Marketing techniques are practical ways to carry out a broader strategy—not a ranked list of guaranteed profit-makers. The right mix depends on whom you need to reach, what outcome you want, what your budget and team can support, and how you will measure results. Below are 30 options grouped by the work they do, with a practical first step and a metric to watch for each.
How strategy, plans, and techniques fit together
A strategy sets direction: which audiences to serve, how to position the business, and what it aims to achieve. A marketing plan turns that direction into channel choices, budget, timing, responsibilities, and measures. Techniques are the individual methods used to execute that plan. The American Marketing Association marketing plan template lays out a sequence that includes positioning, audiences, channels, budgets, execution, and KPIs; its strategy guide also emphasizes monitoring results and adjusting activity.
The techniques below are options, not a universal ranking. Their suitability depends on your audience, objective, resources, channel requirements, time to a measurable signal, and ability to connect activity to an outcome. The practical measures listed are examples, not proof that a technique will raise profit.
Content and search techniques
1. Content marketing
Useful for: answering customer questions and building familiarity over time. First step: list the recurring questions prospects ask, then create one useful page or article that answers a high-priority question. Measure: relevant page visits, inquiries, or conversions associated with that content.
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2. Search engine optimization (SEO)
Useful for: helping people find your website through unpaid search results. First step: improve one important service or product page so it clearly explains what you offer and answers likely searcher questions. Measure: organic visits to that page and the leads or sales they generate.
3. Video marketing
Useful for: explaining a product, demonstrating a process, or making a service easier to understand. First step: record a short demonstration or answer to a common customer question. Measure: relevant views, completion or engagement, and resulting inquiries or conversions.
4. Podcasts
Useful for: reaching an audience that already listens to shows on a relevant subject. First step: pitch a focused topic to an established podcast or test a short series if you have a clear reason to publish your own. Measure: referral visits, inquiries mentioning the appearance or show, and conversions attributable to those visits where tracking permits.
5. Online workshops and webinars
Useful for: teaching prospects about a problem your business can solve. First step: choose one practical topic and invite a defined audience through channels you already use. Measure: registrations, attendance, follow-up conversations, and resulting sales.
6. Interactive content
Useful for: helping prospects assess their needs or explore options through a quiz, calculator, or guided tool. First step: identify a decision customers find confusing and create a simple interaction that helps clarify it. Measure: completed interactions, qualified leads, and conversions.
Paid promotion and direct outreach
7. Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
Useful for: reaching people searching for a specific offer or topic through paid placements. First step: test a narrowly defined audience or search theme with a dedicated landing page and a capped budget. Measure: cost per qualified lead or sale, conversion rate, and return on investment (ROI) after accounting for costs.
8. Search engine marketing (SEM)
Useful for: paid visibility on search platforms; it can complement organic SEO when immediate reach is important. First step: select a small set of high-intent searches and make sure the ad and landing page match the offer. Measure: qualified conversions and their cost, rather than clicks alone.
9. Social media advertising
Useful for: promoting an offer to a defined audience on a social platform. First step: choose one platform where your intended customers are active and run a limited test with a clear call to action. Measure: qualified visits, leads, purchases, and acquisition cost.
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10. Retargeting
Useful for: reconnecting with people who previously visited your site or engaged with your business, where platform rules and consent requirements permit. First step: define a relevant audience and show a message that addresses the next step they might take. Measure: incremental conversions and cost per conversion; compare with a suitable baseline rather than treating every return visit as caused by the ad.
11. Limited-time offers
Useful for: giving customers a clear reason to act within a real, defined period. First step: set a deadline and terms you can honor, and communicate them plainly. Measure: offer redemptions, resulting revenue, and margin after discounts and promotion costs.
12. Mobile marketing
Useful for: reaching customers through mobile-friendly experiences or messages, when those channels fit their habits and applicable consent rules. First step: make a key landing page or purchase flow easy to use on a phone before investing in additional mobile promotion. Measure: mobile conversion rate, completed actions, and opt-outs for message-based campaigns.
Social media and creator partnerships
13. Organic social media
Useful for: maintaining a public presence, sharing useful updates, and engaging with customers on platforms they use. First step: choose one or two suitable platforms and create a realistic posting and response routine. Measure: meaningful engagement, referral visits, and inquiries—not follower count alone.
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14. Influencer marketing
Useful for: introducing an offer through a creator whose audience overlaps with your intended customers. First step: assess audience fit and agree in writing on deliverables, disclosure, usage rights, and tracking. Measure: qualified traffic, conversions, and cost per acquisition, alongside engagement.
15. Micro-influencer partnerships
Useful for: working with smaller creators whose audience or subject expertise is closely aligned with a niche business. First step: review whether the creator’s content and audience are genuinely relevant, then begin with a clearly scoped collaboration. Measure: tracked visits, inquiries, conversions, and the cost of the partnership.
16. User-generated content (UGC)
Useful for: featuring customer-created photos, videos, or stories that show how people use a product or service. First step: invite customers to share content and obtain permission before using it in marketing. Measure: participation, engagement with the content, and resulting visits or conversions.
17. Collaborative giveaways
Useful for: introducing complementary businesses to one another’s audiences. First step: choose a partner with a genuinely overlapping audience and set clear entry terms and promotion responsibilities. Measure: eligible entries, new qualified subscribers or leads, and subsequent engagement or sales.
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Useful for: producing consistent social posts, flyers, or simple promotional materials when a full design engagement is not practical. First step: create a small set of reusable layouts using consistent colors, fonts, and business information. Measure: response to the campaign using visits, inquiries, or conversions; also account for staff time.
Customer retention, email, and referrals
19. Email marketing
Useful for: communicating with people who have chosen to receive updates, including existing customers and prospects. First step: define the purpose and cadence of a short welcome or customer-update sequence, and provide a clear way to unsubscribe. Measure: clicks, conversions, revenue where trackable, and unsubscribes or complaints.
20. Personalization
Useful for: making messages or recommendations more relevant to a customer’s needs or prior interactions. First step: tailor one message using information customers have knowingly provided, such as their expressed interest. Measure: conversion or engagement compared with a reasonable unpersonalized baseline, while respecting privacy and consent.
21. Referral marketing
Useful for: encouraging satisfied customers to recommend your business to others. First step: make it easy to refer someone and explain any reward or terms clearly. Measure: referred leads, conversion rate, cost of rewards, and customer value over time.
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Useful for: helping prospective customers evaluate a business through feedback from past customers. First step: ask customers for honest feedback at an appropriate point in their experience and respond constructively. Measure: review volume and themes, referral or profile visits, and changes in inquiries or conversions; do not treat review counts alone as sales.
23. Loyalty programs
Useful for: rewarding repeat purchases or ongoing engagement when customers have a reason to return. First step: define a simple reward customers can understand and check that its cost fits the economics of repeat sales. Measure: repeat-purchase rate, redemption, margin, and customer lifetime value (LTV).
24. Customer feedback and follow-up
Useful for: identifying friction in the customer experience and maintaining relationships after a purchase. First step: ask a brief, specific question after a meaningful interaction and assign someone to review responses. Measure: response patterns, resolved issues, repeat business, and changes in relevant customer outcomes.
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25. Local partnerships
Useful for: reaching customers through a complementary local business or organization. First step: propose a small, mutual activity—such as a referral arrangement or shared event—with responsibilities agreed in advance. Measure: referrals, qualified inquiries, and revenue linked to the partnership.
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26. Community events
Useful for: building local awareness and meeting potential customers in person. First step: select an event attended by the audience you want to reach and set a clear objective for participating. Measure: meaningful conversations, leads, follow-up appointments, and sales relative to participation costs.
27. Public relations and local media
Useful for: sharing a newsworthy business development or useful expertise with a relevant publication or community outlet. First step: prepare a concise, factual pitch tied to a timely local or industry story. Measure: relevant coverage, referral traffic, inquiries, and the quality of audience reached.
28. Direct mail
Useful for: reaching a defined geographic or customer segment with a physical message. First step: select a focused mailing list and include a clear offer or response method, such as a dedicated URL or code. Measure: response and conversion rates, plus printing, postage, and fulfillment costs.
29. Guerrilla marketing
Useful for: drawing attention with a distinctive, often low-budget activity in a public or community setting. First step: design an idea appropriate to the location and audience, and check permissions and safety requirements before executing it. Measure: qualified attention, mentions, visits, or inquiries, not attention for its own sake.
30. Outbound sales and traditional media
Useful for: proactively reaching a defined audience through personal outreach or channels such as print, radio, or other traditional media. First step: select one audience and message, then test a small, trackable activity before committing more resources. Measure: response, qualified opportunities, conversion, and cost per acquired customer.
What are the best marketing techniques for small businesses?
There is no evidence-based universal winner among these 30 options. A useful choice is one that fits the target customer, advances a specific objective, and can be carried out consistently with the available budget and skills. HostAdvice’s guide to marketing techniques discusses these kinds of methods and small-business considerations, but it does not establish a guaranteed profit lift or a universal ranking.
Compare a few candidates before committing:
- Audience and objective: Who should respond, and what action do you want them to take?
- Resources: What cash, staff time, skills, and ongoing attention will execution require?
- Channel and creative: Do you have the content, offer, landing page, or local presence the method needs?
- Time to signal: How long might it take to gather enough relevant responses to make a decision?
- Attribution: Can you connect activity to a lead, sale, repeat purchase, or other objective without overstating the connection?
What are the best low-cost marketing techniques?
“Low cost” depends on the business: a method may require little cash but substantial time or expertise. Options that can be started with modest spending include partnerships, DIY graphic design, online workshops or webinars, collaborative giveaways, and podcasts. Their costs can include preparation, production, partner coordination, prizes, staff time, and follow-up. Choose one only when you can support it and identify what success would look like.
How do I measure the success of a specific marketing technique?
Start with the objective, then choose a measure that reflects it. For awareness, track relevant reach or visits; for lead generation, track qualified inquiries; for acquisition, track conversions and acquisition cost; for retention, track repeat purchasing or LTV. Engagement measures can help diagnose response, but they do not automatically demonstrate revenue or profit. The AMA template organizes KPIs across areas including awareness, lead generation, acquisition, attribution, and lifetime value.
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Use a simple test-and-review cycle:
- Set the objective: State the customer action or business result the activity is intended to support.
- Record a baseline and costs: Note current performance where available, plus cash expense and staff time.
- Choose one primary KPI: Add diagnostic measures only when they help explain the result.
- Make the activity trackable: Use campaign-specific links, codes, forms, or a consistent inquiry question where appropriate.
- Review and adjust: Compare results with the objective, account for attribution limits, and change the message, audience, channel, or budget based on what the evidence supports.
A technique is worth continuing when its results justify the resources it consumes relative to other available options. A click, view, or lead is an intermediate signal; whether it contributes to higher profit depends on conversion, delivery costs, margins, and repeat business.
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