45+ Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses (2026)

You’ve started a business and it’s time to promote it, but you feel stuck. You’re not alone: marketing is the top challenge for small businesses. The 2025 Shopify Merchant Survey revealed that for 37% of established merchants, marketing is the biggest year-one hurdle, along with finding customers (36%).*

The marketing ideas below address both, and you can pick what best fits your budget, goals, and timeline.

What are marketing tactics?

Marketing tactics are specific, actionable steps you take to execute your marketing strategy. While your marketing strategy is the overall plan, tactics are the individual actions. Examples include posting on social media, optimizing web content for organic searches, or running email campaigns that help you reach your marketing objectives and grow your business.

Before you begin: define your marketing objectives

Before diving into tactics, set clear marketing objectives. They’ll help you prioritize your efforts and provide insight into whether they’re working. Drive your marketing actions using these objectives as targets.

As part of your marketing plan, outline objectives based on the SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-based) methodology. For example, your objectives might be to increase sales by 20% by the end of the year, or to hit targets for mentions, reach, and engagement to improve brand awareness. 

To prioritize the right tactics for your business right now, consider these three key factors:

• Business stage. Are you launching, growing, or scaling? New businesses often benefit from organic tactics like partnerships and social media, while established businesses may see better returns from paid digital advertising.
• Budget. What resources do you have available? Many effective tactics require time rather than money, making them accessible to businesses at any stage.
• Timeline. How quickly do you need results? Some tactics like search engine optimization (SEO) build momentum over time, while others like social media contests can generate immediate engagement.

What works depends on where you are: Shopify merchants earning less than $100,000 find social media organic and expanding product offerings most effective, while merchants making $1 million or more report paid advertising as their top growth driver (31%).

Proven and creative small business marketing ideas

1. Partner with other small businesses
2. Collect customer feedback
3. Give quirky product recommendations
4. Enter to win business awards
5. Sell mystery boxes
6. Optimize your website for SEO
7. Sell themed gift cards
8. Create a memorable visual identity
9. Design branded business cards and collateral

These tried-and-true tactics combine creative approaches with proven results. Measure the results of these marketing efforts by tracking:

• Traffic sources to understand where visitors come from
• Keywords that bring organic traffic
• Visits and conversion rates from partner campaigns to evaluate their effectiveness for future collaborations
• Customer survey responses about how they discovered your brand

1. Partner with other small businesses

Here’s a marketing idea that works especially well for new businesses: collaborate with other small businesses whose target market overlaps with yours (provided they’re not a direct competitor).

Let’s say you had an online store selling handmade ceramic crockery. Partner with another small business owner that sells handmade vases and lean on each other’s audience by running a co-marketing campaign, such as:

• Cohosting a webinar
• Giving discounts to each other’s email list
• Posting shout outs to each other on social media
• Guesting on each other’s podcasts
• Splitting the cost of fees to host a pop-up shop
• Doing referral swaps

Working together is the way to go: the 2025 Shopify Merchant Survey revealed word of mouth as the most common growth strategy for small businesses (53%), followed by building a social media presence (35%).* Partnerships accelerate both.

The beauty of co-marketing is that you get to support fellow small business owners and tap into an existing audience without paying influencer marketing fees.

2. Collect customer feedback

Existing customers are your best friends. They’re the people who have seen your digital marketing strategy and purchased because of it. Think of them when developing new small business marketing ideas.

Shopify apps like Hulk NPS Post Purchase Survey send customer satisfaction surveys to anyone who purchases through your online store. Ask what they liked about your product, how they discovered you, and what triggered them to buy. 

Then, use those insights to fill your social media profiles, landing pages, and product descriptions with customer testimonials.

Package Free, for example, posts a highlight reel of customer reviews on its product pages, reassuring potential buyers and undoubtedly improving the ecommerce site’s conversion rate:

This is a particularly powerful tactic for food and beverage merchants, as the Shopify Merchant Survey from November 2025 revealed.* Those who prioritize customer reviews report significantly higher year-one achievements, with 41% citing positive customer reviews as a key milestone, compared to other verticals.

3. Give quirky product recommendations

Shoppers want to know: Is this product right for me?

Remove the pain from comparing new products with quirky recommendations that go beyond “You viewed this, so you might be interested in this.”

Digital marketing consultant Kayleigh Töyrä suggests product recommendation lists for:

• People who already have everything
• Gifts you may keep for yourself instead
• Things you don’t need, but may want

Kayleigh adds that with clever copy, new businesses can increase sales by upselling and cross-selling in a more engaging way. You can get help generating copy from an AI assistant like Shopify Sidekick, then refine it in the same chat. Ask Sidekick to create playful, conversational copy for your products based on your own store’s data. 

4. Enter to win business awards

Being voted the “best” product in your industry is a surefire way to build credibility and attract attention.

“Awards offer businesses a solid shot of authority, which is one of the keys to successful marketing; you want your audience to know that you offer the best of the best,” says Stephen Light, CMO and co-owner of mattress company Nolah.

Third-party validation matters: 23% of Shopify’s food and beverage merchants cite media coverage, awards, or recognition as a key year-one achievement—significantly higher than other industries.*

“Regardless of your niche, there are countless awards and accolades offered that you can find with just a little digging,” says Stephen.

Here’s a starting point for your award submission research:

• The Best of Small Business Awards by Small Business Expo
• Best in Biz Awards
• America’s Top 100 Small Business Awards by the US Chamber of Commerce

To give yourself the best chance of winning, leverage AI writing assistants like Claude or ChatGPT to help draft compelling award applications. And if you win an award, don’t forget to spread the word! “Displaying awards proudly on your website can encourage conversions,” says Stephen.

5. Sell mystery boxes

Got a bunch of slow-moving products? Sell them as part of a mystery box, like Kaleigh Moore did for her jewelry business.

“Fill it with slow-moving products and promote them as a surprise, offering at an affordable price point,” Kaleigh says.

Mystery boxes work for several reasons:

• The human brain loves surprises
• Mystery boxes induce the fear of missing out (FOMO)
• Slow-moving inventory shifts to create space for more popular (and profitable) inventory

If you manage your inventory with the help of AI, you can find slow-moving products and optimize mystery box contents based on customer purchase history and predicted preferences.

Johnny Cupcakes is another ecommerce retailer that offers mystery boxes. Shoppers get the chance to try a variety of products at a low price and the brand shifts any slow-moving products.

6. Optimize your website for SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your online store so it appears in search engine results pages, or SERPs when people are actively looking for information, entertainment, products, or answers.

Start by finding the keywords your target audience is searching for. Free SEO tools like Semrush and Moz can help. When you’re ready to go more granular and invest in an SEO tool, AI-powered SEO tools like Surfer and Clearscope can analyze top-ranking content, suggest a keyword strategy, and automatically optimize your content for search intent.

SEO is a long game, especially compared to search engine marketing (SEM), where you pay for ads through the Google Ads platform and instantly track their results. SEO can take a while, but once you rank for relevant keywords or keyword phrases, you increase brand visibility for months and years to come.

Once you’ve got a list of keywords, group similar terms together according to these categories of intent:

Transactional intent

People searching for these phrases want to do something (most often buy). They usually have terms like “buy” in the keyword, or are very specific and product-related, such as “Nike sneakers size 5.” Include these terms on your product and category pages.

Navigational intent

People are looking for something, perhaps a local store or a website. These searches usually include brand names or keywords with prefixes like “find” or “where is.” Target these terms on local landing pages and your homepage.

Educational intent

People want to learn something if they’re using this type of keyword. Common terms include the phrases “how to,” “best,” or “tutorial.” Create blog content to target these terms on your site.

7. Sell themed gift cards

Gift cards improve cash flow. You receive the money upfront without incurring immediate production or shipping fees.

Offer gift cards through your online store and prioritize marketing them in peak gift-giving seasons, such as:

• Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day
• Black Friday and Cyber Monday
• Multiple winter holidays

Whatever the occasion, post about your gift cards on social media, send email marketing campaigns to subscribers, and add a pop-up on your website directing visitors to gift card options. You could even offer $10 gift cards to thank existing customers for shopping with you and to encourage them to do so again.

8. Create a memorable visual identity

Crafting a compelling and memorable visual identity helps your brand stand out, especially in a crowded market. Brand elements like your logo, color palette, typography, and packaging matter for brand recognition.

That leads to brand reputation, which is the second-most cited competitive advantage among established merchants (43%), behind only product quality (48%), according to the Shopify Merchant Survey. For food and beverage businesses specifically, brand reputation jumps to 57%—their primary differentiator.

For example, olive oil brand Graza created a highly recognizable product by putting its oils in green squeeze bottles with neon tops. It’s hard to miss, especially in the aisle of a grocery store.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Graza (@getgraza)

For Clubhouse Skin, visual identity goes beyond recognition: “Design is one of the main things that unlocked doors for us that otherwise would’ve remained completely closed,” says Ben Attwood, its designer and founder.

If you already have an established visual identity, consider rebranding. In De La Calle’s case, rebranding helped it reach its target market and capture new customers. Realizing that consumers didn’t understand what Tepache was (a fermented pineapple drink often sold by street vendors in Mexico), they pivoted.

“It’s so interesting because it is just a switch from a few words, from ’tepache’ to ’Mexican soda,’ but it feels like it’s the seed for a redirection and it’s a greater simplification and clarification for the consumer,” says founder Alex Matthews.

💡 Tip: How To Build a Visual Identity for Your Brand

9. Design branded business cards and collateral

Traditional marketing collateral, like printouts, business cards, and collateral, support networking and local promotion. These tangible pieces of marketing can take up real estate on local bulletin boards or inside customers’ homes, especially if they’re eye-catching and well-designed.

If you’re exclusively operating online, you could opt to test a direct mail campaign, a tried-and-true marketing method growing in popularity again, especially among younger generations.

Online tools to check out:

• Canva (business cards, marketing collateral, and more, plus AI features)
• PostPilot (direct mail)
• VistaPrint (business cards, marketing collateral, and more)
• Printful (custom package inserts)

Low-cost marketing ideas

10. Offer free samples
11. Include swag in customer orders
12. Gift free products to influencers
13. Create a referral program
14. Incentivize email signups with discount codes
15. Make an incredible unboxing experience

These budget-friendly tactics deliver results without breaking the bank. Evaluate their impact by tracking these marketing metrics within your SMART goals:

• Referral program sign-ups
• Email list growth rate
• Influencer mention reach to evaluate influencer marketing campaign results
• Repeat purchase rates from customers who received samples or swag

10. Offer free samples

If you can absorb the cost of giving away inventory in your pursuit of customers, offer free product samples to visitors at your pop-up shop or market stall. “People love getting a free gift, and then if they share that kind of thing, it usually leads to good sales on our end,” David Gaylord, founder of Bushbalm, tells Shopify Masters.

You can even give samples to customers who’ve purchased a product from you as an incentive to buy again.

“Because we are a product/food brand, we’ve had fun using Instacart to ship gifts—samples of our product—to people that we’ve recently chatted with,” says Sheena Russell, founder and CEO of Made with Local. “This could be business contacts, potential buyers, etc. You can get samples delivered to their door in less than two hours in most big cities, and folks love it.”

Made with Local also donates products to the community, like showing appreciation to hospital employees and participates in local events aligned with their target audience. 

11. Include swag in customer orders

Speaking of free stuff, it’s not always your product that has to do the talking. Help customers spread the word about your brand by including swag or branded merch in their orders, such as:

• Stickers
• Mugs
• T-shirts
• Notepads

This tactic is especially useful if your target audience is well-connected. If you’re selling phone cases for digital nomads, for example, include free stickers in every order. People might stick it to their laptop, computer, or smartphone, making your brand visible in the places they (and the rest of your target market) are working.

💡 Tip: How to Make and Sell Merch Your Fans Will Love

12. Gift free products to influencers

Influencer marketing is big business because consumers trust advice from social media influencers when making purchasing decisions. It’s no wonder brands are expected to spend $9.29 billion on influencer marketing in 2025.

Instead of paying influencers to talk about your product, one low-cost marketing idea is giving them free products or exclusive merch. Many bloggers, YouTubers, and social media influencers have a post office box specifically for press packages.

While there’s no guarantee they’ll share your products, you’ll pay only for product manufacturing costs and shipping fees—a small price if an influencer shouts out your small business to their loyal audience.

The Tur-Shirt Company tried this marketing idea. Founder Terri-Anne Turton sent the brand’s clothing products to Instagram influencers in the parenting space. Many of them shared photos of their children wearing the clothes, tagging the company, and directing followers to its website.

“I gifted [one influencer] two Tur-Shirts and her kids loved them,” Terri-Anne says. “It was heartwarming, and the orders started to flood in. I had an influx of orders over the weekend totaling £1,300 of sales.”

13. Create a referral program

One often overlooked small business marketing strategy for acquiring new customers is an old one: word-of-mouth marketing.

“Getting customers to refer other customers is a great way to get more out of your marketing dollars,” says Jason Wong, founder of Doe. “You can make this easier by using an app like Smile to incentivize customers to refer their friends to buy from you.”

A strong referral program can reward the referrer, the customer, or both with rewards like store credit, percentage discounts, free products, or early access to new product releases. Choose based on your margin and what you can afford right now.

💡 Tip: Use Shopify apps like Referral Candy to power the program for you.

14. Incentivize email sign-ups with discount codes

Every small business needs to build an email list.

Building a brand on social media alone is risky. You’re at the mercy of ever-changing algorithms—many of which push brands into paying to reach the audiences they’ve already built.

Email marketing is a direct line of communication for building relationships with your customers. Get their email address (and consent to reach them) by making the sign-up process irresistible. For many customers, that means offering incentives.

Many shoppers subscribe to a brand’s email list to receive discounts, coupons, or free shipping. Those who use a discount code might be willing to spend more than shoppers who don’t.

Again, this free marketing idea doesn’t have to be ground-breaking. Simply create an email pop-up that offers a discount code in exchange for their subscription. Follow that up with an automated email campaign with the coupon and a list of bestsellers.

Here’s a great example from Pattern Beauty: 

15. Make an incredible unboxing experience

User-generated unboxing content is a superb way to fill your social media calendar with content that turns followers into paying customers. Unbox Therapy, one channel dedicated to unboxing experiences, has amassed more than 24 million subscribers.

This type of video content is clearly in demand. If you have the flexibility to adjust your profit margin by a few dollars, go above and beyond to make unwrapping your product packaging share-worthy.

Japanese snack subscription box brand Bokksu experimented with unboxing videos on various social media accounts.

“We experimented with Facebook. We experimented with Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and a whole bunch of the social media platforms’ influencers,” says Bokksu founder Danny Taing in an interview with Shopify Masters.

“What we found has been most effective has been YouTube, and specifically YouTube influencers that have really engaged audiences, and influencers who really love eating.

“Our product is so hands-on and sensual in a lot of ways. You have to unbox it and show the snacks and eat it and talk about it. Like a good five- to 10-minute YouTube video gets the job done a lot better than an Instagram post.”

Read:YouTube Marketing; Grow Your Audience and Sales

Digital marketing ideas

16. Post videos on YouTube
17. Write a weekly newsletter
18. Write blog posts that answer customer questions
19. Submit guest posts
20. Publish original research
21. Distribute press releases
22. Start a podcast
23. Create interactive content and tools
24. Leverage SMS marketing

Digital tactics offer scalable, measurable ways to reach your audience online. Every strong marketing plan will have at least a few of these tactics. Check the job they’re doing by tracking:

• Email open rates and click-through rates to refine subject lines and content
• Landing page traffic, engagement, and conversion rates
• Engagement rates on interactive content to learn what resonates
• SMS opt-in growth to track text marketing program adoption

16. Post videos on YouTube

YouTube is one of the world’s biggest websites, expected to reach some 1.2 billion people by 2029, making it a top marketing idea if your audience connects with brands by video.

Start a YouTube channel for your business and customize it with your branding. If you’re stuck for ideas, go back to your keyword research. Repurpose your blog articles and use them as scripts for YouTube videos. Embed the videos in your blog posts to cater to both content preferences and increase metrics like ’time on page.’

Remember: YouTube is an incredibly popular search engine. To reach your target audience through the YouTube algorithm, you must optimize your videos for YouTube SEO. Include keywords in your video’s title, thumbnail, and description to increase the odds of your target audience finding your YouTube content. Use YouTube trends like the hashtag “TikTokMadeMeBuyIt.”

You can also connect your store to YouTube and sell items directly through your videos.

17. Write a weekly newsletter

A newsletter is a piece of content regularly delivered to subscribers’ inboxes. Many ecommerce stores use newsletters to promote new products and retarget shoppers who haven’t purchased in a while. You should be doing both of these things, but a non-salesly newsletter is the icing on the cake.

Think about it: People want to buy from brands they know, like, and trust. Try sharing the story behind how your product came to life, the difficulties you’ve faced as a small business owner, or why you started the company. Stories like this build brand trust, so when that sales email does land in a subscriber’s inbox, they’re already primed to buy.

Methodical Coffee’s newsletter exemplifies this approach by sharing brewing tips and coffee education alongside product promotions:

For maximum impact, use a tool like Shopify Magic for AI-optimized subject lines, content, and send times so you can drive more opens, clicks, and sales.

18. Write blog posts that answer customer questions

SEO is essentially a practice that helps you understand your audience. Use your customer knowledge to publish a blog post that targets low-volume keywords with direct connections to your products. Target keywords with minimal competition in search engines to position your website marketing for success.

Your customers are good sources for content ideas. Scan your support inbox to find:

• Pain points your audience experiences
• Questions they have before purchasing
• Goals they achieve with your product

You could even tell your existing customers’ stories to help new shoppers picture themselves in their shoes.

“The secret is really putting out great content,” says Trevor Crotts, founder of BuddyRest. “And putting out great content means a lot of different things, but to me, what I think it means is putting out content that’s relevant to your audience that people really want to read, and understanding how to monetize that content.”

19. Submit guest posts

Guest posting has been a popular online marketing idea for years. To this day, it still remains an effective way to market a small business. It works by submitting a free piece of content (usually a blog post) to a popular publication in your industry.

Many websites accept guest posts because they can monetize the content.

To find these opportunities, search for these terms:

• [industry] + guest post
• [industry] + contribute
• [industry] + write for us

Maximize the value of your guest post by building backlinks to your website. If you’re writing a guest post about finding an engagement ring, for example, you might mention different styles of rings. Link to category pages on your online store where possible to encourage conversion, build backlinks, and improve your overall Google ranking.

20. Publish original research

Original research is data you’ve collected and own. Using it is a great marketing idea that doesn’t require much cash. Granted, it’s time-intensive, but it has the potential to build backlinks and credibility for your small business.

Start with a list of questions related to a topic in your industry. For example, if you’re a bedding brand, you could ask your target customers questions like:

• How often do you change your bedsheets?
• Do you prioritize comfort or aesthetics when buying new bedsheets?
• How many pillows do you have on your bed?
• Do you swap bedding seasonally?

Collate the data using surveys, slice it by different segments (e.g., age or gender), and pick out the most surprising data points. For instance, the fact that 45% of people sleep with two pillows isn’t as shocking as the fact that just 10% change their sheets weekly.

Publish the data on your website and pitch the most interesting statistics to publications your target audience reads. Because you own the data, the publication should mention your brand and link to your website when talking about the survey results. That gives you exposure, authority, and backlinks in one go.

Read: Content Research Guide: How To Do Content Research

21. Distribute press releases

If you’ve got an interesting story, product launch, or company announcement, a press release is an ideal vehicle for sharing it. Journalists at newspapers and online publications use them to gather information to share with their readers.

The key is sharing newsworthy and interesting information. Opening a new store isn’t always enough to tempt journalists into covering the story. The fact that you’ve taken over a local favorite or provided jobs to people in the city is a more interesting angle.

There’s a lot of noise competing for media attention these days, so put yourself in the shoes of the outlet and their readers. What’s compelling about your news or story to them? Think like a journalist or the media’s audience to refine your pitch.

22. Start a podcast

A podcast can connect you with your target market in audio form. On average, 34% Americans listen to 8.3 podcast episodes per week. Episodes can range from a few minutes to several hours long, and you can host a podcast yourself or invite guests (or customers) to chat alongside you.

The secret to starting a great podcast is knowing who you’re speaking to and choosing topics that appeal to them. If you’re selling plants through your ecommerce store, for example, teach listeners how to start their own gardens and care for their plants.

Effective free marketing strategies like podcasts are often low-commitment to start and can yield positive results. Not sure you have the bandwidth to host one yet? Start by pitching yourself as a guest on pods related to your industry or appropriate to your brand story.

Podcast tools to try include:

• Spotify for Podcasters
• Descript (AI-powered tool for editing audio, generating show notes, and repurposing content into blog posts)
• Riverside (online studio for podcast and video recording)

23. Create interactive content and tools

If you’re on a tight marketing budget, creating interactive content for your website is an excellent way to engage with both new and loyal customers.

For example, Bluebird Provisions, a company that sells organic bone broth, uses a quiz to provide product recommendations based on shoppers’ goals and experiences. “People seem to love the quiz, they seem to love having a personalized recommendation,” says founder Connor Meakin.

Quizzes like this are easy and fast to make—this one was created with a simple Typeform. Plus, the completion rate for this survey was around 40%, which helped Bluebird Provisions add valuable email subscribers it could later drive to its website.

Other interactive content marketing ideas include guides, calculators, polls, games, and surveys.

Go beyond content and into the shopping experience you provide, too, with the options to try on a product with augmented reality (AR), customize products, view products in 3D, or build custom product bundles.

If you want to get started with interactive marketing and tools, consider these:

• Quiz building. Typeform (create a quiz), Klaviyo (manage transactional and marketing emails, and engage with customers).
• Ecommerce gamification. Wheelify Spin (discount code spinning wheel).
• Polls and surveys. Zigpoll Customer Surveys (customizable surveys).
• AR experiences. Camweara (virtual try-on), Angle 3D Configurator (3D product customization).

24. SMS marketing

SMS marketing is a powerful way to reach customers directly on their phones with timely, concise messages. It’s particularly effective for:

• Flash sales and limited-time offers. Create urgency with time-sensitive promotions.
• Order updates. Keep customers informed about shipping and delivery.
• Cart abandonment recovery. Remind shoppers about items they left behind.
• Exclusive announcements. Reward subscribers with early access to new products.
• Personalized recommendations. Send targeted product suggestions based on purchase history.

The key to successful SMS marketing is getting explicit consent and keeping messages valuable and relevant. Texts should be brief, include a clear call to action, and respect frequency preferences to avoid overwhelming subscribers.

To get started, try these SMS marketing apps:

• Postscript. Purpose-built for ecommerce with advanced segmentation.
• Klaviyo. Unified email and SMS marketing platform.
• SuperSMS. AI-driven SMS automation for higher engagement and conversions.

Be sure to comply with SMS marketing regulations by obtaining opt-in consent and providing easy opt-out options in every message.

Read: Data Compliance: Key Regulations and Best Practices in Ecommerce

Social media marketing ideas

25. Host a social media competition
26. Share user-generated content
27. Produce video tutorials
28. Host a livestream
29. Jump on trending topics
30. Create a Snapchat lens
31. Use unique platform-specific features
32. Leverage LinkedIn for B2B marketing

Social media tactics aren’t a one-size-fits-all. Instead, you need a platform-specific approach—each channel rewards different content styles.

It’s worth it: the 2025 Shopify Merchant Survey reveals social media presence building as the second most common growth strategy for small businesses (35%), behind only word of mouth (53%). For clothing and apparel merchants specifically, social media presence is the primary competitive differentiator.

Improve your social media pages and content by measuring:

• Follower growth rate
• Engagement rates (likes, comments, shares, saves, watch time)
• Click-through to store rates
• Conversion rates from each platform

25. Host a social media competition

To say social media platforms are oversaturated would be an understatement—83% of marketers already use Facebook, 78% use Instagram, and 26% use TikTok to reach their primary audience.

Couple that with Facebook’s seriously low organic reach—in other words, only a small percentage of a page’s followers see its posts—and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of growing your online store on social media.

Diversify your social media marketing strategy by hosting a competition. Science proves people love free stuff. Offer something for free—such as a product bundle or a trip to your headquarters—in exchange for social media engagement. Have your followers like, comment, share, and tag friends in the giveaway post to increase its reach.

The better or more exclusive the prize, the more attractive the contest, but your marketing budget needn’t be extreme. Make the prize as cheap or as expensive as you want. 

26. Share user-generated content

Another effective use of social media for your small business is user-generated content (UGC)—something around 40% of US shoppers say is “important” or “extremely important” to their purchasing decisions.

Incentivize existing customers to share photos, videos, and testimonials of them using your products. This is powerful social proof for your products and business. Regularly scan your brand name or hashtag to see social media posts people have shared on their own.

The goal is to build a library of high-quality UGC that convinces on-the-fence social media followers to buy, like this UGC example from Letterfolk. It encourages people to share UGC with its “Fan of the Month” competition. Customers build a stronger connection with the brand, and Letterfolk generates new content without producing from scratch.

27. Produce video tutorials

Video marketing reigns supreme on many platforms. For instance, TikTok’s minute-long videos became so popular that Instagram—traditionally a photo-sharing app—launched its own video format, Reels.

Use a free video editing app to produce content for marketing your business on social media.

Successful video formats include:

• Reviews from happy customers
• Behind-the-scenes business stories
• Video tutorials demonstrating how to use your products

Here’s how to nail videos on each platform:

• TikTok. Focus on entertainment value and trending sounds; videos should feel native and authentic rather than polished.
• Instagram Reels. Leverage music, text overlays, and quick cuts; the first three seconds are critical for stopping the scroll.
• YouTube. Longer-form tutorials and in-depth product demonstrations perform well; optimize titles and thumbnails for search. Cut your most interesting segments into short vertical clips for YouTube Shorts.
• LinkedIn. Professional, educational content works best; focus on industry insights and thought leadership.

28. Host a livestream

The live commerce market was valued at more than $128 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow beyond $2.4 trillion by 2033. Best of all, livestreams are free to host. You just need to be engaging enough to capture attention and convince viewers to stick around.

Take this creative marketing idea further by co-hosting livestreams with influencers in your space. If you run a cosmetics brand, for example, find a beauty influencer to livestream with. You could ask them their favorite beauty secrets, how they use your products, or have them give a quick tutorial.

Different types of livestreams work best on different platforms:

• Instagram Live. Best for Q&As, AMAs, and behind-the-scenes content because viewers can ask questions in real-time.
• TikTok Live. Works well for product demonstrations and flash sales. Leverage TikTok’s shopping features.
• YouTube Live. Ideal for longer-format events, product launches, and educational content.
• Facebook Live. Good for reaching a broad audience and announcing company news.

29. Jump on trending topics

Trends fuel social media. Consider how TikTok makes songs go viral and can lead to record-breaking streaming numbers whenever a dance or trend emerges.

Spot trending topics before the crowd does by:

• Asking your customers what’s fresh
• Reading forum discussions
• Running a competitive analysis
• Celebrating annual events

Get granular by leveraging each platform’s trending sections:

• Instagram. Monitor trending Reels audio (trending sounds have an arrow next to the sound name) and regularly check Instagram’s Explore page. Business accounts in the US can also view Trending audio in their dashboard.
• TikTok. Check the For You page and Discover tab. Watch for trending sounds and hashtag challenges.
• X (Twitter). Follow the Explore section and relevant hashtags in your industry.
• LinkedIn. Watch for trending topics in your industry feed and follow relevant thought leaders.

Remember: The key is adding your unique brand voice to trends rather than just copying what everyone else is doing.

30. Create a Snapchat lens

Snapchat is a fantastic social media platform if you’re targeting Gen Z. Some 20% of its users are between the ages of 13 and 17, with people under the age of 35 most likely to use the app.

Lenses, an augmented reality that overlays graphics onto users’ faces, can help you get noticed on the app. Use Snapchat’s Lens Studio to create your own overlays. There’s a fee to publish your Lens for a limited time, but it’s a great Snapchat marketing idea to engage younger audiences.

31. Use unique platform-specific features

Every social media platform has a unique set of features. Livestreaming on Facebook, sharing polls on Instagram, or getting strategic with TikTok trending sounds are all ways to take advantage of platform-specific tools and trends.

Instagram polls can be particularly effective at boosting user engagement. Some brands, like dress company Birdy Grey, use them to guide product decisions, determining the colors and finishes that resonate best.

“Our customer loves to give us feedback,” said founder Grace Lee Chen. “Whether it’s color, silhouettes, fabrics, wedding vibes—they’re not afraid to reach out and tell us what they want.”

Here’s what each platform offers:

• Instagram. Polls, Q&A stickers, countdown stickers, shopping tags, guides.
• TikTok. Duets, Stitches, trending sounds, effects, TikTok Shop.
• Facebook. Groups, Events, Watch Parties, Marketplace.
• LinkedIn. Articles, Newsletters, polls in posts, LinkedIn Live.
• Pinterest. Idea pins, shopping features, trending searches.

To determine the most effective platforms for your brand, include a competitive analysis in your social media strategy.

Social media tools that can help you get started include:

• Posting and scheduling: Buffer, Hootsuite
• Measurement and analytics: Sprout Social
• Design and content creation: Canva

32. Leverage LinkedIn for B2B marketing

LinkedIn has more than one billion members, with 69% of marketers using it for social media marketing.

LinkedIn is a fantastic internet marketing channel for lead gen when advertising to professionals, because of its visibility, high engagement, and networking capabilities.

Be strategic with the platform, deciding how you’ll use LinkedIn posts, articles, and paid ads to promote your business. You can reach potential partners, suppliers, business buyers, and working professionals looking for exactly what you sell.

Ensure posts are compelling, thought-provoking, and easy to read, including eye-catching visuals.

Get the most out of LinkedIn with:

• Thought leadership articles. Establish expertise by publishing long-form content on industry trends.
• Employee advocacy. Encourage team members to share company content to expand reach.
• LinkedIn Groups. Participate in relevant industry groups to build relationships and credibility.
• Connection messaging. Personalize connection requests and nurture relationships through direct messages.
• Company page optimization. Keep your page updated with regular posts, employee spotlights, and company news.

Tips for getting started 📚LinkedIn Marketing: How To Use a LinkedIn Marketing Strategy

Local marketing ideas

33. Attend local events
34. Create a Google Business profile
35. Build local landing pages
36. Geotag your location on social media
37. Use local hashtags
38. Get featured on community accounts
39. Sponsor local events and teams

Local marketing helps you connect with customers in your geographic area. Even though local implies offline, you can employ local online marketing as well by tracking:

• Google Business Profile insights including views, clicks, and direction requests
• Foot traffic during events and local campaigns
• Event-specific link visits and promo code usage
• Event-related social media post engagement
• Local press mentions
• The number of local reviews

33. Attend local events

Building an online presence is crucial, but you don’t have to do all your marketing on the internet. Meet potential customers and other local business owners in person by attending local events like:

• Craft fairs
• Sunday markets
• Networking events

This is also a great form of market research. Check with your local chamber of commerce and sites such as Meetup and Eventbrite for details on local business events, or contact them to advertise your own event.

Shopify’s free business card maker can help you design cards to give to potential customers, encouraging them to visit your website later.

34. Create a Google Business profile

Appearing on Google Maps will help your business capture engaged consumers looking for information about local businesses on their mobile devices. Google allows you to create business profiles that appear on maps and search results for local queries.

Your listing can show your website, opening hours, phone number, reviews, photos, pickup and payment options, and accessibility features. It supports a rich shopping experience, online and offline, as you can see with the example of Maguire Shoes’s Toronto store:

Once you set this up, the goal is to reach the “three pack,” appearing in one of the top three search results on Google Maps.

While you’re at it, consider other local business directories because a consistent NAP (name, address, and phone number) helps Google determine your business’s credibility, a ranking factor in its search results. Yelp, Yell, and Better Business Bureau are great starting points.

35. Build local landing pages

Fortify your hyperlocal marketing by creating local landing pages that incorporate product or service keywords and location-specific ones that describe your neighborhood, city, town, or state.

In this local landing page for Magnolia Bakery’s Central Park store, for example, the retailer uses phrases like “picnic in Central Park” and “Columbus Circle.”

36. Geotag your location on social media

Search engines aren’t the only tools for finding local businesses. Instagram is fast becoming the go-to place to search for inspiration in a specific area, largely because the app allows businesses to geotag their location in any grid post or Instagram Story.

The best part? You don’t need a physical store to geotag a location. Take Claire Pettibone, for example, an online retailer that sells wedding dresses. It reposts customer photos to its Instagram page and geotags the location where the couple got married. Any other couples browsing that venue’s geotag can see where the dress was from.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Claire Pettibone (@clairepettibone)

37. Use local hashtags

Hashtags help small businesses market their products online. Both TikTok and Instagram hashtags are searchable. Local businesses can use local hashtags—phrases specific to their store’s city—to reach people nearby.

This is easier if your store is within a tourist destination. Suppose you’re delivering in-store experiences. Hashtags like #thingstodoin[location] can expose you to the social media users using these hashtags to build their daily itineraries.

For more ideas, jump into an AI hashtag research tool and enter your industry keywords. Many of these tools are free and give you ideas and suggestions in a matter of seconds.

Read: How To Use Hashtags to Grow Your Business

38. Get featured on community accounts

Try finding local citizens who post online about their city or town. For example, New York Bucket List is an Instagram account that rounds up the best things to do in New York. To get featured on their feed, local businesses in the state create quality content consistent with the NY Bucket List aesthetic and tag them.

If you’d rather market your business in person, most community bulletin boards accept free advertising. Check your local postal office, community center, or grocery store to see if you can create flyers and add them to their bulletin.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by New York Bucket List (@nybucketlist)

39. Sponsor local events and teams

More ecommerce brands are tapping into sports sponsorships to build brand awareness and community connection. According to Forrester, 39% of business-to-consumer (B2C) chief marketing officers plan to increase their investment in sports sponsorships, and another 28% are entering the market for the first time. Community teams, emerging leagues, and youth sports offer ecommerce brands a unique opportunity to connect with potential and current customers.

That said, measuring marketing ROI isn’t always straightforward. Forrester reports that 76% of marketers struggle to track the return on sponsorships. The value is often in long-term brand building—things like visibility, trust, and goodwill—rather than immediate sales.

Pick sponsorships aligned with your audience and values to make your investment in brand awareness worthwhile. Local leagues with strong digital engagement can be a sweet spot, especially when paired with creative activations like social content, giveaways, or discount codes.

Guerrilla marketing ideas

40. Fly an airplane banner
41. Host a treasure hunt
42. Experiment with street marketing
43. Organize a flash mob
44. Break a world record
45. Create viral projection campaigns
46. Design branded street art installations

Guerrilla marketing uses unconventional tactics to create buzz and memorable brand moments. Just like local marketing, understanding the impact of these tactics can be a bit fuzzy, but you can learn a lot by tracking:

• Press mentions from news outlets and blogs
• Branded search volume spikes during and after campaigns
• Direct traffic increases to your website
• Social media mentions and shares of your stunt
• Video views if your campaign is captured on camera

40. Fly an airplane banner

Want to make a splash in a specific area with outdoor advertising? Hire an airplane and attach a banner to its tail. Think of a fun or witty message that captures attention. There’s a strong chance that people will snap a photo and share it on social media, helping you expand your reach beyond the flyover city. 

41. Host a treasure hunt

Experiential marketing is popular among businesses seeking to stand out. Instead of shouting about your products or unique selling proposition, it gets people to do something. This sense of participation can build excitement for your products.

Treasure hunts are the perfect example of guerrilla marketing in-person or virtually. 

Rockstar Pizza, a small business in Indiana, regularly hides a triangular rock painted to look like a slice of pizza around town. They give clues to its location on their social media channels until the finder claims their free pizza.

In the UK, a car dealer buried the keys to a new vehicle, a tactic that generated international coverage in the New York Post.

If you’re stuck on treasure hunt ideas, use AI to generate puzzle clues at various difficulty levels and ask it to predict solve rates. This way, your hunt will be challenging, but not impossibly difficult.

42. Experiment with street marketing

Street marketing uses the things we see in our environment to promote your small business’s products. It’s an unconventional marketing tactic that stands out from traditional billboards and integrates your product into daily life—think using a painted pedestrian crossing to advertise your pianos.

For example, olive oil company Graza made “Wanted” posters for its limited-edition olive oil chips and posted them on busy city corners. The flyers read, “Extra Virgin Olive Oil Potato Chips Missing Since March 2024,” with a QR code that directed curious people to the brand’s newsletter sign-up page.

This was a simple, low-cost way to experiment with street marketing. It aligned with Graza’s fun personality, exposed it to new hyper-localized markets, and helped it collect email addresses.

43. Organize a flash mob

Flash mobs can get people talking about your brand.

Let’s say you sell men’s luxury suits. Choose a place that’s commonly frequented by your target market, such as Wall Street. Enlist the help of professional dancers who camouflage themselves into the environment by wearing your suits. All of a sudden, they break out into a choreographed routine that concludes with them shouting out your website URL. People on the street will watch, film, and post about the flash mob—and you’ll be the talk of every office on Wall Street.

44. Break a world record

There are world record holders in almost every activity you can think of. If you can break a record that’s relevant to your brand or its products, it’s a surefire way to attract attention and land press coverage.

Direct-to-consumer brand Muddy Bites took this guerrilla marketing idea further by inviting an influencer to video its attempt to build the world’s largest ice cream cone. YouTuber Matthew Beem vlogged the day and shared it with his more than five million subscribers. The video itself has amassed over four million views to date.

45. Create viral projection campaigns

One unique guerrilla marketing tactic is to project branded imagery or messages onto buildings to generate buzz. This is a fun and impermanent way to capture attention, especially if you want to raise awareness in specific locations. You can also experiment with projections in unique places that you wouldn’t normally be able to advertise on.

For example, the Glasgow International Comedy Festival worked with Double Take Projections to create a memorable series of animated graffiti to promote its event. To celebrate both the festival and its location, each featured mural was one of Glasgow’s most iconic street pieces.

If design isn’t your thing, use AI image generators to mock up prototype projection designs before you get a designer on board. You can even ask for predictions on which concepts have the best chance of generating lots of social media shares.

46. Design branded street art installations

Another creative guerrilla marketing approach is to commission murals or sidewalk chalk art as an experiential branding tactic.

Cashmere brand Naadam did just this by working with Colossal Media, a company that “creates art out of advertising.” The campaign raised brand awareness with an asset that could live in both the digital and physical world.

To achieve similar results, partner with local artists or companies to bring your vision to life.

Use these small business marketing ideas to grow your store

These unique marketing ideas demonstrate that there’s more to promoting your small business than just investing in Facebook ads. The key is to test different ideas and get creative. Attend local events, start a podcast, partner with other local businesses, or run video marketing campaigns on social media. 

*Survey Methodology: Based on a 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.