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A new venture’s success depends on more than its founders having a great idea and a tremendous amount of drive; it also needs paying customers to grow. While the founders of a startup may possess the ambition and energy to pull their business together initially, generating the revenue it takes to make it thrive means getting the word out about their solution. Unfortunately, what many startup founders don’t have in abundance is the financial wherewithal to fuel a robust marketing strategy. When the budget is tight, check out the tips below from members of Forbes Agency Council to learn how to acquire customers on a shoestring.

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Developments in the world of social media often serve as outsized factors in a brand’s overall marketing strategy. Twitter is now X, Facebook has launched Threads, and TikTok continues to dominate short-form content. But what is happening beyond these headlines?  Staying attuned to the latest social media trends can help brands ensure that their media buys, ad spend and campaign strategies align with evolving consumer preferences and behaviors. To learn how 11 agencies are helping clients remain relevant and competitive in the ever-evolving digital landscape that is social media, check out the insights below from members of Forbes Agency Council. 

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As the holidays approach, leveraging the reach and authenticity of influencers in seasonal marketing campaigns can be a game-changer for small, growth-stage companies. By landing the right influencer partnerships, growing companies can tap into highly engaged audiences, build credibility and create a buzz that takes their brand awareness and revenue to the next level. To optimize holiday marketing budgets for maximum impact, the trick is finding the right influencer to amplify a brand’s seasonal offerings to the right audience in the right way. Below, members of Forbes Agency Council explore unique ideas that growing small and midsized businesses can use to get their products and services in front of a relevant, trusted influencer's devoted followers this holiday season. 

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Startups that master these three media types lay the foundation for exceptional growth and market outreach.

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Press releases are one of the most underutilized tools in content amplification, but they’re powerful if you know how to use them.

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The concept of newsjacking is fairly simple—it’s when a company takes an item from the news and puts its own spin on it, allowing the brand to start a new conversation or join a larger discussion. Sharing posts or creating campaigns around major news helps brands gain attention and create traction for their own marketing initiatives by riding the tailwinds of stories that are already part of the broader cultural climate. Leveraging trending topics in its marketing efforts through newsjacking or trendjacking can help a company reach more consumers, increase website SEO and establish the brand as a thought leader in key areas of the business. Here, 12 members of Forbes Agency Council share their favorite platforms for newsjacking and what specific purpose each serves best. 

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Building a contact list is a key step companies must take before they can launch email marketing campaigns that help them reach and connect with their target audience and convert prospects into customers. To create an effective list, marketers must first convince consumers to join it and then retain their attention by consistently sending engaging content that inspires them to open branded emails when they hit their inbox. Of course, if the majority of recipients simply delete a company’s marketing email—or worse, mark it as spam—the tactic isn’t only ineffective but also costly in terms of wasted time, resources and money. To help guide marketers wanting to improve their company’s email list and ensure that it includes subscribers who are likely to be interested in their products and services, 15 members of Forbes Agency Council shared their best tips for building a list that achieves the results they’re seeking.

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While potential customers may eventually want to know about the ins and outs of a new product or service, focusing too much on specific features is not necessarily the best storytelling practice when it comes to introducing people to it. To reach a wider audience about a new offering, tying eye-catching visuals into a narrative that resonates with your target audience is the best way to generate a buzz around your brand’s launch. Here, the experts of Forbes Agency Council explore ways to create a story with visual elements that will build an emotional connection with potential customers and get them excited about your new product or service by showing what the offering is all about and why it was brought to the market.

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The phrase “content is king” has been around for years, but it still holds true: your content is what drives your business’ value. Good content can help a company build its brand and client base – if it engages the audience. But how do you generate content ideas that differentiate you from your competitors, especially in a saturated market? To help you, we asked the members of Forbes Agency Council how they recommend brainstorming great ideas for content. Their best tips are below.

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Industry experts are convinced that the world will never go back to how it was before the global pandemic. The "new normal," as media terms it, has a focus on more socially-distanced interactions and a reliance on technology. For business-to-business organizations, this means changing the way they operate, from promotion and marketing to maintaining consumer engagement, selling, and more. But how can B2B companies change their marketing strategies for optimal engagement in a post-COVID world? What challenges will they face getting buyers and creating connections with customers? Fifteen professionals from Forbes Agency Council explore some of the changes B2B business marketing has to go through to succeed in a post-pandemic society.

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With social distancing protocols and shelter in place orders part of life these days, businesses have had to become more creative in engaging their audience. Livestreaming sites offer these companies the perfect chance to do so. The sector has seen massive growth between March and April of 2020 because of how many businesses are trying it out as a means of marketing outreach. However, like all marketing channels, livestreaming success comes down to how well companies understand the benefits and challenges of this strategy. To help, 12 contributors to Forbes Agency Council share their best advice on how businesses taking this approach can maximize their livestreaming returns.

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An unresponsive, disengaged client can present a big challenge to a creative agency. Without feedback and direction from the client, you're unlikely to deliver the results they're looking for. Instead, you’ll end up wasting time and resources on revisions and rework. To help agencies improve their working relationship with inactive clients, we asked the experts of Forbes Agency Council for their insights. Below they shared their top strategies to get an inactive client more engaged in the creative process.

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Whether a business is updating a marketing strategy or simply trying to keep up with modern sentiment, sometimes a company needs a “facelift.” But in refreshing its image, a brand might not want to do a complete overhaul -- especially if they lack the resources to do so, or if its existing brand is well-established and popular. As experienced agency leaders, the members of Forbes Agency Council know how to successfully brand and rebrand businesses. Below, they share 14 ways a company can refresh its image across platforms, without risking its established brand equity.

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Social media algorithms make it so that the longer a post stays without interaction, the less likely it is to make it to prominence. The key then is making sure all posts are highly engaging in order to be noticed and shared. If you're using social media as a marketing channel, getting seen is precisely what you want. Engaging your followers to reply, like, and repost can help skyrocket a post to the top of others' feeds. These 15 contributors to Forbes Agency Council explain how to craft social media posts that engage followers and, as a result, remain at the top of their feeds for a longer time.

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Employees that are engaged in their workplace tend to be more productive because they're happier. Despite this, many organizations -- agencies included -- don't always see employee happiness as a significant factor in their success. However, by making the organization a more exciting place to work, employees are encouraged to show up and engage with their surroundings. Agencies primarily rely heavily on the creative skills of their team members. Keeping employees engaged is ideal for stimulating their creative thought processes. These 15 contributors to Forbes Agency Council examine how agencies can make their workplaces more engaging for their team members and why that is such a vital part of the company's operations.

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When it comes to successful marketing, being good at what you do is only the first step.

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Your attitude, when faced with a challenge, is what defines whether you succeed or fail.