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Being honest, transparent, and respectful in marketing.

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AI can help create and improve campaign targeting, content, and analytics.

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Producing media (graphics, text, video) to connect with an audience.

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Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Place, Promotion — the foundational tools for marketing strategy.

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A specific group of consumers a company aims to reach.

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The identity of a business — what it stands for, how it looks, and how it’s perceived.

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Presentation Deck-Brand and Marketing Campaign

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While you tend to hear the term more in relation to for-profit businesses, the importance of branding for nonprofits cannot be stressed enough.

Your brand is what people think about when they think of your organization. This impacts your public image, your engagement, and your fundraising efforts. Brand management is the work you do to influence and shape the way your organization is perceived.

Nonprofits have a different purpose than for-profits, but there are many brand strategies that apply to both sides. The following brand strategies can help you forge new relationships and strengthen the ones you already have. You may even be employing one or more already.

1. Differentiate Yourself

Why should someone give to your organization instead of another?

That's the question that drives differentiation.

Creating a strong brand strategy is essential to any successful nonprofit organization. It's an effective way to stand out in the crowd and set your organization apart from others that share similar missions.

A great brand strategy tells a story that resonates with your audience, helping to generate recurring donations , engage more volunteers, and strengthen relationships with current supporters. Differentiating your nonprofit brand means creating a clear, authentic voice and conveying it across all aspects of the organization, including how your employees represent themselves and how the organization appears to its stakeholders.

With a strong, differentiated brand, you'll have the opportunity to bring people together, have an impact, and really make a difference in the community.

Consider the following steps to discover what differentiates your nonprofit from the competition:

1. Conduct extensive research to gain a deep understanding of your organization's values, mission, and core activities

2. Develop a unique brand identity for your nonprofit by creating a distinctive visual language and establishing a consistent voice across all media outlets

3. Engage potential supporters by producing captivating, memorable content and stories that resonate with your audience

4. Connect with your target audience through different social media channels, and focus on developing relationships across platforms

5. Focus on creating long-term relationships with supporters and emphasize transparency, communication, and accountability among other core values to increase brand recognition

6. Broadcast volunteer opportunities, fundraising events , and other ways for people to get involved with your organization

7. Regularly review your marketing initiatives, fine-tune your fundraising approach, and embrace iteration to optimize your social impact

Additional areas of opportunity to assess when determining how exactly to set your nonprofit apart include:

Where you work: Are you the only nonprofit working in a particular region?

Your method: Is your approach to problem-solving different from other organizations?

Your goal: Do you have a specific goal for your work that others are not pursuing?

For example, Bright Pink, a breast and ovarian health awareness organization, uniquely offers an assessment quiz to help individuals understand their personal cancer risk.

In this space, they are one of the only organizations specifically focused on early detection, and the ability to quickly assess risk online through a quiz helps visitors remember them as a helpful resource.

2. Personalize Your Organization

Personalization has become a central brand strategy for many businesses and organizations. In fact, creating a personalized branding strategy for your nonprofit organization gives you the opportunity to highlight your values.

Once you have determined what makes your nonprofit brand unique among others, the next step is to solidify who your target audience is and what their core interests are. Think about the message you want to share with new and existing supporters. Moreover, how can you leverage your current donor base to help spread brand awareness and elevate your fundraising initiatives?

Peer-to-peer fundraising is perhaps the clearest example of the rise of personalization. Supporters can create their own donation page , add their own picture, tell their own story, and appeal to their own friends and family.

While personalization through peer-to-peer fundraising is an excellent way for your current donor base to spread brand awareness, make sure that you as a nonprofit have designed visuals that reflect your mission and brand-whether it's a unique logo, illustrations, or slogans-and help to distinguish your nonprofit's visual identity from others.

Finally, ensure that your branding efforts reach the right audiences, either through digital marketing or through offline strategies such as direct mail or printed marketing materials.

If you're looking to add more personal touchpoints for supporters, you might also consider your communications strategy. Do you design content tracks for specific groups of supporters? Create donor personas and build custom communications to help each individual feel like the information you provide is tailored to their interests and previous behavior.

3. Be Relatable

Being able to relate to another person is essential to forming a connection and it's just as important that your supporters can relate to each other and the people you help.

By creating a relatable nonprofit brand, you are more equipped to create genuine connections with people who share interest in your cause. When people can relate to your brand, they are more likely to want to support it, which means that you have to do the work of making sure your brand leaves a lasting first impression and resonates with your audience following the first point of interaction.

Invest time and resources in getting to know your target audience, crafting messages that show why your cause matters, and finding creative ways to make your nonprofit mission and fundraising initiatives resonate.

Once you've built a strong brand that has stickiness, you'll be rewarded with more volunteers, more donations, and a larger community that is engaged in what you're doing for the greater good.

Leverage your website, nonprofit blog, and social media as a way to highlight individuals supporting your cause. Feature donors, volunteers, and fundraisers to demonstrate that anyone can advance your mission. It is definitely advisable to recognize big donors, but it's also important to show how anyone else can make an impact on your cause.

If someone takes interest in your cause, they might go to your website's "how you can help" page. If they only see pictures and details of major donors and celebrities, they might (consciously or subconsciously) think, "Oh. They don't need help from me. I don't have a ton of money or clout."

Relatability also comes into play when you talk about the people your programs help. A potential donor might not think they have much in common with a man staying in your homeless shelter until you explain that he is a father who lost his job during the recession. Details like these help people relate to your constituents.
Read Next: Design Basics for Nonprofits
4. Appeal to the Emotional

Tapping into the emotions that drive your supporters can go a long way toward breaking through stagnation and apathy.

As a nonprofit, it's important to recognize that many people are motivated to take action when an emotional appeal is involved. Make a meaningful emotional connection with your audience by speaking to people's hearts as much as you do their minds.

This may include sharing stories or testimonials that showcase the lives your organization is transforming, making people laugh through entertaining videos, or finding unique ways to celebrate the individuals and communities who have helped support your cause along the way.

Ultimately, when your organization speaks to people's emotions, you will make a greater impact and truly show the power of your work.

5. Be a Thought Leader

Finally, positioning your organization as a forward-thinking and innovative nonprofit can be an effective brand strategy. While there are people who prefer to stick with historic or more traditional charities, adopting new technologies and strategies can attract people who may not have been interested in the cause before. This can be done without sacrificing brand consistency.

All it takes is the willingness to get involved, to make an impact, and to put your voice and ideas out there. If thought leadership is a key component of your nonprofit branding strategy, consider what steps you might take to elevate your voice and ensure your audience views you as a leader in your space.

To help get you on your way to becoming a leader in the nonprofit sector, explore opportunities to:

Get connected with people and organizations in the nonprofit sector to develop your understanding and learn more

Reach out to fellow thought leaders, find nonprofit conferences and webinars to attend, and explore blogs and articles

Engage with the conversations, offer insights, and be sure to follow up with those that could be a helpful source of information in an effort to further evolve your brand identity and positioning

Challenge traditional thought processes, start initiatives that make a difference, and always aim to collaborate

Empower Your Nonprofit Brand With Classy

Whether you've been consciously cultivating it or not, your organization has a brand. The associations and ideas people have about your nonprofit can impact your fundraising, engagement, and credibility. Consider how you can adopt some of these brand strategies for nonprofits to influence the way your organization is perceived by the public.

By using a comprehensive fundraising platform like Classy, nonprofits can take their brand to the next level. Through an efficient donation processing system, engaging live-event capabilities, and a diverse portfolio of easy-to-use fundraising tools, nonprofits have access to the latest technologies that enable them to effectively tell their story and inspire more support from their audience.

Get started today and learn how Classy can help you meet and exceed your fundraising goals more quickly and efficiently.

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Nonprofit Branding Strategy | 5 Key Pillars to Help You Succeed

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A thoughtful nonprofit brand strategy makes all the difference. Learn how to leverage these branding tips to promote your organization.

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Products are never just products, right?

Coca-Cola is more than a soda. Starbucks is more than coffee. Ray-Ban is more than a pair of sunglasses.

Interacting with these products provides experiences, and we buy them with that experience in mind. Better yet, the companies that create and market them know exactly the experience they want you to have when you make (or consider) a purchase. That's why they cultivate their brands.

From the language in their Instagram caption, to the color palette on their latest billboard, down to the material used in their packaging, companies who create strong brands know that their brand needs to live everywhere. They know their names extend far beyond the label and can entice consumers to choose their products out of a lineup of options.

Who doesn't want that? I know I do. That's why we built this guide - to equip you to create and manage a strong brand that'll help your business be admired, remembered, and preferred.

If you're in a pinch, use the links below to jump ahead to find what you need.

What's a brand?

A brand is a feature or set of features that distinguish one organization from another. A brand is typically comprised of a name, tagline, logo or symbol, design, brand voice, and more. It also refers to the overall experience a customer undergoes when interacting with a business - as a shopper, customer, social media follower, or mere passerby.

What is branding?

Branding is the process of researching, developing, and applying a distinctive feature or set of features to your organization so that consumers can begin to associate your brand with your products or services.

For example, the Coca-Cola brand is one of the most recognizable logos and color stories around the world. The classic red and white lettering, vibrant artwork, and distinctive font have lasted for over a century.
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Having stood the test of time, the Coca-Cola brand is a testament to the power of consistent, successful branding that consumers have come to love.

That being said, branding is an iterative process and requires getting in touch with the heart of your customers and your business. It's important for a variety of reasons - and we'll go through them below.

Branding can be the deciding factor for consumers when they make a purchase decision. In fact, a Capgemini study found that users who feel a connection to a brand spend twice as much money as those who don't.

Branding gives your business an identity beyond its product or service. It gives consumers something to relate to and connect with.

Branding makes your business memorable. It's the face of your company and helps consumers distinguish your business across every medium (which I discuss later).

Branding supports your marketing and advertising efforts. It helps your promotion pack that extra punch with added recognition and impact.

Branding brings your employees pride. When you brand your company, you're not only giving your business identity, you're also creating a reputable, highly-regarded workplace. Strong branding brings in strong employees.

Branding Terms to Know

Here are some other brand-related buzzwords you should know. They further demonstrate the importance and value of branding your business.

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness refers to how familiar the general public and your target audience is with your brand. High brand awareness leads to brands being referred to as "trending," "buzzworthy, or "popular." Brand awareness is important because consumers can't consider purchasing from your brand if they're not aware of it.
👉🏼 Strong branding makes your business known.
Brand Extension

Brand extensions are when companies "extend" their brand to develop new products in new industries and markets. Consider Honda lawn mowers or Martha Stewart bedding. Brand extensions allow companies (or individuals) to leverage brand awareness and equity to create more revenue streams and diversify product lines.
👉🏼 Strong branding brings in more money.
Brand Identity

Brand identity is the personality of your business and the promise you make to your customers. It's what you want your customers to walk away with after they interact with your brand. Your brand identity is typically comprised of your values, how you communicate your product or service, and what you want people to feel when they interact with it.
👉🏼 Strong branding gives your business more than a name.
Brand Management

Brand management refers to the process of creating and maintaining your brand. It includes managing the tangible elements of your brand (style guide, packaging, color palette) and the intangible elements (how it's perceived by your target audience and customer base). Your brand is a living, breathing asset, and it should be managed as such.
👉🏼 Strong branding requires consistent upkeep.
Brand Recognition

Brand recognition is how well a consumer (ideally in your target audience) can recognize and identify your brand without seeing your business name - through your logo, tagline, jingle, packaging, or advertising. This concept goes hand-in-hand with brand recall, which is the ability to think of a brand without any visual or auditory identifiers.
👉🏼 Strong branding keeps your business top-of-mind.
Real-life brand example: Want to test your brand knowledge? Take this Logo Quiz by Business Insider to see how well you know your corporate brands. This is brand recognition at work.

Brand Trust

Brand trust refers to how strongly customers and consumers believe in your brand. Do you deliver on your marketing promises? Do your salespeople and customer service go above and beyond? These things can create trust among your customers, which is important in a world where a mere 25% of people feel confident in large businesses.
👉🏼 Strong branding builds trust with your customers.
Brand Valuation

Brand valuation is the commercial valuation of your brand derived from consumer perception, recognition, and trust. This concept goes hand-in-hand with brand equity. A powerful brand can make your business invaluable to investors, shareholders, and potential buyers.
👉🏼 Strong branding increases your business's value.
Here's how you can create a brand - or begin the process of rebranding your current one.

There's a lot that goes into a brand, and there's a lot to consider when building a strong one. So, grab a notebook and jot down ideas as you move through this section. Recognize that branding is an iterative process, so you might be repeating some of these steps as you brainstorm and build your brand.
Want to build an effective, measurable brand? Download our free guide on How to Build a Brand.
1. Determine your target audience.

Branding leads to awareness, recognition, trust, and revenue. We've talked about that. But let's take a step back and understand where those stem from: consumers. And not just any consumers - your target audience and customers.

If your brand doesn't resonate with your audience, it won't lead to that awareness, recognition, trust, and revenue. That's where target market research comes in.

Before pressing pen to paper (or cursor to digital document), you must understand to whom your branding will be speaking. Who does your product serve? Who is your ideal customer? Why did you create your business in the first place?

What you learn about your target market and buyer personas will influence your branding decisions down the line, so make this step your first priority.
Download our free Persona Templates to easily organize your target audience research and strengthen your marketing.
2. Establish your mission statement.

Let's return to a question I asked in the previous step: Why did you create your business? Answering this will help you build your mission statement, which defines your purpose and passion as an organization.

Before you can craft a brand that your audience recognizes, values, and trusts, you must be able to communicate the purpose that your business provides. Then, every part of your brand (logo, tagline, imagery, voice, and personality) can reflect that mission and vision.

Your mission statement is a building block of your brand manifesto, which encompasses why your organization exists and why people should care about your brand.
Download our free guide to Defining Inspiring Mission and Vision Statements and learn the ins-and-outs of two of the most valuable strategic planning elements for businesses.
3. Define your unique values, qualities, and benefits.

There are probably lots of businesses in your industry and niche. It's easy to focus on your competition (and there's a time and place for competitive analysis), but, for now, let's focus on you.

What's one thing that your business has that no one else can mimic (er, legally)? Your brand.

Because of that, you must ensure that your brand is comprised of and inspired by elements that are solely yours: the values, benefits, and qualities that make your company unique.

Take a moment to jot down a list of what sets your business apart from others. I'm not talking about product features (like appearance, components, or capabilities); I'm referring to how your products or services improve lives and contribute to success.

Real-Life Brand Example: Alani Nutrition

You've probably never heard of Alani Nu; they're a nutrition company based in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. I order their vitamins because 1) they're proven to work, and 2) I trust and respect the brand (and it's gorgeous!). On their website, they've clearly and simply outlined their unique values and benefits as part of their overall brand. Highlighting these makes it easy for customers like me to trust their products and choose them over competitors.

4. Create your visual assets.

At this point, you should understand your target audience, your mission statement, and the unique qualities that make up your business.

If you can say with confidence that you've mastered these steps, it's time to move on to one of the more exciting parts of branding - the visual design. We're talking about your logo, color palette, typography (fonts), iconography, and other visual components.

As you create these elements, build a set of brand guidelines (or a brand style guide) to govern the composition and use of your visual assets. This will ensure that whoever uses your new branding does so accurately and consistently. Check out HubSpot's brand guidelines for reference.

Note: Design can be just as intimidating as it is exciting. Consider hiring a professional with logo and identity design experience or starting with a few helpful design templates.

5. Find your brand voice.

Next, consider the auditory component of your brand. What would your brand sound like if you had a conversation with it, or if it texted you?
Take your brand to the next level with this free e-book on creating a brand style guide. Download templates, too!
How you communicate with your target market is also considered part of your branding. You want to define a brand voice that connects and resonates with your audience - otherwise, they probably won't pay attention. Because of that, don't hesitate to return to step one to get familiar with to whom you're speaking.

From your advertising campaigns and social media captions to your blog posts and brand story, ensure your tone is consistent throughout all of your written content. Give your audience a chance to get familiar with your brand and learn to recognize the sound of your voice. Better yet, master a fun, entertaining voice, and your customers will look forward to your social media and email updates.

Real-Life Brand Example: MailChimp

MailChimp is a great example of a brand that speaks with a clear, consistent tone. When I used their free plan for my small business, I always chuckled when receiving their emails and working in their interface. From its web copy to its email blasts and social media captions, MailChimp has established a brand voice and personality that is personable, fun, and accessible - it can be hard to explain the technical parts of a software product (like A/B testing), but MailChimp has mastered that, too.

6. Put your branding to work

Your brand only works if you do. Once you finish designing and creating your new brand (or rebrand) integrate it throughout every inch of your business. Pay extra attention to ensure it's displayed anywhere your business touches customers. Here are a handful of tips for applying your brand across your organization.
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Website

Splash your logo, color palette, and typography across your website. Don't use anything but your predefined assets in your brand guidelines. Your website is a major part of your company identity - if it doesn't reflect your brand, it will only provide a jarring customer experience. Also, be sure that all web copy, calls-to-action, and product descriptions reflect your brand voice.

Social Media

All profile photos, cover art, and branded imagery should reflect your brand. Consider putting your logo as your profile photo - this will make it easier for customers to recognize your business. As with your website, be sure all profile information, posts, and captions reflect your brand voice.

Packaging

If you have a physical products business, your product is probably the most tangible way that customers interact with your brand. For that reason, your packaging should reflect your new branding - in its design, colors, size, and feel.

Real-Life Brand Example: Chobani

I love Chobani yogurt (confession: I'm eating it right now). Their new branding immediately tells me that they produce authentic, healthy Greek yogurt. That's one of the main reasons I buy Chobani. Recently, I realized that their yogurt packages are made with a very earthy, textured material - an intentional decision that supports the overall experience they've paired with purchasing and eating the Chobani brand.

Advertising

Because advertisements (digital and print) are often used to establish brand awareness and introduce consumers to your brand, it's critical that they reflect your branding. In fact, your branding should make the ad creation process easier - with your brand style guide, you already know how your ads should appear and what type of copy to write.

Sales and Customer Service

A brand is only as powerful as the people behind it, and if your people aren't putting your brand to work, it won't work for you. Moreover, your brand applies to more than your marketing. Inform your sales and customer service folks of your brand guidelines and tell them to use it, especially when they engage directly with customers. Whether they are sharing a branded product demo or answering customer support inquiries, encourage them to use your logo, tagline, imagery, and brand voice.

1. Treat your brand as a person.

To best wrap your head around the branding process, think of your brand as a person. Your brand should have an identity (who it is), personality (how it behaves), and experience (how it's remembered).

Ask yourself these questions about your brand:

How would your brand introduce itself? If it had to describe its appearance, how would it do so?

How would your brand talk about your products or services? Would it be serious and professional, or would it be humorous and edgy?

What would someone say about your brand after "meeting" it for the first time? What are a few sentences they'd use to describe it?

The purpose of branding is to create relationships with your customers. The easiest way to do this is to treat your brand as a person and understand that you want your customers to do the same.

Real-Life Brand Example: Whiskey Riff

Whiskey Riff is another brand you're probably not familiar with. It's a two-man media company based here in Chicago that's dubbed themselves "the most entertaining country music site ever". I'm a fan because I love country music, enjoy their written and podcast content, and proudly wear some of its awesome apparel.

If Whiskey Riff was a person, here's how I'd think it would answer the questions above:

"Hey, I'm Whiskey Riff. I love country music and, you guessed it, Whiskey. My logo was inspired by the Y in the circle on the Chicago Theater marquee, and I'm adorned with horizontal red stripes and stars - which represent the American and Chicago flags."

"I publish in-your-face content about what's going on in country music today. If you don't like it, don't read it. My podcast featured my founders interviewing country music artists and telling hilarious stories. Check out my apparel line; my t-shirts, tanks, hats, and accessories can be seen at country music festivals (and on stages) nationwide."

"Whiskey Riff is like that first shot of Jack Daniels - that much-needed, refreshing drink after a long day. It's a break from that cookie-cutter way of life, and you immediately appreciate - and trust - its candidness. There's absolutely nothing like it in the industry."

2. Prioritize consistency.

Inconsistency is the number one branding mistake that companies make. Inconsistency undermines your brand and confuses your customers. Recognizable, valuable brands prioritize consistency - and they reap the benefits. When your brand is a unified presence across mediums and platforms, customers can easily get familiar with, recognize, and come to prefer your brand over time. Brand guidelines can help with this initiative.

3. Build and follow a brand strategy.

A brand strategy is more than your brand guidelines; it's a plan with specific, long-term goals that can be achieved as your brand evolves. These goals typically revolve around your brand's purpose, emotion, flexibility, competitive awareness, and employee involvement.

Remember how I said that branding is a continuous process? There's a lot that goes into it. A brand strategy can help you turn that process into a well-oiled practice that keeps your brand moving toward success and recognition.

4. Don't let inspiration turn into imitation.

Competitive analysis is important. Not only does it educate you on where your competition stands and how they are excelling, but it can also give you ideas on how you can improve or further set apart your brand.

However, be conscious to not fall into an imitation trap. Keep your competitive research limited and focus on what your organization brings to the table. Just because a competitor (or two) has branded their company in a certain way doesn't mean that you have to follow suit. New, unique, provocative brands are memorable brands.

5. Use branding to hire.

Strong branding makes your employees proud. I know I'm proud to be associated with HubSpot, much less work there. Leverage your branding to attract talented people. If hiring is a strong initiative for your organization, dedicate some of your resources to employer branding. Employer branding is how you market your company to job seekers and current employees. If you're publically proud of your organization, others will be, too.

Ready, Set, Brand

Branding is your organization's name, logo, color palette, voice, and imagery. It's also more. It's that intangible feeling your customers have when they interact with your brand. You know, that experience we talked about in the beginning.

That's how powerhouse brands deviate from all the others. The tangible components contribute to this - a gorgeous logo, a clever tagline, an authentic manifesto, and a clear brand voice - but truly strong brands thrive when they focus on the big picture of their brand. Get to the heart and soul of your target audience and your organization, and a successful brand will follow.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in March 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Products are never just products, right? Coca-Cola is more than a soda. Starbucks is more than coffee. Ray-Ban is more than a pair of sunglasses. Interacting with these products provides experiences, and we buy them with that experience in mind.

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Discover the key elements of building a strong brand identity. Learn how nonprofits create memorable brands that resonate with their audiences. Complete the Brand DNA worksheet to develop your first nonprofit brand strategy!

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Learn how to create professional brand guidelines that maintain consistency across all marketing materials. Check out this excellent example from charity:water and create your own template.

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Master the art of nonprofit storytelling! Learn how to craft compelling narratives that drive engagement and support. Practice exercise: Create a donor success story using the provided template.

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Top Nonprofit Consultant Reveals Captivating Storytelling Tips!

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Download our nonprofit social media calendar template and learn how to plan engaging content across platforms. Includes best practices for posting times and content mix.

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Explore cutting-edge AI tools that can enhance your marketing efforts. From Canva's Magic Write to ChatGPT, learn how to leverage AI responsibly while maintaining authenticity in nonprofit communications.

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Learn to track and measure your marketing success using Google Analytics and social media insights. Download our metrics tracking template to monitor your campaign performance.

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How-To Guide - Get the Insights your Nonprofit needs using Google Analytics -

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Get the Insights Your Nonprofit Needsusing Google Analytics

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Understanding ethical considerations in nonprofit marketing is crucial. Learn about transparency, accountability, and responsible storytelling. Review case studies of ethical marketing campaigns.

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Ensure your marketing materials are inclusive and accessible to all audiences. Use our comprehensive checklist to review your content for inclusivity and representation.

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A systematic approach for developing, implementing, executing and evaluating
marketing strategies.

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Attention, Interest, Desire, Action — a model of the customer journey.

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I grew up a Nintendo kid (and yes, that includes the original NES console and Duck Hunt Zapper). For those who remember the Nintendo GameCube, you know a memorable brand experience. How could anyone forget this nine-second clip of branding brilliance?

Whenever I think of "branding," I go back to my memory of the GameCube boot-up screen and the feelings of joy and anticipation it evokes. That makes a brand work - the experience behind the logo. But getting your brand experience right is incredibly hard for any marketing team. Logos, visual identities, copy, websites, social media - "brand" requires tons of attention and work.

So, I'm always on the lookout for ways to build a brand stronger, faster, and better than before. And AI tools for branding have come a long way these past few years to enable more sophisticated brand identity creation and growth.

Let's look at AI for branding as it stands today and how your team can start building a memorable brand that clicks with consumers.
Table of Contents
AI for Branding

Brand building isn't just making logos. You need strategy, consistency, and scalability to reach your audiences and grow your impact. Welcome to AI's biggest role within marketing teams in 2025.

Marketers have toyed with AI for several years. That tracks with what McKinsey has found: Most AI adoption has happened at the individual contributor level (i.e., the social media manager whipping up posts).

But, AI is showing the potential for greater strategic business value. As 2025 unfolds, I believe we'll see a shift in tool adoption, from ICs experimenting with ChatGPT to deeper integration into everyday workflows.

The Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute recently found that 36% of marketers have infused AI into their daily workflows. Its research also showed a profound shift from marketers just "experimenting" with AI to actually implementing it in their everyday work.

Marketers deploying AI are seeing better results across their bodies of work. SurveyMonkey's latest AI survey found that, of the marketers using AI:

93% use it to generate content faster.

81% use it to uncover insights more quickly.

90% use it for faster decision-making.

Our research shows that four out of ten marketers are using AI to write copy and outlines for long-form content. They're also using AI to learn how to do things - not just research for articles but tutorials on writing better content or using tools more effectively.

In 2025, I think we'll see AI become the marketing team's branding copilot.

Teams are using AI for content support and customer experience personalization already. AI in content marketing is helping to define and scale brand identities while keeping everything on-brand and consistent. AI's role will expand, provided marketing teams better structure their internal data architectures and continue investing in AI education and training.

But that copilot piece matters. You shouldn't concede all branding decisions to an AI partner. Instead, the best-performing marketers will learn to operate alongside their AI branding tools, leaning on its strengths while keeping human creativity and ingenuity at the heart of their brand.

Pro tip: How else are marketers using AI across their organizations? Download our AI Trends for Marketers report for more.

Why use AI tools for branding?

While AI tools for branding can bring many benefits, AI is like any other tool. You need to know how, when, where, and why to use it. You wouldn't use a hammer to drive a screw into a wall; likewise, AI used without planning and intention can stymie or even damage your brand.

Efficiency and Authenticity

Most talk around AI adoption focuses on efficiency gains - get more, faster, with your team. Rosier predictions from McKinsey show the potential for saving 60-70% of an employee's time with AI tools. While efficiency is certainly part of the benefit, I don't think efficiency alone is sufficient, especially with branding needs.

Garin Hobbs, Martech Expert at InboxArmy, agrees. "AI pushes branding toward efficiency, but efficiency without intent weakens identity. I can't even count how many companies plug AI into content creation and label it innovation, yet the output lacks depth."

Hobbs continues by sharing how an AI tool's thoughtful application helped his company. "In my experience, AI works best analyzing customer sentiment at scale, then feeding those insights back into brand messaging," he said.

"Here's my favorite tactic: instead of letting AI write entire emails, I used it to identify specific phrases customers responded to in previous campaigns. Weaving those into fresh copy led to a 19% higher conversion rate. We were shocked - it actually worked! AI shouldn't replace creative instincts - it should reveal patterns that inform smarter human decisions."

A branding AI tool doesn't replace creativity (or creative talent). It supports their efforts while buying back their time and effort.

Hyper-Personalization of Content

Personalizing your marketing content is a bare minimum. Everyone knows "Hi, Alex!" in your email is a first name field.

Now, we're looking at hyper-personalization, which involves understanding a buyer's individual behaviors and preferences and changing content to match. These highly customized experiences can reduce customer acquisition costs by as much as 50% and increase marketing ROI by 10-30%.

But, there's no easy way any marketing team could hyper-personalize at a meaningful scale. Enter an AI branding tool.

However, before you turn your AI loose, give it the structure for personalization at scale while keeping things authentic. Tristan Harris, Sr. VP of Marketing at Next Net Media, shares more.

"For businesses navigating this balance, conduct a brand touchpoint audit identifying moments of genuine differentiation versus functional interactions - this reveals where AI implementation preserves rather than dilutes authenticity," he said. "The most effective approach I've seen connects authentic human expertise with AI-driven personalization at scale rather than choosing between them."

Harris also points to the importance of voice in this process: "Create clear AI usage guidelines for customer-facing content that specify which brand elements must remain human-crafted, preventing the subtle voice erosion that has damaged many well-intentioned automation efforts."

Brand Consistency at Scale

Harvard Business Review reports a well-defined brand strategy, with consistency across every touchpoint, can drive 10-20% increases in annual revenue. A branding AI tool is basically purpose-built to protect consistency wherever your brand appears.

But, as Nirmal Gyanwali, Founder & CMO and WP Creative, notes, the buck does not stop at the AI tool.

"We've had to be intentional about how we integrate AI. It's incredibly useful for tasks like generating content outlines, analyzing customer sentiment, helping us spot patterns we might have missed," he said. "But when it comes to storytelling and brand voice, that's all human."

Balancing the human aspect of a brand while staying consistent is a high-wire act that involves putting faith in your team to represent you well.

"I've learned that you can't just set an AI tool loose and expect it to build authentic connections," Gyanwali said. "AI needs a human filter. We've built brand guidelines into our AI tools, but we also trust our team to step in and say, 'That doesn't sound like us.' It's about working with AI, not letting it take over."

Types of Branding Tools with AI

"Branding" can be a busy word - a lot goes into building and growing your company's brand. And AI tools often only solve particular branding problems. Let's talk about the most common branding tools you'll come across and how AI integrates to help you get the job done.

Logo and Visual Identity Creation

A brand's look is typically the first thing a potential customer sees. And, when you get it right, the memory can stick forever. You can probably picture the Nike Swoosh or McDonald's Arches right now, can't you?

If you want to design that kind of memory, you might want help from an AI-powered logo maker. These tools use functions similar to text generation to create logos based on your preferences, similar industry brands, and desired color schemes.

Now, the Swoosh is famous because it's the same everywhere. AI logo makers also typically offer full brand kits with fonts, color palettes, and social media assets. You can maintain a cohesive visual identity as you build your brand.

Website and Landing Page Builders

Your website is still an important part of making your first impression on a customer. And what an impression it has to be: Studies show you have 50 milliseconds to make that first impression. That's as fast as a gearshift on a Lamborghini. How can you possibly appeal to users that quickly?

AI-driven website builders can help you make that powerful first impression.

These tools can generate copy and visuals, but their real benefit is in design suggestions. You can use AI's data repository to pick the best-performing designs, improve layouts, and optimize your user experience to nab their attention and keep them scrolling. Some tools are even adding integrated chatbots and dynamic personalization for even better engagement.

Pro tip: Use HubSpot's CMS platform to build and manage your website using AI. Start by generating a free AI website.

Copywriting and Brand Messaging

My writer's heart needed time to get comfortable having AI perched on my shoulder, the stochastic parrot it may be. However, time and practice have shown me how these AI-powered writing assistants can, well, assist.

Copywriting tools can generate headlines, product descriptions, email campaigns, SMS text, and social media posts - anywhere you need words. In particular, I've found value in AI as a brand messaging amplifier. It's great at repurposing long-form content into more digestible chunks, which can help you reach more people without writing the same sentence dozens of times.

Branding Research and Competitive Analysis

Marketers need to crunch data to find better ideas and drive stronger results. But, I'd venture to guess many marketers did not choose their field to conduct deep statistical analyses. And, with so much data popping into existence (over 400 million terabytes of data globally every day), it's impossible for marketers to keep pace.

Branding research AI tools help you analyze competitors, track brand sentiment, and identify consumer trends to keep your brand strategy sharp. These tools review that mess of data using machine learning and natural language processing, scanning online conversations, social media mentions, and industry reports to get the good stuff.

The models then crunch that information into insights, generated in real time and with useful context. You can get ahead of market shifts and adjust your brand positioning and messaging accordingly.

Social Media and Content Creation

I've heard, "Can you turn this into a Facebook post?" more times than I can count. While forcing brevity can elicit creativity, writing endless posts can drain any marketing team. And, as social media platforms shift their audiences and best practices, you could use help keeping pace.

AI-powered social media tools can generate posts, captions, pictures, audio, and video using your brand style. It can review your content's past performance, competitors' content, industry trends, and audience behavior to create the strongest posts and find the right time and channel to deliver your message. Sentiment analysis can even review the emotions behind a post and recommend sentiment-driven messaging to calm an angry customer or cheer on a happy one.

Brand Consistency and Guidelines

Yes, I prefer the Oxford comma. No, most companies I've worked with don't let me keep it. Those small decisions add up to create your brand's feel, and it should be consistent wherever your customer sees you.

Brand consistency and style guidelines keep content on track, but it's a lot to handle yourself. AI tools can centralize your brand's elements and flag inconsistencies in your content before it hits the internet (e.g., the wrong heading font in a blog post). Your AI tool can enforce guidelines, automate content approvals, and keep your team aligned with internal brand messaging.

Marketing and Ad Creative

Which message will perform the best? And how do you make it perform even better? These questions could inspire dread in any performance-focused marketer. But, with the right AI tools, answering them could actually be refreshing.

AI can generate ad creatives, but it can also predict your campaign's performance and suggest ways to optimize your messaging. A/B testing can happen in real time and at scale, with AI analyzing thousands of ad variations to get things just right.

Pro tip: HubSpot Marketing Hub has several AI-enhanced features to run and manage ad campaigns. Check out our free AI tool for advertising to start.

Best AI Tools for Branding

Now that you've seen the benefits, let me recommend a few AI branding tools to bring those benefits to life.

HubSpot Breeze AI

The best AI tools for branding operate within your current framework. It should be simple to activate, use, and adopt AI. So, if you're using products in the HubSpot ecosystem, it only makes sense to use an AI tool integrated with your HubSpot suite.

HubSpot Breeze AI has lots of options for managing and growing your brand with AI. The writer in me looks first at content development. That's more than just producing words; it's understanding the context of your work in relation to your company and the larger marketplace.

The Breeze Content Agent brings that context and helps you deliver more targeted content with speed and scale. And, it sits atop your HubSpot ecosystem, so you can test, learn, and iterate quickly.

Gamma

Marketers just can't escape a good slide deck. But, I'm not a fan of tinkering endlessly to get that photo in the perfect spot. Between ideation, copy, and design, presentations can burn a lot of valuable work time.

I've used Gamma for over a year now to help me solve that challenge. You can bring your notes to the platform, and Gamma will generate gorgeous presentations. The platform lets me toy with the specifics, such as the voice and tone of any generated copy or what image types get used (e.g., Common Creative licensed or AI-generated).

Once you have a presentation in hand, you can add, remove, and change content at your convenience. You can also generate documents or landing pages and publish them online directly. I've used the landing page feature before to spin up a new content consulting offer, and Gamma did a great job.

I wish Gamma had a brand kit option like Canva does, where I could save and reuse common branding assets. But, it's a strong and well-stocked marketing presentation-building tool at $10-20 per seat per month.

Notion AI

I use Notion as a document repository and information management tool, but the company's built-in (paid) Notion AI feature has vastly improved over the past year. As projects grow in scope and scale, I end up with documents throughout my Notion database. Notion AI rounds up that information and transforms it into useful insights and actions.

If you want the most from Notion AI, plan your internal knowledge architecture intentionally. I've found the AI writer unremarkable. But when I need that solid quote I wrote eight months ago, Notion AI delivers. It's great for managing brand consistency across your team and finding the best insights and ideas from your data.

Get Notion AI added to your current Notion build for $10 per seat per month.

Canva Magic Studio

I've always liked Canva's image creation and manipulation tools to get the right look set for my brand assets, social media graphics, and blog and website images. So, when the company debuted the Canva Magic Studio, I eagerly hopped on board.

Magic Studio offers generative AI and AI-powered editing tools to prepare your pictures and video. You can create and manipulate images using text-based commands and create professional-looking results. It's a powerful design tool that's helped me shift creatively from words to visuals.

You can use Canva for free, but you won't have access to the best AI features until you upgrade to the Pro Plan at $15 per seat per month.

Designs AI

If you're looking for an all-in-one AI branding tool, Designs AI is a strong candidate. The free tools alone are interesting and helpful. For instance, AI Chat lets me access several LLMs to accomplish tasks.

The free plan is very limited, so I wouldn't integrate Designs AI without paying for it. But, the paid plan lets you work with images, logos, text, audio - whatever your branding needs require.

Designs AI offers a few plan choices, but the Pro Plan (at $69 per month) is likely the best choice for AI power users.

Copy.ai

Copy.ai is doing something interesting in the AI branding space. The company bills its service as the Go-to-Market (GTM) AI Platform. It includes multi-platform brand-specific content but extends across the entire buying experience.

Copy.ai is also leaning into workflow management and AI agenting, which I think are promising future additions to an AI-powered marketing team.

I've tried Copy.ai's free writing generators - and it's good work for a generic model. Once you integrate the platform into your system, you can get more specific content better attuned to your brand.

You can try a free plan, but the $49 Starter Plan really gets you up and running. If you're ready to lean into workflow support, go for the $249 Advanced Plan.

Durable

I'd first heard about Durable when I was building my consultancy's website. I ended up using another tool, but I enjoyed Durable's feature set - which has grown since last I looked.

Durable can help you build your websites, blogs, invoicing, and brand identity on one platform. I'm typically careful when a platform promises many options, but Durable impressed me with its reach and success so far.

At $15 per seat per month, you get everything you need to build and launch your web products. If you need extra help with invoicing, social media posts, or Google PPC campaigns, upgrade to the $25 Business Plan.

AutoDraw

I am a whiteboard fanatic. Drawing helps me communicate branding ideas with others when I can't find the words. But, my artistic abilities stop at stick figures. That's why I'm so drawn to AutoDraw.

AutoDraw uses AI to analyze your input (like a stick figure person), and it will select drawings most closely resembling your artwork. It's a sketchbook that automatically adjusts my drawings so I can communicate ideas for visual design faster without continually erasing my creations. For logo brainstorming or visual identity creation, it's a surprisingly useful tool.

AutoDraw is an AI experiment and is free to use.

Adobe Firefly

From a generative AI standpoint, Adobe Firefly does much of what other design tools can do but with more advanced options available. For instance, Firefly offers a 3D generative workspace, helping you quickly design "dimensional" brand graphics, packaging, and illustrations. That's a slick feature for retail or ecommerce brands.

Firefly creations also come with licenses for commercial use. With an enterprise-level focus, Adobe tools usually reflect those kinds of business considerations. And, as part of the Adobe Suite, Firefly integrates across all Adobe products.

You can use Firefly for free, but I wouldn't bother unless you're willing to pay. Individual licenses start at $9.99 per month (though be sure to read your Adobe contract's terms and conditions carefully for cancellation fees and penalties).

10Web

I host my company's website on 10Web - and that hosting piece is important. I can build, launch, and manage my site from one place, with no other hosting needs required. It's a complete feature set that makes sense for my small business needs.

I like 10Web's AI page creation tool; however, I've found it takes more hands-on tinkering than I sometimes want. However, once you build your site and give content to the tool, you'll generate more brand-accurate results.

Your costs will vary depending on website hosting needs, but spend in the $25-36 per month range to get smaller websites up and running.

Brandmark

I'm a big fan of upfront pricing models - let me make and buy a logo and tell me how much it costs. Couple it with AI's help, and you have a strong logo creation tool. Brandmark brings AI to logos, color palettes, and typography to help create a logo that screams you with a clear and affordable pricing structure.

You enter your company name and slogan and provide a few descriptive words and color choices. From there, Brandmark does its thing - I like the polished and professional look of each logo option.

You can edit your logo using an AI chat (like talking to a designer). And when you're ready, Brandmark can give you marketing mockups so you can see how your logo fits across your visual identity.

Logos start at $25, but you can buy your logo's commercial license and full brand kits for additional fees.

Backstroke

I've found better AI branding tools either need unique information from your company or run their operations using hyper-specific models. Backstroke deploys a specialized AI model trained on B2C ecommerce email marketing content, which leads to stronger email campaigns.

I've gotten to see it in action through email and SMS campaigns, and it brings excellent AI horsepower to an ecommerce program. While it's certainly not the most comprehensive tool available, I think it flourishes in its deep focus.

You'll need to demo the product live and kick off the sales cycle for pricing. But, Backstroke has a free subject line generator and trend identification tool you can try.

Looka

I like the AI image generation tool Looka provides for logo design. You can design some very nice logos, and you get results that are unique to the market.

Looka also offers a brand kit option: apply your logo to over 300 templates, from letterhead to social media profiles. It's an easy way to keep your brand's visual identity consistent across platforms and media.

Looka's pricing gets a little complicated, which is probably my biggest gripe with the platform. You can buy each logo for $20, but you don't get full ownership unless you buy the premium logo package for $65. And your brand kit is an annual subscription that runs $96 per year.

It's not a massive expense, but I don't like feeling limited in how I own and use my brand assets. That said, if a human brand designer is simply too far out of your price range, Looka is a fine alternative.

Shopify Logo Maker

As with most people, I like when "free" actually means free. Some AI brand asset development tools will give you previews that require a subscription to edit. Not so with Shopify's Logo Maker.

The Logo Maker does just that - making logos you can download and use anywhere. They're optimized for Shopify shops, but you can use the image on other sites or social media. You can also generate business names, slogans, and domain names for free (essential components for a Shopify presence.)

The app is free to use. Now, you're not getting the fanciest logos for free, but if you need to spin up a few brand assets or explore AI's usefulness, start here.

ChatGPT Custom GPTs

I still think people are sleeping on custom GPTs with ChatGPT, which can help you better manage your brand and create highly specific branded content. Within a custom GPT, you can write detailed instructions for your model's context window and include PDFs of branded copy. For example, I include PDFs of my consulting company's blog posts to help the GPT better represent my voice and tone across content types.

A custom GPT is great for content generation and repurposing. You get a lot of power at your fingertips for $20 per month.

Build the Best Business Brand with AI

Not every brand needs that GameCube-level memorability, but every brand needs distinctiveness and consistency. You can build and nurture such a brand using AI and human creativity to reach and win over your audiences.

The best marketing teams in 2025 won't just automate branding work. Instead, they'll figure out how to use AI as a strategic co-pilot while keeping people at the center - marketers and consumers alike. Begin with these tools and explore opportunities to put AI to work for you.

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Using AI to Get Your Business Branding Right - My Favorite Tips and Tools

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Branding is more than logos. Explore how AI can help you create emotional, consistent brand experiences with a human touch.

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How people think, feel, and behave in response to marketing.

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Improving how a website shows up in search engine results.

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Creating sites that are attractive, usable, and drive conversions.

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"The best arguments in the world won't change a single person's mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story."

- Writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Powers, Overstory.

Impactful marketing campaigns are just that - powerful stories. As marketers, we can learn from the most successful marketing campaign examples to deliver entertaining, touching, captivating, and memorable ads that resonate with customers and build brand reputation. Trailblazers in the marketing industry go beyond intelligent data analytics and cutting-edge technology and find ways to bring together insights in creative and imaginative ways.

The best marketers understand how to craft a campaign vision, build a strategy, develop striking visual and written content, analyze data, and measure success; marketers learn these skills and more in a Master of Arts in Communications. If you're passionate about brand storytelling, discover a few of the most successful marketing campaigns and how you can use similar strategies to improve your organization's marketing efforts.

Top 10 Successful Marketing Campaigns

One of the most iconic marketing campaign examples is Nike's "Just do it" campaign. Nike launched the campaign in 1988 and featured both professional and amateur athletes sharing their accomplishments and inspiring viewers to do the same. One of the first television advertisements for the campaign featured an 80-year-old marathoner named Walt Stack, a dedicated athlete who runs 17 miles every morning.

After the campaign went live, thousands of people submitted personal stories about times when they decided to take the leap and "just do it," from quitting their stagnant jobs to losing over a hundred pounds. The line became Nike's emblematic tagline and continues to represent the brand.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

Nike identified an emotional connection with its audience and connected meaningful stories to its core values, like motivation, inspiration, and healthy living. Nike's decision to integrate the company's value proposition with an emotionally-driven message made for a wildly successful marketing campaign.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Outline your value propositions and connect with your audience emotionally, so they feel aligned with your brand.

Related Course:

Marketers can pursue the COM 540 course titled Embracing the Brand: Branding, Strategy & Execution to learn how to build brands that people recognize, remember, and respect.

During Super Bowl LIII, Pepsi debuted a television advertisement that people would continue talking about. The "Is Pepsi OK?" commercial featured Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winner Steve Carell, Grammy Award-nominated artist Cardi B and Grammy Award-winner Lil Jon in a fun and playful skit. In the ad, a waiter asks a diner who orders a Coke, "Is Pepsi OK?" and Carell clarifies in his monologue that Pepsi is "More Than OK." This advertisement plays on the typical scenario when people would order a cola, and the waiter would assume Pepsi was not their top choice. The ad was coupled with the Pepsi-sponsored half-time show, a "Planet Pepsi" afterparty, limited-edition cans, and the Pepsi Rookie of the Year Award. The iconic brand leveraged America's most popular sporting event to start a conversation about why Pepsi is better than average.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

The key to the success of Pepsi's campaign was self-awareness. The marketers tapped into real scenarios their customers have at restaurants when they encounter their product. Every time a waiter asks a customer, "Is Pepsi OK?" the customer will inevitably link the statement to the overwhelmingly positive commercial and campaign message.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Figure out how your consumers perceive your brand and use it to your advantage in self-aware marketing campaigns.

Related Course:

The COM 540 Embracing the Brand: Branding, Strategy & Execution course also helps students understand brand perception and positively position existing and new brands for specific audiences.

Few campaigns have leveraged influencer marketing as effectively as the California Milk Processor Board's "Got Milk?" Campaign. In 1993, a focus group headed by a partner at the San Francisco-based advertising firm Goodby, Silverstein & Partners named Jon Steel asked respondents not to consume milk for a week before participating in the study. The study aimed to gather milk habits to help Steel pitch creative strategies to a new client, the California Milk Processor Board. The participants discussed how not consuming milk felt significant. How would they eat their cereal? What would they dip a cookie in? Why was life without milk so bland?

The concept "Got Milk?" revolved around the distress one feels when one runs out of milk. This seemingly simple concept was bolstered by celebrity and pop culture tie-ins. The ad featured for over two decades and ran around 70 commercials in California alone and approximately 350 milk mustache ads nationally in print and on TV. The campaign tapped into an era when celebrity influence was at an all-time high, and as a result, the ads were especially visible and influential.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

The "Got Milk?" campaign creators used consumer research, straightforward copywriting, and influencer marketing to create an impactful series of ads. Given that the client for the ad was the California Milk Processor Board, it made sense to feature Hollywood stars and celebrities. Soon, flaunting a milk mustache on a billboard became trendy.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Gather information from your consumers about what is trending in pop culture to develop relevant stories for the right audiences.

Related Course:

Courses such as COM 520 Embracing Research: Marketing Communications Research help marketers develop the skills to conduct research and data needed to inform current trends, target audience demographics, and more.
"Got Milk?" Ads Through the Years
People want to hear stories that matter, and Dove's "Real Beauty" Campaign delivered a poignant and authentic message that the beauty industry desperately needs. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was launched in 2004 by Unilever, aiming to build self-confidence in women and children. The initial campaign featured research and reported that only 2% of women consider themselves beautiful. The next phase featured a series of billboards starring real women in place of models. The campaign was well-received and expanded into other forms of media, promoting aging, diverse body types, and transparency around wigs, blemishes, and so-called "imperfections." The mission of the ads was to shine a spotlight on how harmful the beauty industry could be to young women and redefine beauty.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was celebrated because it used marketing to positively impact the cultural landscape, industry, and lives of consumers. The campaign continues to run today to dismantle the #BeautyBias and help "make beauty a source of confidence, not anxiety," This campaign is coupled with change initiatives like "The Dove Self-Esteem Project," which helps children redefine their definition of beauty.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Select a real issue that aligns with your organization's values and use marketing efforts to impact your community positively.

Related Course:

Courses such as COM 580 Embracing the Audience: Empathy & Ethics demonstrate how to combine social justice initiatives with a company's value proposition and objectives.

It's hard to forget a funny story. In this impactful marketing campaign example, Old Spice uses humor to draw in their audience and position their brand as the outstanding choice for male hygiene products. The original television commercial features a man and a 30-second monologue. In this clip, the actor Isaiah Mustafa, now known as "Old Spice Man," speaks to a female audience and says, "Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me. But if he stopped using lady scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he's me." He is smug, over-the-top, and straightforward in his delivery. The overall reception of the commercial was positive; the ad boosted brand awareness for Old Spice's selection of male grooming and hygiene products.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

The Old Spice Man commercial is fast, punchy, and humorous. The advertisement was theatrical and easy to recite over and over with friends. The commercial also plays with the idea of identity and insinuates a greater message that Old Spice allows its consumers to be closer to the type of man they want to be.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Don't just identify what your consumers want; identify who they want to be and build a brand persona that embodies this character. When used correctly, humor is linked to higher recall, making your ad and brand more memorable.

Related Course:

The COM 540 course called Embracing the Brand: Branding, Strategy & Execution teaches students how to align the appropriate tone and messaging to a marketing campaign based on each unique brand.

One hot summer, Coca-Cola rolled out its famous "Share a Coke" campaign across various channels in Australia, encouraging people to get together and share a Coca-Cola. It wasn't long before the movement expanded to the international level. The campaign printed different names across Coke bottles with the phrase, "Share a Coke with..." Although the ads ran across print ads, commercials, out-of-home bus wraps, and billboards, the most successful distribution platform was social media. Consumers bought their own branded Coke bottles and shared a picture of the names online. Consumers tried to find their names and find names for their friends and family members. The entire campaign hinged on personalization and connection.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

To develop the "Share a Coke" campaign Coca-Cola and the advertising agency Ogilvy teamed up to capitalize on the popular behaviors of their desired target generation; millennials and social sharing.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Conduct research to determine how your target market behaves online and deliver marketing to them in familiar ways on relevant channels.

Related Course:

The COM 520 Embracing Research: Marketing Communications Research course is designed to teach marketers how to conduct relevant consumer research and use data to personalize the customer journey.

Celebrity appearances continue to attract attention from viewers in Snickers' "You're not you when you're hungry" campaign. Snickers recruited everyone from Steve Buscemi to Betty White to act like everyday people, disturbed by their hunger and acting in unlikely ways in this unforgettable movement. The ads start with famous characters in unexpected settings, like Betty White being tackled on a football field, and end with the celebrity taking a bite of a Snickers bar and returning to their true form. The slogan, "You're not you when you're hungry," refers to the common human experience of becoming agitated and angry from hunger.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

This Snicker's campaign is effective because it uses comedy to highlight how their product, a quick and easy candy bar, is the perfect solution to a widely held problem of being "hangry." The brand identified a customer pain point and positioned Snickers as the sensible resolution.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Audiences respond well to clever ads that feel both surreal and relatable; partner with well-known influencers to create hard-hitting ads that can accomplish this.

Related Course:

Students can explore the use of social media influencers in the COM 640 Integrating Digital Media, Mobile & Emerging Technologies course.

The GoPro Awards campaign markets to content creators to submit their best GoPro videos, clips, and photos to have a chance at getting featured and paid. The campaign offers several opportunities to win, including the Photo of the Day Challenge, the Anything Awesome Challenge, and the Be a HERO Challenge. Each challenge taps into a different type of content creator, from the pro photographer to the philanthropist. The genius behind the GoPro campaign is that it encourages people to use the product and fosters a community around photography. After its continued success, the GoPro team recently celebrated the five years of the GoPro Awards.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

This inspirational photography contest succeeded in building a community, inspiring consumers, and advertising the highest capabilities of the GoPro product. In addition, as photographers compete to share the best possible photos and videos, the GoPro device is seen as a desirable tool for other content creators wishing to do the same.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Marketers can look to this marketing campaign example to inspire campaigns that successfully leverage customer experiences. Encourage user-generated content by providing incentives for consumers to use and share their personal experiences with your products or services.

Related Course:

Students can also learn how to leverage user-generated content across platforms in the COM 640 Integrating Digital Media, Mobile & Emerging Technologies course.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple launched the "Creativity Goes On" campaign. The commercial compiles individuals and families at home during the lockdowns using their Apple devices to shoot videos, take pictures, stream content, and engage in other creative pursuits. In Apple's own words: "We have always deeply believed in the power of creativity. Now, more than ever, we are inspired by people from all corners of the world who find new ways to share their creativity, ingenuity, humanity, and hope." The commercial is set with a moving piano soundtrack and demonstrates the simple joys people experienced while confined to their homes in a strange slice of time.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

In this successful marketing campaign example, Apple acted as a ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds of the pandemic. Apple also promoted positive AppleTV shows, like John Kransinki's special feature "Some Good News" and Oprah's live broadcasts, to lift up their audiences. As a result, Apple created an association with its brand as a genuine, uplifting, and caring presence during difficult times.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Breakthrough the noise in the market by approaching a widely discussed topic differently than your competitors.

Related Course:

Students can enroll in the course COM 590 Embracing Strategic Thinking: Marketing Strategy & Planning to learn how to effectively strategize marketing campaigns to stand out.

In times of divisiveness, Heineken went to great lengths to research and conducted its own case study about human differences, openness, and resolution. The beer company consulted with doctors and researchers to discover if people could become more open as a result of an interaction with another person; this was the beginning of the "Worlds Apart" campaign. Heineken partnered with The Human Library, an organization that challenges prejudice and stereotypes through conversations with real people and their personal stories around being transgender, living with a mental illness, navigating new environments as refugees, and more. This campaign did more than evoke an emotional response from its audience; it provided real resolutions between people with opposing worldviews.

What made this marketing campaign successful?

Entering divisive conversations can be challenging for organizations, especially regarding marketing initiatives. Heineken did the necessary research and used consulting from experts to approach sensitive topics such as feminism, transgender rights, and climate change. The campaign was moving because it highlighted very real issues in the public and geopolitical sphere. The campaign acted as more of a case study about human behavior than a commercial for a beer.

Key Takeaway for Marketers:

Don't be afraid to join conversations that matter. If you're unsure how to approach a sensitive topic, consult with experts and partner with third-party research teams and organizations to convey your message appropriately.

Related Course:

The COM 580 Embracing the Audience: Empathy & Ethics course demonstrates how to combine social justice initiatives with a company's value proposition to deliver a powerful message to audiences in a sensitive and respectful way.

Create a Powerful Marketing Campaign with a Master of Arts in Communication

Learn to use conceptual thinking to tell stories that consumers value. In a fast-evolving communications and marketing landscape, the online Master of Arts in Communication program at St. Bonaventure University will give you the necessary tools to create a campaign vision, craft a strategy, develop high-touch content for target audiences, analyze data, and measure success.

In our flexible, fully online program, you will choose one of two specializations - integrated marketing communication or content marketing - that best aligns with your career interests. Our alumni are among the most forward-thinking professionals in their fields, working at Fortune 500 companies and using their cutting-edge knowledge and creativity to create change. We are also one of just three schools offering ACEJMC-accredited online graduate programs.
Learn how to craft the next impactful marketing campaign with an online Master of Arts in Communication.

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The Ten Most Successful Marketing Campaigns of All Time

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Remember these? Read more about the top ten most successful marketing campaigns of all time, and learn how brand storytelling leaves an impact.

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Intro to Marketing - MPP, Mix, Target Market, AIDA

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Intro to Marketing - MPP, Marketing Mix, Target Market, AIDA

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Why a strong plan matters.

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Your weekly dose of finance news | The Finance Weekly

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Creating a marketing plan can often feel overwhelming. Whether you’re a CMO or a marketing operations manager, the challenge of making the most of your budget while hitting your targets is no small feat. But with the right framework, you can turn chaos into clarity and ensure every action contributes to your goals.What is a Marketing Plan?At its core, a marketing plan is a roadmap that outlines your marketing strategies and the steps you’ll take to achieve your business goals. It clarifies respo

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ToFu - MoFu - BoFu

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Level Up Your Content Marketing Funnel — Here’s How I Make the Right Content for Each Stage

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Build a content marketing funnel that provides value, builds trust, and guides customers toward choosing your product.

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AIDA model explained: Examples and tips for using this strategic marcomms planning model the real world

The AIDA model, tracing the customer journey through Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action, is perhaps the best-known marketing model amongst all the classic marketing models.

Many marketers find AIDA useful since we apply this model daily, whether consciously or subconsciously, when we're planning our marketing communications strategy.

What is the AIDA model?

The AIDA Model identifies cognitive stages an individual goes through during the buying process for a product or service. It's a purchasing funnel where buyers go to and fro at each stage, to support them in making the final purchase.

It's no longer a relationship purely between the buyer and the company since social media has extended it to achieving the different goals of AIDA via information added by other customers via social networks and communities.

What does AIDA stand for?

Awareness: creating brand awareness or affiliation with your product or service.

Interest: generating interest in the benefits of your product or service, and sufficient interest to encourage the buyer to start to research further.

Desire: for your product or service through an 'emotional connection', showing your brand personality. Move the consumer from 'liking' it to 'wanting it'.

Action: CTA - Move the buyer to interact with your company and taking the next step ie. downloading a brochure, making the phone call, joining your newsletter, or engaging in live chat, etc.

Retention: We all know that this is key to upsell, cross-sell, referrals, Advocacy and the list goes on.. as companies are also focussing on LTV.

The additional "R" is sometimes added by some Marketers to show the importance of ongoing relationship-building to give the AIDAR model. This is similar to the 'engage' aspect of our RACE funnel.

How to use the AIDA model

So how can AIDA be applied to marketing planning?

The AIDA funnel could be referred to as a communications model rather than a decision-making model. Companies use AIDA to identify how and when to communicate during each of stage of their customer journey. Consumers will be using different platforms, engaging at different touchpoints, and requiring different information throughout the stages from various sources.

So using this to help plan your tailored and targeted communication campaign may be a start.

Ask yourself some key questions throughout the stages:

Awareness: How do we make buyers aware of our products or services? What is our outreach strategy? What is our brand awareness campaign? Which tools or platforms do we use? What should the messages be?

Interest: How will we gain their interest? What is our content strategy? Social proof available to back up our reputation? How do we make this information available and where ? ie. on website, via videos, customer ratings,

Desire: What makes our product or service desirable? How do we interact personally to make an emotional connection? Online chat? Immediate response to Twitter feed? Share tips and advice?

Action: What are the call to actions and where do we place them? Is it easy for consumers to connect and where would they expect to find it? Think about which marketing channel/platform you are using and how to engage ie. across emails, website, landing pages, inbound phone calls etc.

Retention: What is the proposition to retain loyalty? At what stage do we encourage this on-line and off-line, and how?

An example of the AIDA model

Here is a case study from our Marketing Models Guide showing how an award-winning hairdressing company, Francesco Group used the model to launch their new salon.

1. Awareness: Ran a PR campaign four months prior to launch, promoting award, stylists, qualifications etc. and was reinforced through a DM campaign to targeted customer groups.

2. Interest: Executed a direct mail campaign to offer a free consultation or hair cut and finish. They used research to support that this would work, as females are loyal if the offer is compelling.

3. Desire: Close to the opening of the new salon, they ran exclusive local launch events which was advertised through local press and social media. This created a local buzz for 'people wanting an invite' and excited to see the new salon.

4. Action: Clear CTAS were positioned on the Facebook site (call to reserve), the website (call to book) and local advertising (call in to receive discount or the offer.

The case study didn't highlight Retention, though there are many ways to increase loyalty around sign up to mailing lists or social platforms which offer news about offers and events, discounts on product ranges, discounts according to the frequency of visit, etc.

Structure your marketing plan around a funnel proven to boost performance. Join Smart Insights as a Free Member for instant access to our free digital marketing plan template to hone your skills and drive the results you need.

The Original Reference Source

Some say the AIDA model has been used for over three centuries. More details on the AIDA model history are available on Wikipedia.

Lewis, E. St. Elmo. (1899) Side Talks about Advertising. The Western Druggist. (21 February). p. 66. ￼￼Lewis, E. St. Elmo.

(1903) Advertising Department. The Book-Keeper. (15 February).

p. 124. Lewis, E. St. Elmo. (1908) Financial Advertising, Indianapolis: Levey Bros. & Company.

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The AIDA model and how to apply it in the real world - examples and tips

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Examples and tips for using the AIDA model in the real world. Perhaps the best-known marketing model, but how do you apply it in day life?

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Engaging and effective social media

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Article updated: May 13, 2025

You already know that it's important to have a social media presence with fresh, engaging content. And you know that effective social content can drive traffic to your site and convert visitors into paying customers. Hootsuite can help with scheduling, publishing, and managing activity on your content. But if you're unsure exactly what to publish, you're not alone.

This article is your ultimate guide to demystifying social media marketing. You'll find everything you need to help you develop a successful content strategy-from the components of a great post, to ideas for engaging content, to social network-specific guidelines. You can read this article in any order. Just select a topic that interests you to find exactly what you're looking for.

Know your post anatomy

There are posts, and then there are effective posts. To publish truly effective social media content, you need to understand the specific purpose and value of each element of a post.

Here's a sample post showing the following key elements, built right in Hootsuite:

Caption: Describe your visual, or draw attention with a statement, question, or headline. Research shows that an average of 150 characters, or about 15 words, gets the most clicks.

Emoji: Include relevant emoji to add tone and visual interest.

Call to action: Ask a question to encourage comments, or share a link to invite your audience to learn more, try, or buy.

Mentions: Mention other accounts (yours or others) for added visibility and reach.

Hashtags: Add topical and relevant keywords for added reach. For hashtag recommendations for each social network, see Know your networks.

Images or videos: Include one or more (depending on the social network) compelling, high-quality photos, GIFs, or video clips, tailored to your brand and the tastes of your audience.

You'll find details and best practices for each of these elements, in the next section of this article.

Build the perfect post

There's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all post, so we've collected some proven best practices to help you achieve your social media goals. Here, we drill down into the post elements mentioned in Know your post anatomy to help you grow and engage your audience and avoid social media stagnation.

Captions and headlines

You have the choice of using a short headline, a longer caption, or both. A secondary headline is great if you want to quickly provide more information about your content in a small amount of space.

Special characters and emoji

Special characters and emoji can add interest, attract the eye, and make your brand more relatable. Recent data shows that adding emoji can significantly increase audience engagement. Just be careful not to overdo it! Every emoji should have a purpose.

Besides conveying emotion and giving your brand more personality, emoji can be used as simple engagement tools. For example, you can add emoji to separate blocks of text, making it easier to read and skim. You can also use emoji to gather votes from your audience; for example, ask them to leave a thumbs up if they agree or a thumbs down if they don't.

If using emoji feels too risky, here are some basic symbols that can go a long way:

An arrow or pointing finger can draw a reader's attention to a link you want them to select.

Stars or starbursts can make text pop or convey excitement or celebration.

Check marks can convey a sense of action or verification, while symbols with color associations can emphasize a point.

Calls to action

Try to begin or end your posts with a clear call to action. For example, on Facebook, you might announce the opening of a new location and encourage people to comment on the post for a reward redeemable at that location. On X, you could simply ask for reposts. At the very least, include a link to your website, an article, or other site.

Mentions

Mentioning other businesses, organizations, contributors, and influencers in social media posts is fundamental to social networking. Promote or thank a partner or supporter of your brand to increase mutual exposure and encourage the other party to reshare your post, or reciprocate with their own. Interactions on these posts (likes, comments, and shares) can quickly increase engagement and even affect algorithms that can help push your content to the top of users' feeds.

To mention others when crafting a post in Hootsuite, just type the @ symbol followed by their username or handle.

Hashtags

Hashtags are words or phrases combined together and preceded by the # symbol. You can use them to identify content, brands, themes, trends, and campaigns. They're immediately searchable on social media as soon as you publish, so they can help make your post more discoverable and pull your brand into trending topics.

Hashtags are clickable, and anyone who selects a hashtag or conducts a hashtag search on a social network sees a page showing all the posts that contain that hashtag.

Here are some of the most common types of hashtags.

Campaign or brand event

#MakeoverMySocial, #Digital2021

Product or service

#handbag, #divebar

Niche

#foodblogger, #weddingphotographer

Industry, group, or community

#craftersofinstagram, #LGBTQ

Event, holiday, or season

#nationalicecreamday, #blackfriday

Location

#vancouvercraftbeer, #LAcounty

Daily

#MondayBlues, #SundayFunday

Social responsibility

#savetheplanet, #sustainability

Visuals

Social media is inherently visual, and visual content provides a critical engagement boost. Statistically, visual posts get consistently more clicks, shares, and comments than posts with text only.

Try using a mixture of photos, images with text overlay, and videos to enhance the value and visual appeal of your posts. You don't need to add a visual element to every post, but pay attention to how images affect audience engagement and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Curate and re-purpose existing content

You don't have to create all your social content from scratch! Your organization and your entire social media community are excellent content resources. Evaluating your organization's own content as well as media from respected external sources can uncover valuable assets. You can then re-purpose or reshare these assets to help keep your audience engaged with your own brand.

External content

Sharing external posts is an excellent way to provide additional valuable content to your audiences, build trust as an involved and knowledgeable member of your industry, and help fill gaps in your content calendar.

Hootsuite Apps are a great way to get started curating external content. Hootsuite offers a variety of partner integrations that allow you to install and use content curation apps, right in Hootsuite. Browse or search in Hootsuite Apps to find apps that you already use or that could work for you.

Internal content

Your own organization can be a trove of content that can add value on your social channels. For example, how-tos, blog articles, press releases, printed materials, marketing presentations, and promotions all have the potential to be repurposed as social posts.

Consider breaking long pieces of content, such as brochures, into bite-sized posts. Turn a detailed blog article into a Top 10 list. Or, reuse parts of a how-to article in the form of a Tips and Tricks post. Track the performance of this reused content to help you better understand your audience and fine-tune future content to meet their needs and interests.

Know your networks

People use different social networks to accomplish different goals, and their behavior can vary significantly among social platforms. By understanding how people use each social media platform, you can adapt your strategy to suit their needs and reach more customers.

In this section, you'll learn about the audience profile for each of the most popular social networks, the type of content that keeps them engaged on those platforms, and some specific best practices for each network.

Of course, you don't need to use all the social networks. A little research into which social networks your audience prefers can help you target your efforts and save valuable time.

For detailed guidance on how often to publish for each network, see How Often to Post to Social Media.

But WHAT should I publish?

Variety is key to keeping your audience interested and engaged. Different post types can achieve different goals, so we recommend planning content according to four content pillars: educate, entertain, inspire, and promote.

Educate

Educational content should spark curiosity and help readers gain knowledge. Examples of this format include tips, FAQs, Top 10 lists (use any number), and Did you know? questions. This content can be about your brand or just relevant to your brand and your audience.

Entertain

Entertaining content should be intriguing to your audience, as well as quick and punchy. "Entertaining" doesn't mean you have to be funny (although humor is a great technique when done well). Examples of entertaining content include unusual stories, behind-the-scenes perspectives, and before-and-after posts.

Inspire

Inspiring content should be especially positive or memorable. It should have an emotional impact and drive a user's desire to take action or alter their perspective. Examples include people-focused stories, and stories about social responsibility or community involvement.

Promote

Promotional content is about encouraging your audience to take the next step. Be sure to tell people what you want them to do with a call to action. Examples include shop now, enter our contest, see the link in our bio, and leave a comment.

When you know what your content should do, you can begin planning what and when to publish. Use the four content pillars to mix up your content and ensure variety while maintaining your brand voice and facilitating engagement.

To learn how to visualize, share, and manage a calendar of balanced social content in Hootsuite, see Manage your content calendar. For a handy content planning template, download Hootsuite's free Social Media Content Calendar.

The content possibilities are endless, but you can use the following list as a starting point for your own content brainstorming. See example and more ideas in Creative Social Media Content Ideas You Should Try.

Publish at the "right" time

Questions about what and where to publish are usually followed by, " When should I publish?" The answer is complicated because audiences and algorithms vary among social networks and industries. Fortunately, Hootsuite Analytics can take much of the guesswork out of your strategy.

The Best times to publish view in Analytics uses your previous 30 days' posts to provide suggestions for the best times to publish. These suggestions are based on your goals, such as brand awareness, engagement, or traffic. You'll get suggestions for publishing to your Facebook Pages, X accounts, Instagram Business accounts, LinkedIn Pages, and LinkedIn profiles. Learn more at Discover the best times to post.

To learn about publishing on each social network and fine-tune your timing strategy, read The Best Time to Post on Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn and When Is the Best Time to Post on TikTok?

When your timing strategy is established, consider developing a content calendar to plan and stay organized. Then, use Hootsuite to help you schedule your posts. To learn more, see:

Training and certification

Learn advanced skills-and get certified-by signing up for a Hootsuite Academy course in social marketing, social advertising, or advanced social media strategy:

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Create engaging and effective social media content

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Article updated: May 13, 2025 Create engaging and effective social media content You already know that it's important to have a social media presence with fresh, engaging content. And you know th...

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SEO & Data Analytics + Project Presentations