve just started an online store and don’t have many customers yet, these practices will come in handy further down the line. Start by gathering information about current and past buyers and try to identify characteristics that they have in common. This data will help you market your product to people with similar interests. If you are still in the early stages of your business and haven’t started selling your product, look at competitor markets and use that information to determine your target market. Using website analytics tools, social media and email marketing analytics platforms, here are some data points you’ll want to consider: Age: Do your customers share a common decade or generation? Are they millennials, older adults, or something in between? Location: Where in the world do most of your customers live? Consider the different cities, countries, and regions. Language: Which languages do your customers speak? Remember that your customers’ language isn’t necessarily the dominant language of their country. Spending power: Consider socioeconomic factors that may be affecting your customers. How much money are they willing or able to spend? Hobbies and career: What do your customers enjoy doing? What are their professions, and what do they do in their spare time? Stage of life: Where are your customers in life? Are they college students? New parents? Retirees? If your company is B2B rather than B2C , you’ll want to look for characteristics of companies, rather than individual consumers. These traits include: Business size: Are the businesses that buy from you small, medium, or large? Location: Where are these businesses physically located? Vertical: Which industries are most of these businesses in? Budget: How have these businesses raised money ? Consider how much they’d be willing or able to spend on products like yours. Be sure to track this information in an orderly manner so that you can keep your findings organized and easily identify trends. Analyzing these trends will allow you to identify shared characteristics within your customer base. These characteristics will inform your inbound marketing efforts and steer your strategy toward your target audience. 02. Know your product benefits The next step is to understand your consumers’ motivation behind purchasing your product, rather than a competitor. You can learn this information by speaking to your customers directly, asking for testimonials, and by doing in depth competitor research to understand the difference between your product and theirs. Get to know the benefits—and not just the features—of your product or service. The features are your product’s characteristics. For example, if your business sells suitcases, you might describe your product as being small, compact and having multiple compartments. Your product’s benefits, on the other hand, are the advantages it brings to your customers. Think about how your product makes someone’s life better or easier. The compact, multi-compartment suitcase offers the benefits of being easy to carry and pack as a carry-on. It’s vital to understanding how your product fulfills its target market’s specific needs. For the suitcase company discussed above, for instance, the target market would be people who benefit from a lightweight, carry-on suitcase—such as business travelers who take short, frequent trips. 03. Investigate your competitors Hone in on your target market even further by taking a look at which your competitors are targeting. Of course you won't have access to their customer analytics data, but you can understand their customers with a SWOT analysis . Take a deep dive into competitor websites, blogs and social channels. Consider who their target market is based on their website content, content marketing strategy, and social media branding. You’ll likely be able to infer details about their audience based on their brand language and tone. You can also check for comments on their social media pages to see which types of people are engaging with their posts. Take an especially close look at their most successful social media and blog posts. Do these pieces of content have anything in common in terms of their offering or branding? Which interests or needs do they address? Use this information to consider what kinds of qualities or advantages appeal most to consumers within your industry. 04. Segment your audience At this point, you’ve gathered some information about the characteristics and interests of your target audience. Now, it’s time to use that information to clearly define your customer types. This is going to form the basis of your target market. The best way to do this is through market segmentation. This involves dividing your customers into different groups, or segments, based on their shared qualities. You can divide your customers based on: Geography: Physical location, whether it’s your own city or a different part of the world. Note that if your customers are located around the world, you may need to create a multilingual website, as well as localized ads and marketing materials. Demographics: Characteristics such as age, gender, race or ethnicity, income level, or marital status. Psychographics: Inner qualities such as personality, lifestyle, or personal values. These are often a product of geographic and demographic factors such as location, generation, or stage of life. Behavior: Perceived qualities based on online behavior, such as buyer readiness or frequency of use. If you’re a B2B company, use similar characteristics but apply them to business. Consider firm demographics—known as firmographics—such as industry, location, customer size, business structure, and performance. To gain a deeper understanding of your segments, you can also create buyer personas. Also called user personas, buyer personas are imaginary characters with traits and behaviors similar to those of typical customers. Ultimately, these fictional characters represent your target market, helping you gain insights into the needs, desires, and lifestyles of your actual customers. 05. Write a target market statement Now that you’ve determined the defining features of your audience, it’s time to put your findings on paper. Write a target market statement that focuses on the most important audience characteristics you’ve identified in your research. Your statement should include: Demographic information about your target market, such as gender and age. Geographic location of your target market. Key interests of your target market. Then, sum it up in a single sentence. For example: “Our target market is women in their 30s and 40s who live in the United States and enjoy casual, comfortable fashion.” Doing this will keep your brand identity and marketing efforts consistent. It will also come in useful as you adapt your company’s mission statement to be as relevant as possible for your audience. 06. Refine your research Defining your target market is based on thorough research, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be perfect the first time around. Even after you identify your market, you’ll still need to continually test and experiment to get an increasingly precise picture of your customers. Staying on top of your market research can also help you keep up with the times, as consumer interests change over the years with technological developments, generational attitudes and passing trends. To narrow in on your audience, you’ll need to assess your business success and test your targeting efforts. Take a look at who is actually buying from you and which specific products or services they are purchasing. Try to understand how you can adapt future product development or modify your branding or marketing efforts to better fit your customer base. Use A/B testing with your marketing efforts to test the same ad on different audiences and see which version performs better. Alternatively, you can develop two different creatives, each with their own look and language and compare your audience’s responses. Based on the results, you might need to either adjust your business strategy or revise your target market statement. The bottom line is to build a brand that resonates strongly with your audience. Remember, the more targeted your content, the more effective your lead generation strategies—and the more customers you’ll bring to your brand. What are examples of a target market? These website examples clearly cater to their target markets. Take note of the phrases and visuals these websites use. 01. Amanda Darby Let’s take a look at how nutritionist Amanda Darby appeals to her target market. She aims to address people looking to make healthier food and dieting choices. To do this, she’s created a website that fosters a sense of joy and personal empowerment around food. The light and airy background, coupled with the cheerful images of cooking and eating, instantly makes it clear that she targets people looking for a healthy lifestyle. She also hones in on her audience even further, using phrases that directly appeal to middle-aged women. In the section of her homepage that discusses her nutrition coaching: “You will be the mom who loves food, her body, and knows life isn't perfect, but is perfectly happy living the life she has vs. waiting for the life she will have when she reaches her goal weight.” By directly addressing the concerns of her target market, Amanda helps her audience feel heard and understood. This strengthens their trust in her brand and persuades them that she is the right coach for their needs. 02. Curtinsmith Guitars From the very first image that appears across the top of this website, it’s clear that Curtinsmith Guitars is crafting something unique. By displaying photographs of their workshop and describing their guitars as “custom” and “handmade,” they directly single out a target market of those looking for unique, one-of-a-kind guitars. This target market is likely musical, appreciative of craftsmanship and not afraid to spend their money on their passions. The About Us section of the site confirms this targeting. The owner, Paul, writes, “I find it quite profound to create something which, in itself, will continue to create. It is an absolute joy crafting these instruments and it is my prayer that they continue to be a joy for those who play them and listen to them, for many generations.” In this statement, the brand makes it clear that it targets musicians who value the creative process. They also allude to the quality of their product, portraying them as long-lasting heirlooms with sentimental value. 03. Lima Cakes Sona Karapetyan uses her artistic vision to create showstopping celebratory cakes. The About section on her website says that Sona “was always experimenting with graphic art & design” and, “When Sona decided to embark on the cake art journey, she experimented with different textures, shapes and architectural elements to create a unique design language.” It also states that she never creates the same cake twice so each cake is unique to each client. Her neutral-colored web design and sophisticated copy narrow her target market down to mature individuals who appreciate art. Her website also features images of her cakes, clearly displaying her skills to her potential customers. The prices of her custom-made cakes will reflect the effort that goes into each one. These details show that she likely targets an educated, older, affluent crowd with an appreciation for modern art and design. What are market segments? Market segments are subgroups within a larger market that share specific characteristics and needs. These characteristics can include demographics, lifestyle, interests, behavior and purchasing patterns. By identifying and understanding these segments, businesses can tailor their marketing messages, products and services to better resonate with each group. This allows for more targeted and effective marketing efforts. Learn more: Image file types Digital design Color theory Target market FAQ How detailed should a target market be? The level of detail for a target market depends on your specific business and goals. However, it should be defined enough to create targeted marketing campaigns and avoid wasting resources. Consider including demographic information (age, gender, income, etc.), psychographics (lifestyle, values, interests), and behavioral factors (purchasing habits, media consumption). While details are important, avoid over-segmentation, as it can limit your reach and marketing effectiveness. What is an example of a target market? Example: A clothing company targeting "young professionals" could further define their target market as: Demographics: Ages 22-35, urban residents, college-educated, professional jobs, annual income $50,000+ Psychographics: Ambitious, career-oriented, fashion-conscious, value quality and sustainability Behaviors: Shop online frequently, read fashion magazines, active on social media What is the purpose of a target market? Defining a target market serves several key purposes: Focuses marketing efforts: It helps you identify your ideal customers and tailor your marketing messages to their specific needs and preferences. Improves resource allocation: By understanding your target market, you can allocate your marketing budget more efficiently and avoid wasting resources on ineffective campaigns. Increases marketing effectiveness: Targeted marketing campaigns resonate better with your target audience, leading to higher engagement, conversion rates and sales. Informs product development: Understanding your target market's needs and preferences helps you develop products and services that are more likely to succeed. What is the best target market? There is no single best target market. The best target market for your business depends on several factors, including your product or service, industry, competition and marketing budget. The key is to choose a target market that is large enough to be profitable, but specific enough to be reachable with your marketing efforts.

Whoever coined the term, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” obviously never heard of a little thing we like to call the Internet. When it comes to your brand’s online assets like  creating a website  and social media pages, the images that you choose to represent yourself in your marketing strategies can make or break whether or not a customer decides to engage. One of the most important (yet often overlooked) aspects of your visual marketing is none other than the good ol’ Facebook cover photo. More than a complimentary image to your profile picture, a good cover photo ties together your brand’s story and can be the most vocal part of your page. We went on the hunt for how brands use this valuable social media marketing asset and summed up some of the best practices that you too can apply to your business. Oh, and we threw in five awesome free tools that you can use to create your own cover photo – on the house – don’t thank us. Generate the perfect Facebook cover photo idea in minutes. The basics of a great cover photo: First things first, when it comes to Facebook marketing, the size of your images most certainly matters! According to Facebook , your cover photo is displayed at: 820 pixels wide x 312 pixels tall on desktops and 640 pixels wide x 360 pixels tall on smartphones. Of course, it’s best to test how your image looks on both desktop and mobile devices to ensure that no elements are cut off based on screen size. You don’t want your masterpiece to be chopped – oh crop! How to choose your cover photo: Unlike the limited space allotted in your profile picture, the ample size of your cover photo is where you can go the extra mile to describe what your brand truly stands for. Ask yourself what that means for your business; is showing your product in action the best way to showcase its use? Maybe quick slogans or a quote that connects with your brand’s messaging is the route you should take. Not sure where to start? Check out these five interesting ways to use your cover pic: Promote your products: Ahhh yes, a classic choice indeed. Brands everywhere use their cover photos to show off current and upcoming products that they have to offer. One of our recent  Facebook  cover photos showed off the versatility of our product; a stunning website for just about anyone. Other brands like MTV  use the space to showcase their most popular shows, while Samsung Mobile and BMW utilize the space to show off their latest product release and automobile, respectively. Cool new feature alert! Recently, Facebook has allowed brands to add videos to their cover photos. See how Netflix and Walmart took advantage of this cool new feature. Change with the seasons: If there’s one thing that we can always count on, it’s the changing of the seasons. Update your cover photo to celebrate upcoming holidays or other calendar related events. It’s no surprise that Starbucks does this beautifully. Known for their holiday cup designs, Starbucks also keeps their Facebook page up to date according to the time of the year. Each season, the brand does an excellent job at finding the perfect beverage to feature on their Facebook cover. Urban Outfitters is another example of a brand that rides on seasonal changes to show off new fashion trends. Call attention to your latest campaign: If you’re running a promotion or special giveaway, you want to make sure your community is in the know. The best way to do that? Use your cover photo as a promotional tool. UNICEF  is often first on the scene for some of the world’s most important causes. To match the initiative that they’re focusing on at the moment, the charity changes their cover photo to help raise awareness. Redbull is a brand that has become synonymous with the extreme sports scene. They often use their cover photo space to proudly promote their current sponsorship. Pro tip:  Don’t forget to utilize your cover’s description by adding a link or more details about your current campaign. Highlight your users: You’ve worked hard to build a loyal community so why not show them off? Use this spot to showcase your proudest clients/users. Community-focused brands like Deviant Art and Reddit do just that. They’ve been known to use their cover space to highlight users’ submissions and initiatives Go loco with your logo Brands that are closely associated with their logo have the luxury of using their cover photos to reinforce their branding. Louis Vitton and Target are great examples of how to use a logo in a playful and smart way. Free tools to create your own cover photo: For the Photoshop-challenged among us, there are a plethora of design tools that are made to assist in our design adventure. Below, you’ll find our favorite (free) five: Fotor: www.fotor.com/features/facebook.html Fotor is a design tool made with social media images in mind. Start with a pre-set size depending on your social needs (like creating an awesome Facebook cover) and use their design features to drag and drop your way to a gorgeous photo. As an added bonus, Fotor also has cover photo templates ranging from event invites to holiday greetings. PicMonkey: www.picmonkey.com Wish your cover photo looked more like your favorite Instagram image? Upload it to PicMonkey to easily add cool editing effects to it. While PicMonkey has some neat features, be aware that many of its offerings are only available with the paid plans. Picscatter: www.picscatter.com One image not enough to get your point across? Use Picscatter to easily create a collage. But before you get started, come ready with the exact size that you want your cover photo to be, as this tool does not have pre-set social sizes. Timeline Cover Banner:  www.timelinecoverbanner.com Don’t be put off by this website’s old school design, this super simple service lets you upload any image and convert it into a perfect looking cover photo. Customize your pic with text or doodles just like you would on that old Paint program you know and love.

The goal of marketing is to get people to buy your product, right? Well, not always. Unlike acquisition and retention marketing which aim to generate sales, you shouldn’t overlook another crucial objective: building brand awareness and engagement. This includes influencing consumer brand perception, establishing your business as a key player in the industry and building a community of fans. Marketing strategies that target these goals are known as brand marketing. Brand marketing starts with strengthening your brand identity, making sure to create a website to put your business online and promoting your branding on various channels. These activities pique your audience’s interest and build your company’s reputation. Let’s go over the ins and outs of effective brand marketing: What is brand marketing? Brand marketing comprises the campaigns that a company uses to message its brand and vision to consumers. Unlike other types of marketing, these campaigns focus on changing or maintaining brand perception. Key performance indicators for brand marketing include measurements of increased brand awareness and engagement with a target audience. Unlike standard marketing practices, the goal of brand marketing isn’t to make sales. Instead, the main objective is to spread the word about your brand while amassing an army of devoted fans and followers. This makes it different from referral marketing which has similar goals in terms of increased brand awareness but which does want to generate sales. What are the main pillars of brand marketing? There are generally believed to be five main pillars of brand marketing. Brand identity This is the visual and emotional representation of a brand, including its logo, colors, design and voice. It defines how a brand wants to be perceived by its audience and differentiates it from competitors. A strong brand identity creates recognition and fosters a connection with customers. This is the pillar most people associate with brand marketing and it is essential although by no means the only crucial one. Brand positioning Positioning is about carving a distinct space in the market by highlighting the unique value a brand offers. It involves understanding target audiences, identifying competitors and articulating what sets a brand apart. Effective positioning ensures that customers know exactly what a brand stands for and why they should choose it over others. This can be what makes or breaks a brand in competitive markets. Brand communication This includes all the ways a brand communicates with its audience, from advertising and social media to customer service and content marketing. Consistent, authentic communication builds trust and reinforces a brand's values and promises. This can be difficult and time consuming to get right but once done well it stands at the center of great brand marketing. Brand loyalty Building and maintaining loyalty is crucial for the long-term success of a brand. It means delivering consistent value and fostering a relationship based on trust and reliability. This can include your customer service and support. Brand equity Brand equity is the value added to a product or service due to its brand name. It influences customer perceptions, experiences and associations, often meaning higher sales and pricing power. Branding vs. brand marketing A company creates its brand at the outset of its journey. It decides on the color palette, logo, brand voice and messaging it will use to distinguish itself in the marketplace. Brand marketing, on the other hand, are the tactics and campaigns a company uses to reinforce its brand to consumers. Brand marketing is a long-term strategy that requires repeated efforts and investment to grow loyal customers and brand affinity overtime. Learn more: Small business marketing and lessons from 16 years of marketing (feat. Wix CMO Omer Shai) How to create a brand marketing strategy To build an effective brand marketing strategy, you’ll need to build a strong brand identity and use strategic messaging to reach your customers. Here’s how to get started: Write a vision statement Determine your target audience Define your brand identity Promote your brand strategically Make sure your product reflects your brand 01. Write a vision statement A vision statement declares company’s aspirations for the future. For instance, Amazon’s vision statement is “to be the world’s most customer-centric company.” Ikea’s vision is to create better everyday lives for as many people as possible. And Google’s vision is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” As you can see, a company’s vision statement is the broad business equivalent of “What are your dreams for the future?” The broadness helps ensure consistency across your messaging, anchoring your entire brand strategy. If you haven’t already written a vision statement, here’s how: Explain what your business sells or does Communicate your long-term goals Tie in your brand values Keep it short and concise Once you define your vision, keep it top of mind as you build brand awareness and spread the word about your product. Whether it’s the font color on your app or the language you use in an ad campaign, every brand aspect must align with your company’s aspirations. 02. Determine your target audience The next step of brand marketing is to define your target audience—those you’ve identified as potential customers of your brand. Your campaigns should resonate with them and make them excited about your company. To determine your target audience, answer the following questions: What needs does your product address? What kinds of people would benefit most from your product? Do your existing customers have any shared characteristics? For example, are most of them in the same demographic? Do they have any common hobbies or careers? What kinds of people do your competitors target? (Hint: You can learn this by looking at the marketing campaigns and brand messaging of other companies in your industry.) Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll understand the people who receive your brand campaigns and can tailor your marketing materials to them. 03. Define your brand identity What’s your company’s brand identity? If you can’t immediately answer this question, you probably need to refine it. Brand identity is the framework that underlies successful brand messaging. You’ll need to incorporate it into every piece of material you create, whether it’s your website, a print ad or an influencer marketing campaign. Here’s everything you need to establish a strong brand identity: Logo: Creating a logo is the first step in brand marketing development. Think about McDonald’s golden arches or Nike’s swoosh. These images have become synonymous with the brands themselves and appear in all of their marketing and branding campaigns. If you don’t have one yet, try out this logo maker to get started. Slogan: If your logo acts as your brand’s face, your slogan encapsulates its personality. “I’m lovin’ it” exudes friendliness and cheer, while “Just do it” motivates and inspires. Write a slogan based on how you want others to perceive your brand, and use it as the foundation for your brand marketing efforts. Imagery: This includes both your brand’s color palette and the types of images you use. Just like your logo and slogan, you’ll want your images and colors to exude your business’s personality. Are your colors vibrant or pastel? Are your images dark and edgy or bright and upbeat? These choices shape your brand in poster ideas , ads, social media and more. Consider the ways different image file types and choices would influence consumer perception of your company. Voice: Every piece of marketing has a voice. Your personality shines through that voice, whether written or spoken. As you craft your marketing materials, think about how a different sentence structure, word choice or tone might affect the way people see your brand. Once you’ve defined your different brand identity elements, remember to stick to them in every piece of marketing material you create. Overtime, consumers will come to recognize them as a key part of your brand and market. 04. Promote your brand strategically Once you’ve established your overarching goals, determined your target audience and built a strong brand identity, it’s time to start promoting your brand. For your brand marketing to be effective, you’ll need to send the right message to the right people on the right channels. In terms of messaging, remember that the main goal of brand marketing is to drive brand awareness and engagement rather than make sales. That means you should design your campaigns around getting people to know, love and interact with your brand. Start by creating a website so you can put your company’s presence online. Then, think about the relevant types of marketing for your audience. If your audience is in their teens and 20s, you might want to try promoting on Tik Tok. If you’re marketing to passionate foodies, you may want to try an influencer marketing campaign with a well-known food blogger. You can also consider offline channels, like print, billboard, radio and TV ads or PR. In addition, make a plan not only for spreading brand awareness, but also driving brand engagement. Digital marketing efforts—and email marketing and social media campaigns in particular—allow you to constantly interact with consumers and get them talking about your brand. Use your website to get people to sign up for email newsletters and then send them curated content that they’ll look forward to every week. Come up with creative social media ideas that will encourage people to comment, like, follow and share. Remember that brand marketing is an ongoing effort. If you truly want to position your brand as one of the best in the field, you’re going to need to create campaigns on a consistent basis. Whether you work alone or on a team, use a calendar to track your brand marketing efforts and ensure that you never miss a day. Learn more about how to create a landing page.   05. Make sure your product reflects your brand Finally, don’t forget that every marketing message you create is a promise to consumers. If you say that your product will function a particular way or that your company has a particular set of values, you need to follow through on these promises to maintain your reputation. Otherwise, customers may lose trust in your company, doubt your authenticity or abandon you for a competitor. At the same time don't be afraid to lead with a strong product differentiation strategy, this is what's your brand stand out best. As an example, a sustainable lifestyle brand could create a guidebook with eco-friendly tips and customer stories to reflect its values. Learning how to make a book cover  that visually communicates those values also helps deliver on the brand’s promise. For instance, using recycled paper textures, earthy color palettes or including illustrations of nature can instantly signal sustainability. Adding a minimalist design approach can further emphasize the brand's commitment to reducing waste and clutter, reinforcing its eco-conscious ethos. Continually evaluate your product and make sure it’s high quality and works as intended, without any glitches or bugs. Depending on the good or service you offer, consider testing it out with a UX team, offering a Beta version before launch or sending out a sample to family and friends before large-scale production. Read more: The art of cringe marketing , plus examples of when cringey is a good thing. Applying brand marketing to your business Think about how you can apply these brand marketing practices to your own company. How can you create marketing content that reflects your company’s personality, values and aspirations? What can you do to prove your commitment to high-quality products and stellar customer service? How can you tie your brand into big-picture values that make consumers care? 5 examples of brand marketing done right Take inspiration from top companies like these to build your own brand marketing strategy. When you create compelling campaigns that communicate your brand identity and resonate with your audience, you’ll be well on your way to shaping a successful brand. 01. Zappos Thanks to effective brand marketing, the Zappos brand has become well-loved for its trustworthiness and customer service. The company has crafted an image that centers strongly around its vision statement : “To inspire the world by showing it’s possible to simultaneously deliver happiness to customers, as well as employees, vendors, shareholders and the community, in a long-term, sustainable way.” They’ve made this the core of their marketing campaigns. Their “ Keep What You Love ” commercial, for instance, emphasizes an effortless shopping experience and a generous return policy. They also have a history of surprising shoppers to let them know how much they’re valued—whether that’s by sending flowers to a customer or overnighting a free pair of shoes to a best man at a wedding. In doing so, they haven’t just established a great brand identity; they’ve also built their reputation by going above and beyond on their promises. 02. Colgate Oral care brand Colgate is committed to being a “caring, innovative growth company that is reimagining a healthier future for all people, their pets, and the planet.” As a leading global brand, people all around the world trust them to keep their teeth clean. How did Colgate gain this trust? Its brand marketing strategy involved educating their audience about oral health. Using a technique called inbound marketing , the company draws in people with a blog rather than pushing their product. The Colgate blog shares important information about dental hygiene, making it a go-to online resource for consumers. As a result, the brand simultaneously positions itself as an authority in the field while showing customers they care about their health. 03. Tesla Tesla, best known for its high-end electric cars, promotes its brand loyalty by honing in on its purpose. The company’s mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” By tying the brand to a greater cause, they give people a compelling reason to engage with the brand. For that reason, they’ve been hugely successful with word of mouth marketing and referral programs. They get people to believe in the brand and its mission, give customers great experiences, and then encourage those customers to share their brand love and belief in the cause with the people around them. 04. Harley-Davidson Motorcycle company Harley-Davidson has a strong brand marketing strategy that focuses largely on brand personality. Their campaigns have built a community of dedicated customers who believe in freedom, travel and exploration. They reinforce their brand personality and keep their community engaged with special events and social media posts that emphasize travel and adventure. Read more about event marketing , and find out how to promote an event in 9 actionable steps. 05. Trader Joe’s Most people see grocery stores as places of necessity rather than leisure. Trader Joe’s element of fun, however, has drawn a dedicated customer base. They position themselves as a “national chain of neighborhood grocery stores,” a place where smiling staff members wear whimsical Hawaiian shirts and creative, one-of-a-kind treats line the shelves. The intentionally quirky company fills their magazine the Fearless Flyer, with banter and jokes. Customers love them for their free samples and comparatively low prices, which compels people to drop in for a taste and spread the word. Learn more about other types of marketing, including affiliate marketing , mobile marketing and others.