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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

We asked our resident data geek for her favorite free data visualization tools. These tools are becoming more and more important to understand how PR and social campaigns are performing, uncover opportunities for improvement, and as always, prove to executives that PR works.

As businesses and organizations have become more focused on data, the importance of tracking, measuring, and analyzing every interaction has moved to the forefront. This has allowed users to glean more from their daily transactions; however, an overabundance of data can be a liability if it isn’t harnessed or utilized correctly.

In response, the market has been flooded with data visualization software and tools. These tools allow organizations to illustrate ideas and data as well as share significant analytics with shareholders, customers, and the broader global community.

Data visualization is an integral part of any analytics strategy, and there are many powerful tools with wide-ranging capabilities in how they visualize and direct data. To cut through the clutter, I’ve assembled a list of free and easy-to-use data visualization tools that will help transform your data.

Open Refine is a free open-source tool that helps you easily explore large data sets, clean and transform data, and reconcile and match data. Transforming data is typically a painstaking process, so if you find yourself with messy, mismatched data in need of some assistance, check out Open Refine.

Google Refine 2.0 - Introduction (1 of 3) (video version 2)

Charted is a tool that aims to transform your data into visualization in as few steps as possible. It automatically creates data visualizations by using linked files and turning them into sleek, shareable charts. Focusing purely on visualizations, Charted is perfect for datasets that look good in simple line or stacked column charts. While Charted does not store or manipulate any data, it does refresh every 30 minutes so your charts are always up-to-date.

WebDataRocks is a web pivot table that provides data analysis and visualization by integrating and analyzing complex data. Wrapped in a modern UI, the pivot table quickly aggregates data and shows real time insights. After uploading a CSV or JSON file, users can instantly see, understand, and interact with their data thanks to user-friendly drag and drop fields, sorting, and filtering.

Information is Beautiful is a curated library of pre-built visualizations. The visualizations, based on facts and data, are constantly updated, revised, and rotated to reflect accuracy and the current climate. Information is Beautiful’s mission is to help the public make more informed decisions and as a result, everything is downloadable. These visualizations are an easy way to add striking and informative visuals to in-house presentations. Make sure to check out their licensing agreements though, because while they give free access to individuals, they do charge for commercial uses.

Google Charts is an easy-to-use online application that enables users to visually display data on their website. Using a simple JavaScript embedded on the web page, users have complete control over the look and feel of their data. Charts are highly customizable and can be anywhere from simple plots to exceedingly hierarchical treemaps—they can even be bolstered with interactive elements such as animations. There’s an extensive library of examples to gain inspiration, so it’s exceedingly easy to get started.

BONUS: Data Visualization Designed for PR and Comms Professionals

Of course, here at Meltwater, we’ve been busy with some data visualization of our own. Our current favorite is the Meltwater Insight Reports Builder within the Meltwater Suite which enables comms pros to crate slick reports in just a few clicks based on brand and competitor searches. Looking to streamline your reporting, visualizations, and competitive intelligence?

Top 5 Data Visualization Tools — And They’re Free

Knowing the competitive landscape of your business is invaluable. The same is true for the social media management tools you use. Whether you're a current Tailwind user or have it on your list of possible solutions, knowing what options are available is the first step to finding the best platform for your needs. Read on to learn more about the top Tailwind alternatives and how they approach the demands of modern social media marketing. 

The Best Alternative to Tailwind: Meltwater

Tailwind is a social media management software that enables users to create, schedule, and publish content to their social media accounts. Currently, Tailwind supports three social media channels: Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. (However, Tailwind's mobile app only supports Instagram.) It also has a Google Analytics integration that lets users track ROI, UTMs, and social media metrics.

The following companies are Tailwind competitors:

Read on to learn more about their pros, cons, and key features.

Our all-in-one social media management and intelligence solutions are the top alternative to Tailwind. Our software enables users to not only create and publish social media content, but also to optimize them with real-time analytics features on a platform that integrates easily with our other marketing solutions. 

Tailwind supports three social networks, but Engage, our social media engagement platform, supports five:

It also integrates seamlessly with Explore, our social listening platform that monitors across numerous social networks (including popular Asian platforms), as well as forums, blogs, comment sections, news, and other data sources.

With these robust features, social media managers and businesses don't have to create their social media strategies from guesses. Our integrated social analytics and engagement features enable users to make data-driven marketing decisions.

Meltwater's Social Media Management Solution

Speaking of data, our platform dashboards feature visual analytics charts that show users critical metrics fast. Some Tailwind users complain that its dashboards show too much information that they don't need and that some of its reporting features are only available to users on certain tiers. Meltwater reporting is customizable, comprehensive, and accurate, making it easier to communicate results to multiple team members and stakeholders. 

Businesses looking to expand social media marketing efforts at any level are also well-served by our all-in-one solutions. From consumer insights to influencer marketing, we're poised to take advantage of whatever marketing possibilities evolve from social media next.

Finally, our customer service excellent. From thorough product training to ongoing, responsive customer support, we pride ourselves on staying step-in-step with our users.

Interested in learning more about our social solutions? Fill out the form below to get a free demo today.

Meltwater is the top Tailwind alternative, but here are how some other options match up.

Crowdfire is a Tailwind alternative that helps users create, publish, and analyze the performance of social media marketing content. It currently supports publishing content on multiple social media platforms, including X (Twitter), Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Crowdfire and Tailwind are neck and neck when it comes to most features. But with more supported social profiles, Crowdfire comes out ahead for social media marketing and management.

eClincher is a social media management platform that helps users manage accounts across different social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter). 

From sentiment analysis to customizable reports, eClincher has more analytical capabilities than Tailwind that strategic social media managers will find useful.

Hootsuite is one of the more well-known alternatives to Tailwind, featuring social media publishing, listening, and analytic features.

Did you know that there are also alternatives to Hootsuite?

Marketers focused almost exclusively on Instagram and Pinterest will appreciate Tailwind's many content suggestions and scheduler tools geared to those two platforms. On the other hand, Hootsuite supports social accounts on more networks, includes more cross-platform integrations, and offers more in-depth analytics. Because of those capabilities, Hootsuite is the more fitting Tailwind alternative for businesses with social profiles on more than a few platforms.

Loomly is a Tailwind alternative with publishing- and workflow-focused social media management tools. Its main features include a post scheduler and multiple content calendars integrated into one dashboard.

Tailwind is very user-friendly for Instagram and Pinterest, but outside of those social media networks, some businesses may find it lacking. Data-driven marketers appreciate Loomly's wide analytic capabilities, like paid campaign tracking and customizable reports.

Sendible is a social media management platform that helps marketers take control of multiple social accounts at once. It also features some collaborative tools for teams, like workflow approvals.

Sendible supports more social media platforms than Tailwind — including LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and YouTube. It also boasts more integrations, such as Slack and X (Twitter). And though Tailwind offers influencer tracking and an API, Sendible's mobile alerts and competitive analysis tools make it a competitive social media marketing software.

Sprout Social is a popular alternative to Tailwind that has some social listening and team collaboration features.

According to online reviews, users like that both platforms are easy to use. However, with capabilities that Tailwind is missing, like follower analysis, social reporting, and influencer identification, Sprout Social is a more comprehensive software.

Tip: Take a look at other Sprout Social alternatives.

Last on our list of alternatives to Tailwind is SocialPilot, a scheduler that connects with social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks.

When it comes to managing and analyzing social media, Tailwind and SocialPilot have many of the same features. Their main differentiator is support. Reviewers on G2 praise SocialPilot's responsive customer support. Strong software support is a boon to any social media strategy, giving SocialPilot an edge over Tailwind. 

Tailwind is a social media scheduler that works for many, but not all. Learn more about what Meltwater, the top alternative to Tailwind, can do for you by scheduling a demo today. 

The Best Tailwind Alternatives 2025

Retail’s ever-changing landscape moves at a fast pace. For retailers to stay relevant and continue serving up the best products, services, and experiences, they need to take an always-on approach to learning. That’s where the best retail podcasts come in handy — listen and learn a little each day to stay tuned into the industry.

Podcasts typically feature experts and thought leaders who give you direct insights into their strategies. And since these podcasts cover all things retail, you won’t have to waste precious time searching the internet for the latest news and trends. 

Add these 13 best retail podcasts to your playlist and turn your morning commute into a rich learning experience:

This podcast covers a wide range of retail-related topics, including trends, strategies, and industry news.

There’s a new episode every week, with each episode lasting about 35-45 minutes.

Previous guests have come from big names in retail, including CBRE, EY Global, and Deloitte. Expect tips and expert insights on things like the state of commercial real estate for retail, ad spending, expansion planning, holiday outlooks, and DE&I.

With 100+ episodes to date, the Retail Exchange podcast gives retailers plenty of food for thought.

Guests come from recognizable names and brands, including IKEA, Hollister, and Estee Lauder, to name a few.

This retail podcast also covers some of the hottest events and conventions in retail, such as Shoptalk Europe and Retail Week Live. Episodes can be anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour, but expect each one to have clear takeaways on things like data, automation, branding, and retail transformation.

This weekly show (hosted by Digiday) explores the changing dynamics of the retail industry, featuring interviews with retail executives and experts who share insights and strategies for success.

You’ll hear from executives and leaders from companies that have become household names, including Hanna Andersson, True Classic, and Bark. Interviews shine a spotlight on up-and-coming brands like athleticwear brand Legends or Collars & Co. The show also offers succinct rundowns on current headlines in the retail industry, such as the implications and opportunities of Bed, Bath, and Beyond’s closures or Nike’s rekindled relationships with wholesale partners like DSW. 

The Retail Gets Real podcast is hosted by none other than thinktank National Retail Federation.

This weekly show discusses the impact that retail has on modern consumers and recruits executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs to share their stories. Recent episodes have covered the rise of AI in retail, making the shift from digital to brick-and-mortar, and the state of the supply chain.

Episodes tend to be on the shorter side (about 15 to 30 minutes each), giving you a to-the-point, behind-the-scenes look at the latest trends and innovations.

Listen to the Retail Gets Real podcast on

With more than 400 episodes and counting, Total Retail Talks remains one of the longest-running retail podcasts of its kind.

Made with the retail executive in mind, each episode features a popular retailer and breaks down its strategies, innovations, and problem-solving approaches.

Episodes are usually under 30 minutes, and bite-sized takeaways help listeners put these strategies and insights into perspective. Past topics have focused on sustainability, diversity and inclusion, omnichannel growth, member experiences, and slow fashion.

Listen to the Total Retail Talks podcast on

Rethink Retail conducts research on the retail industry, so it’s no surprise the brand’s podcast is one of the best retail business podcasts to date.

Adding expert interviews to the mix is the cherry on top, giving listeners direct insight into what CEOs and experts are thinking and doing to make a lasting impact.

Previous guests have come from brands like Hanes, Casper, eBay, Microsoft, and Adidas. New episodes drop multiple times per week and are short and to the point.

In today’s competitive retail environment, eCommerce is a must-have.

That’s why the Jason and Scot Show is a must-listen in terms of retail business podcasts.

This monthly show offers an extensive recap of the top trends in eCommerce, from the quarterly earnings of online monoliths like Amazon and Walmart to new product launches and technologies like AI.

There are more than 300 episodes to mine for nuggets of wisdom.

Tip: Learn more about social commerce and download our ultimate social commerce guide to add to your common eCommerce strategy. We also have a list of the best eCommerce podcasts and the best Shopify podcasts for you.

Host Deborah Weinswig of Coresight Research explores the far-reaching corners of the retail landscape, showing the breadth and depth of the key issues faced by retailers of all shapes and sizes.

Topics like the future of loss prevention, generative AI, retail media, customer data platforms, and event review highlights like Shoptalk have made their way into the show.

Deborah includes a retail leader on every episode to gain a deeper perspective on retail trends and how they might impact retailers now and in the future.

Tip: Learn How Generative AI will transform Marketing in APAC.

From content creation for direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands to creating user experiences to reach your ideal customer, this podcast series covers it all.

Focused solely on top trends for driving sales, this Retail Leader offers rich insights and takeaways. Retail business owners of all sorts and sizes can learn something from these monthly episodes. 

Listen to the Retail Leader Trend Talk on

This retail technology podcast comes from Retail Touchpoints, a leader in retail research and industry trends.

Each weekly episode centers on ways brands can create new user experiences that stand out, particularly in using technology to improve the shopping experience.

Topics range from in-store merchandising, AI-driven technology, the creator economy, and marketing strategies. Expect in-depth conversations about challenges and trends affecting retailers of all natures.

Tip: Check out our Retail Customer Experience Guide

Host Oliver Banks sees the retail industry being turned on its head every day and shares transformation tactics to help business owners stay ahead.

The 13 Best Retail Podcasts 2025

A strong marketing strategy is key for maximizing ROI and encouraging positive growth. Set your marketing team up for success with our tips on crafting a strategy using vital customer acquisition and growth channels.

What Are the Different Kinds of Marketing Channels?

Broadly speaking, a "marketing strategy" can be defined as follows: a business’s plan for getting in front of potential users and turning them into purchasers. 

Depending on if your business is more transactional or relationship-focused, a marketing strategy oversees all the ways to encourage repeat website visits and purchases. Your strategy and goals are executed through a marketing plan, which breaks down the day-to-day structure for putting your ideas into action.

To get started, establish a strong foundation by looking closely at how you're benchmarking against the previous years. 

This will help you establish the specific marketing goals and KPIs you want to achieve.

A marketing plan takes your marketing strategy and goes into more detail about how it will be executed. Marketing plans are usually channel and campaign-specific. 

Your marketing plan is your roadmap for executing the strategy and achieving the marketing goals of the campaign. It should have a date-based timeline, giving you plenty of buffer space for gathering assets and planning the launch. 

The strategic marketing channels we discuss below each have their own complexities. This means that your marketing plan needs to include what each one is responsible for. 

For example, say your company is planning a major product launch. Perhaps you want to schedule several teasers on social media leading up to the launch. You'll need promotional copy and imagery prepped. 

Where are you linking to? A landing page or blog page on your website? Well, this means you need a content writer and possibly a web developer to help. You'll might also want to announce the launch to your email lists. Maybe once the product is on the market, you want to work with a group of influencers to promote it to their audience. 

This all leads to a lot of cats to heard and staying organized is key. So having a carefully laid out social media marketing plan, content marketing plan, email marketing plan, and influencer marketing plan is essential. These should all strictly agree with each other so that all team members are on the same page and not stepping on toes (or missing opportunities).

Promotional materials needed, including press releases, social copy, and content

While there is no perfect template for the best marketing plan — and it should be specific to your brand — here are some top tips for success:

Set up a campaign calendar. Identify the marketing campaigns you want to do throughout the year. Check out our blog about how to create a social media content calendar for ideas!

Apply dates to deliverables. When you have a timeline associated with each component of a marketing campaign, it helps everyone stay on the same page.

Apply reasonable budgets. Make sure you’re allocating marketing funds where they are most needed to achieve the goals you set for this year. Think creatively about places you can save.

There are many factors that contribute to your business's success, and a successful marketing strategy is one of them! Here are a few key tips for creating a strategy that will have an impact and drive conversions.

First and foremost, you’ll want to assess your performance from the previous year. Highlight the bright spots and the areas that could use improvement. 

Data-driven decisions are important. But it can be very easy to get pulled into the weeds of looking at every single type of marketing metric — especially for data nerds. 

It’s crucial to make sure you're pulling the most relevant metrics that tell the important stories for your team to start planning. 

Recommended metrics for marketing teams include:

Conversion rates at key points in your consumer acquisition funnel 

It’s also recommended to run a SWOT analysis. Create a table to visualize your brand’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Any marketing strategy should begin with a solid understanding of your audience. If you haven't already, start building marketing personas and audience segments so you can more accurately and effectively structure your marketing priorities and hone the tactics you use to engage existing and potential customers.

Remember to go beyond basic demographic information. Marketing has grown in sophistication as has our understanding of our customer's needs. After doing some audience research you may learn about new markets you could be reaching based on their hobbies, interests, and priorities. 

It's also worthwhile to think beyond the "typical" or "expected" audience and challenge your assumptions. 

For example, if you're a company that makes baby products, consider single dads, brothers, sons, and other adjacent communities that may also have a need for your products; rather than marketing strictly to women and mothers. In many instances, marketers can drive barrier-breaking conversations forward — so use your marketing powers for good!

Tip: Read the Marketers Guide to Unified Reporting

Use this year to take another look at your customer journey. Given that much of the world now works from home, at least part time, our schedules, priorities, and routines might be different than when you first mapped your customer journey. 

Users could be be online at different times, meaning the right moment to reach out for the highest conversions will be different than before. 

Even if they’re not ready to purchase, you should have touch-points in place to keep them coming back. And when they are ready to buy, the purchase flow and CTAs should be straightforward. You don't want to make it confusing for someone to complete their checkout. This is especially important for social commerce and in-app purchase flows.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again. Goals and KPIs are the bread-and-butter of marketing, or really any business initiative. They are what help your marketing strategy take shape. 

Without goals, you end up just charging ahead aimlessly. 

Without KPIs, you won't know how success is measured and who is responsible for achieving a certain metric.  

So, taking what you learned from last year, it’s now time to identify any new objectives, and the KPIs you want to connect to them for measuring success.

Tip: Keep it reasonable, and be honest! We want ambitious but achievable benchmarks for successful marketing campaigns. Don’t apply an impossible KPI to an impossible goal, but don’t go too easy either. Strike a balance so you don't burn out your resources or cheat yourself out of potential growth.

Lastly, assess the channels you're currently using to see where you should focus your efforts to achieving your marketing goals. Start where you already have a presence, but also create a list of channels where you'd like to get more established. 

Perhaps you're ready to launch a TikTok account, or start a YouTube channel, or maybe you now have a bigger budget to add more digital advertising into your marketing mix.

While you may be spending more time and energy on one channel over the other, it's definitely good practice to make sure you're covered in all the major areas of the PESO marketing model: Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned.

We'll go into all the different channels for marketing below, but here's a quick overview:

Paid: advertising, paid search, paid social, purchased blog articles, or purchased spots in an email blast.

Earned: word-of-mouth, UGC, guest blog posts, reviews and comments.

Shared: closely related to Earned, shared media is any content that is shared in the media by other brands, companies, or individuals.

Owned: blogs published on your website, social posts on your channels, your own email marketing efforts, or gated content created by your team.

There’s almost no point in setting up a rockin' marketing strategy if you are operating in a void. You need to keep tabs on what your competitors are doing, how successful they are in their marketing and PR strategy, and what their followers are saying so you can measure yourself against them accordingly.

Tip: Take a look at our competitor benchmarking blog and use a competitive analysis tool like the Meltwater media intelligence solution to automate this process.

There are several different ways you can use marketing to promote your business. Which ones you focus on depends largely on your specific goals, but it is recommended to use more than one channel in order to maximize ROI for your marketing team. 

To be successful, a comprehensive marketing strategy typically involves a combination of marketing methods, including email, social media, and digital advertising. For true success, no matter how large or small your team, the marketing efforts from each of these areas should work closely together.

As a savvy marketer, your job is to stay on top of the tried and true channels while identifying interesting opportunities to reach new audiences and micro-communities, which social media is well suited for.

The Meltwater Blog

Top 5 Data Visualization Tools — And They’re Free

The Best Tailwind Alternatives 2025

The 13 Best Retail Podcasts 2025

How to Create a Successful Marketing Strategy in 2025

Repurposing Content: Definition, Software, Examples

YouTube SEO Tips: How to Optimize Your Videos for Search

What Is Meta Threads and How Can You Use It for Your Business?

The Most Innovative Social Media Content Ideas 2025

Top Australian (Instagram) Influencers [2025]

The Best PR Tools and Apps for PR Professionals

How Will Leading Agencies Use Meltwater In 2024?

Understanding Sentiment Analysis: A Complete Guide