51 Marketing Tactics That Work (And How To Plan Them)

How are you marketing your product or service to your audiences? Is it working?

If you’re struggling to find the best marketing tactic for your business, or you just need some backup ideas for the future, look no further! We have a list of 51 of the best marketing tactics you’ll need to reach your current and future marketing goals.

If your marketing strategy answers the “why” behind your marketing practice, then tactics are the “what” that you’ll actually execute to achieve your goals.

What Are Marketing Tactics?

Strategy Vs. Tactics Vs. Content

If marketing exists to drive profitable customer action, marketing strategy provides the vision to achieve the goal.

Because a holistic marketing strategy must take advantage of many opportunities across the entire customer lifecycle, it often involves many sub-types of marketing strategies.

For example, a marketing team may leverage an email marketing strategy, social media strategy, and influencer marketing strategy that all align with the holistic vision set forth by the holistic marketing strategy.

Marketing tactics are, therefore, the actions marketing strategists leverage to influence the goals of marketing, which are often associated with influencing leading indicators that suggest profitable growth will follow as a lagging indicator.

Content types are not tactics. Nor are content types specific to a single marketing tactic. Content types are simply the assets, materials, deliverables, or projects a marketing strategist’s tactic employs to achieve its goal.

For example, a marketing tactic is a case study. The content type you create to execute that marketing tactic may include blog posts, white papers, and videos.

The purpose of this list is to help you choose the options you’ll execute to make your goal a reality.

Which of these is most likely to help you influence that goal? Which of these can you realistically execute?

1. Paid

Buying brand or content placement in a publication, website, search engine, social network, etc.

Common content types:

• Magazine ad
• Billboard
• Facebook ad

Source:  Teachable publishes ads on Facebook.

2. Earned

When another brand, influencer, publication, etc., mentions or covers your brand, product, or service in content they create and publish.

Common content types:

• Article
• Social media message
• Podcast

Source: AbdulGaniy Shehu wrote a comprehensive teardown of CoSchedule’s marketing strategy to teach Your Content Mart’s audience about SaaS marketing strategies.

3. Owned

A tactic very much within your control to influence that doesn’t rely heavily on outside sources to publish content or create experiences.

Common content types:

• Blog post
• Website page
• Email newsletter

4. Gathered/Curated

A tactic that collects information from multiple sources and distributes content for a targeted audience to be a credible source on a specific topic.

Common content types:

• Social media message
• Research blog post
• Newsletter

Source: MarketingProfs’ newsletter includes a section for curated content.

5. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

A paid marketing tactic that displays digital advertising in media where you pay only when someone clicks on your content.

Common content types:

• Google AdWords ad
• Bing ad
• Retargeting display ad

Source: Booking.com buying Google Ads for search queries such as “Duluth hotels.”

6. Native Advertising & Advertorial

Typically a type of paid marketing tactic where you buy placement of content that looks like the typical kind of piece that appears in a publication or other medium.

Common content types:

• Magazine ad
• Sponsored blog post
• Sponsored conference speech

Source: Content Marketing World, a conference, allows a native advertising track for speaker opportunities.

7. Sponsorship

Also typically a type of paid marketing tactic in which you provide money in exchange for your brand representation in an event, etc.

Common content types:

• Event
• Podcast
• Webinar

Source: The Minnesota Vikings offer sponsorship opportunities to brands.

8. Affiliate

A cross between earned and paid tactics similar to endorsements in which you incentivize an influencer to share a positive sentiment for your brand, product, or service with your target audience.

Common content types:

• Blog post
• Webinar
• Email

9. Endorsement & Influencer

Typically a paid tactic to incentivize someone of fame (such as a celebrity) to publically provide praise or positive reviews of your brand, product, or service.

Common content types:

• Ad
• Email
• Web page

Source: Kim Kardashian endorses Tiffany & Co. in an Instagram post.

10. Co-Branding & Partnership

Your brand collaborates with another business or brand to create content, products, or services that attract a mutually beneficial target audience.

Common content types:

• Webinar
• Podcast
• Ad

Source: Selena Gomez partners with Sephora to launch a new beauty brand, promoting the product line through Instagram.

11. Engagement

The strategic connection you build with customers and your target audience through content types that foster those relationships.

Common content types:

• Social media message
• Blog post comment
• Survey

12. Loyalty

The practice of providing customers incentives and rewards (usually in the form of points) to encourage repeat purchases and build loyalty.

Common content types:

• Website
• Email
• Social media

Source: Blume offers a point-based loyalty program that provides customers with “Blume Bucks” every time they perform an action.

13. Retention & Expansion

A tactic that focuses on building strong customer relationships to increase lifetime value and cross-selling.

Common content types:

• Email
• Text message
• Blog post

Source: Well periodically sends emails to customers to remain top of mind. These can be educational, similar product suggestions, or reminders to tell you when to stock up.

14. Advocacy

An earned marketing tactic in which a customer or fan shares positive sentiment for your brand, product, or service with others in your target audience.

Common content types:

• Social media message
• Blog post
• Meetup

Source: Stitch Fix leverages advocacy via Facebook to influence potential customers to take action.

15. Referral

A cross between earned and paid in which you incentivize your customers or fans to share a positive sentiment for your brand, product, or service with others in your target audience.

Common content types:

• Social media message
• Blog post
• Website badge

Source: BarkBox incentivizes customers to refer its products through social networks like Facebook.

16. Review

Customer feedback through ratings and comments that help others make informed decisions about a product or service offering.

Common content types:

• Product page
• Social media
• Email

Source: AeroPress displays their customer reviews along with Q/As at the bottom of each product page.

17. Testimonial

A form of endorsement in which a customer reviews your brand, product, or service but does not necessarily need to have a large following or fame.

Common content types:

• Home page
• Signup page
• Social media message

Source: A marketing manager provides a testimonial of CoSchedule Marketing Suite.

18. Case Study

A positive customer story which typically details the problem they were facing, how your product or service solved the problem, and the results your solution produced for the customer.

Common content types:

• White paper
• Web page
• Video

Source: LinkedIn publishes case studies to demonstrate how it can help readers achieve similar results.

19. User-Generated

Typically, either photo or video content that is generated by an independent third party to showcase a product or service.

Common content types:

• Video
• Image
• Ad

Source: Kizik uses user-generated video content to run ads on Meta. It’s simple, non-professional, and highlights the benefits of the product.

20. Press & Media Outreach

An earned marketing tactic in which you strategically provide information to a media outlet to encourage someone to create content that positively covers your brand, product, or service.

Common content types:

• News release
• Pitch packet/kit
• Email

21. Guesting

When you provide content, information, or appearances to other sources to reach your target audience.

Common content types:

• Blog post
• Webinar
• Podcast

Source: The Smart Passive Income podcast hosts guests for each episode.

22. Content Curation

When you gather content from sources you don’t own (and mainly content you haven’t created) to share with your customers and target audience.

Common content types:

• Content hub
• Social media message
• Blog post

Source: CoSchedule curates content from Social Media Examiner to share on Twitter.

23. Crowdsource

An engagement method of gathering ideas from your customers and target audience to create new content that attracts more prospects like your best fans.

Common content types:

• Blog post
• Podcast
• Webinar

Source: Entrepreneur crowdsources data via LinkedIn to engage its audience and publish it in future content.

24. Research

Can be curated or original and proprietary, presenting findings or answers to specific questions your customers or target audience often ask.

Common content types:

• Survey
• Report
• Blog post

CoSchedule publishes proprietary research to help marketers understand the value of documenting their marketing strategy.

25. Content Syndication

When you publish content first on your owned channel, then provide rights for other publications to republish your content.

Common content types:

• Article
• Video
• E-book

Syndication example via CoSchedule’s original blog, then syndicated on Social Media Today.

26. Repurpose

When you take existing content and turn it into a new piece to maximize results from your work.

Common content types:

• Blog posts into e-book
• Webinar into video
• Social media messages into blog post

CoSchedule repurposed a large word-count blog post into multiple pages in a comprehensive knowledge base.

27. Republish

When you publish the same piece of content in the same or similar medium, often after optimizing it to increase its results.

Common content types:

• Social media message
• Blog post
• Course

28. Gated Content & Downloads

When a user is required to provide contact information such as an email address in return for access to a website’s content or a digital download.

Common content types:

• Webinar
• Course
• PDF

Source: Parakeeto offers a free agency toolkit to help agencies improve their profitability in exchange for simple contact information.

29. Video

A combination of audio and visual elements ideal for showcasing a product in action, explaining a service, or educating an audience on a particular topic.

Common content types:

• Blog post
• Social Media
• Ad

CoSchedule uses video content to better explain topics like “how to make more meaningful visual content.”

30. Audio

Sounds produced by humans, AI, or music to help tell a story and often invoke an emotional response.

Common content types:

• Radio commercial
• Podcast
• Social media

Ecco uses the text-to-voice feature in their Tiktok ad to give viewers a familiar voice that may better grab their attention.

31. Blogging

An owned content hub that distributes primarily written content but often includes audio, visual, and video.

Common content types:

• Blog post
• Infographic
• Video blog (vlogging)

32. Social Media

Online communities where users often share information via micro-messaging, images, videos, and links.

Common content types:

• Forum
• Wiki
• Q&A

33. Event

A planned occasion where you physically or digitally meet your customers or target audience at a specific time and place.

Common content types:

• Conference
• Webinar
• Meetup

34. Live Streaming

An event marketing tactic in which you record and share your meeting in real-time as it unfolds.

Common content types:

• Conference
• Facebook Live
• Podcast

Source: Facebook Live is a live streaming platform.

35. Personalization

Including the actual name of the person you’re communicating within the content you’re sharing.

Common content types:

• Email subject line
• Website
• Popup

Source: Amazon personalizes an email to influence action.

36. Marketing Automation

An owned tactic that strategically (and automatically) sends content to customers and target audiences based on their activity and interests.

Common content types:

• Email
• Popup
• Ad

37. Retargeting & Abandonment

Targeted marketing messages to potential customers who have previously visited your site or abandoned their cart.

Common content types:

• Ad
• Email
• Text message

Source: Roadie Tuner sends out an email whenever you abandon your shopping cart to remind you about your potential purchase.

38. Email

An electronic letter you send to your customers’ or target audience’s inboxes to influence a specific action.

Common content types:

• Newsletter
• Blog post email
• Behavior-driven email

39. Marketing A.I.

Behavior-driven recommendation and recognition technology that delivers specific content to individuals.

Common content types:

• Product recommendation
• Content recommendation
• Display ad

Marketing A.I. via Amazon.

40. Interactive

Adding a “back-and-forth” element to marketing wherein a potential customer’s action will trigger a certain marketing reaction.

Common content types:

• Landing page
• App
• Ad

Source: Marriot uses an interactive decision tree to help tourists decide what to do on their vacation in Scottsdale.

41. Gamification

Applying game-playing techniques to content to engage your customers and target audience.

Common content types:

• App
• Quiz
• Ad

Source: Buzzfeed publishes quizzes to engage its readers and market its sponsors.

42. Tool

Interactive tactics that help your customers or target audience solve a problem.

Common content types:

• Analyzer/optimizer
• Calculator
• Tester

Source: CoSchedule Headline Analyzer free tool has attracted millions of website visitors.

43. Contest

An engagement marketing tactic in which you give your customers or target audience a chance to win something in exchange for their participation.

Common content types:

• Poll
• Social media message
• Landing page

44. Giveaway

A contest or promotion in which a prize is given away to a randomly selected winner.

Common content types:

• Social media
• Blog post
• Video

Source: Blendjet pairs up with an influencer to promote an Instagram giveaway for their products.

45. Launch

Used to introduce a new product or service to the market, creating a sense of excitement and anticipation.

Common content types:

• Ad
• Social media group
• Billboard

Source: The launch of the AI art generator, Jasper Art, was announced in a Facebook group creating excitement and engagement with over 350 comments on the post to date.

46. Promo

Creating and distributing promotional materials such as coupons, flyers, posters, and ads that are designed to attract and retain customers.

Common content types:

• Social media message
• Ad
• Landing page

Source: True Classic promotes their “up to 70% off” sale on social media platforms.

47. Pricing

The cost of a product or service that you can use to influence customers’ decisions and capture more market share.

Common content types:

• Pricing page
• Home page
• Ad

Source: CoSchedule offers 3 different pricing tiers depending on your needs.

48. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Publishing owned and earned content, and enhancing your owned web properties, to help those searching for specific information to find your brand, product, or service naturally.

Common content types:

• Web page
• Blog post
• Guide

49. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Strategic owned website enhancements to increase the number of people who take a desired action.

Common content types:

• Ad
• Landing page
• Home page

50. Guerilla

Unconventional actions and content that aim to attract the most attention possible.

Common content types:

• Dirty sidewalks cleaned to show only your logo
• Public bus wrap
• Beer coaster postcard

51. Sales Enablement

Tools and training that help sales teams increase their efficiency and effectiveness.

Common content types:

• Software
• Books
• Coaching

Source: Hubspot invests in its sales teams with workshops, training, and resources to help them upskill.

Choose the marketing tactics that are most likely to influence your goal.

This piece was originally published in 2017. It was updated several times since, with the most significant changes occurring January 30, 2023.