19 Types of Marketing to Promote Your Brand (2026)

Whether you’re creating social media stories, explainer videos, or traditional TV commercials, the types of marketing you choose for your business will affect who sees your products.

By strategically combining multiple types of marketing, you can improve your ability to reach and influence your target audience. From traditional methods, like print and broadcast, to digital strategies, like influencer marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), diverse marketing tactics broaden your brand reach.

Every type of marketing has its own strengths, challenges, and best-use scenarios, depending on your goals. Read on to learn about the different types of marketing, so you can choose the right mix for success.

What is marketing?

Marketing is the process of promoting your products or services to your target audience. Through strategic messaging, you usher potential customers through the marketing funnel. That means making your audience aware of your brand, curious about your products or services, and informed enough to make a confident purchase. 

19 types of marketing

1. Outdoor
2. Print
3. Direct mail
4. Television
5. Radio
6. Word of mouth
7. Public relations
8. Search engine marketing
9. Search engine optimization
10. Email
11. Content
12. Social media
13. Performance
14. Influencer
15. Affiliate
16. SMS
17. Cause-based
18. Event
19. Guerrilla

1. Outdoor 

Businesses with a local presence can benefit from traditional marketing methods like outdoor marketing. Outdoor marketing, also known as out-of-home (OOH), takes place out in the world. OOH covers billboards, flyers, shop signs, wraps on transit vehicles, bench ads, and stickers. They are all outbound approaches designed to draw attention to a promotion or service.

2. Print 

Print advertising shows up in physical media like magazines, newspapers, and brochures. Print ads in a local newspaper can promote services available in that community, for example. An advertisement in a nationally distributed magazine can garner broad brand awareness. B2B businesses regularly develop their own publications or sponsor the creation of printed content relevant to their industries. 

3. Direct mail

With direct mail marketing, businesses send advertising materials directly to the customer’s home. Materials often include a call to action (CTA) or incentives like coupons and discounts. 

4. Television

Broadcast commercials remain an influential marketing method for targeting both national and local audiences. TV ads can be an effective way to introduce a brand to audiences before following up with more targeted touchpoints, like search ads.

The cost of a TV ad can range from a few hundred dollars for a local commercial to several million for a Super Bowl ad. To gain attention on such a mainstream marketing channel, TV advertisers need to get creative and maximize their time to captivate their target audience. That may mean using punchy, emotional, funny, or otherwise memorable content to grab and hold the viewer’s attention.

5. Radio

Radio ads still dominate local markets, and ecommerce companies can also engage with audio formats via podcast ads. 

6. Word of mouth

Word-of-mouth marketing campaigns are designed to encourage organic conversations about your brand. A heartfelt referral from a friend can be a powerful advertisement. 

Such was the case for Becca Millstein, who initially asked her own community to spread the word about the launch of her tinned fish company, Fishwife. “Keep a micro-community-driven approach at the start of your launch because it will be impactful,” Becca says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “People will begin sharing [your product], and it’s going to end up in the hands of a journalist or an influencer.”

Encourage word-of-mouth referrals with a formal referral program, which incentivizes customers to spread the word in exchange for a gift or discount.

7. Public relations

Public relations (PR) helps spread the word about your company. Use PR strategies to get mentioned in news stories or featured in niche publications. Think through the kind of brand perception you want to have, then write a press release to make it known publicly. 

8. Search engine marketing

Paid search engine marketing places sponsored advertisements at the top of a search engine results page (SERP). This premium real estate increases the likelihood that users will click on your content and increase web traffic.

This example shows sponsored shopping ads at the top of the Google results page for the search “vegan shoes.” The panel is clearly labeled “Sponsored,” and it includes paid ads from a variety of brands. 

9. Search engine optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) involves creating content that helps your audience find your website on Google. This content can include product descriptions, blog posts, and category pages. Over time, your SEO marketing efforts can pay off as your site ranking improves and organic traffic volume increases.

Jeremiah Curvers, cofounder and CEO of the Canadian mattress brand Polysleep, used local SEO to create pages that ranked for keywords tied to certain geographic locations, like “best mattress store in Laval.” Eventually, the brand expanded to making content about its products and then more general topics related to sleep. “[SEO is] a bit like investing for your retirement plan,” Jeremiah says on Shopify Masters. “Don’t expect short-term returns.”

This example shows the organic search results on Google for the search term “vegan shoes.” The ranking brands use a variety of SEO strategies to achieve their rankings, including keyword optimization and domain authority building.

10. Email 

Email marketing is exactly what it sounds like: marketing messages you deliver to your audience via email. As an owned media channel, email is an effective tool for delivering highly personalized, relevant promotional materials straight to a person’s inbox. 

11. Content 

Content marketing relies on media like blogs, podcasts, infographics, and videos to promote brand awareness, influence purchasing decisions, or build customer loyalty. Here are a few popular forms of content marketing:

Blogs 

Creating a blog allows you to offer written content that draws from your brand expertise and appeals to your audience. Try using your blog to speak directly to your customers by addressing readers’ questions, concerns, and interests.

Podcasts 

Podcasts are audio and visual content that can help bring awareness to a particular person or service. For instance, a business analyst with a weekly podcast series may give advice on their platform to capture audience loyalty. In turn, this could lead to paid speaking engagements, teaching offers, or other lucrative activities for the podcast host. 

Infographics

Infographics combine visuals and data to educate an audience about a specific service or product. This data-rich content provides user-friendly information alongside graphics, which come in various forms, including flow charts and step-by-step breakdowns. Together, they make it easy for viewers to absorb and retain information. 

Videos

Video marketing offers a way for visual learners to engage with your social content, websites, and product pages. 

Mimi Ikonn cofounded Luxy Hair and grew the brand’s YouTube subscriber base to more than three million people. She did this in part by sticking to the basics and being authentic. “If you can simplify your topic, people will watch and engage,” Mimi says on Shopify Masters. For Luxy Hair’s YouTube channel, Mimi documented her own journey with styling tools and hair accessories, breaking the content up into small segments so viewers could replicate the techniques themselves. 

12. Social media 

Social media marketing strategies include both organic and paid methods. Organic social media marketing involves posting to your own branded accounts on social media platforms. The goal with organic posts is to educate, entertain, and engage with brand loyalists and potential customers. Paid social media posts are ads or sponsored posts that you pay to reach a specific audience.

13. Performance

Performance marketing relies on advertising through a third party to convert customer interest into a definable action, such as clicking on a link. In today’s digital environment, primary performance marketing channels include Google Ads and native advertising programs on social media sites.

If you have an ad budget to spend, performance marketing is a low-risk, trackable strategy for brands that pays advertisers only when they drive results for you.

14. Influencer 

An influencer marketing strategy involves paying an external content creator or influential person to promote products to their (often substantial) following. Influencers usually get paid per post or promotion. You may also be able to earn influencer posts via product seeding: sending free samples to influencers in the hope they’ll share their honest enthusiasm for your brand. 

For example, olive oil brand Graza’s signature squeeze bottles are ubiquitous in cooking videos on TikTok and Instagram. Why? “That is 99.5% organic product seeding,” Kali Shulklapper, director of brand marketing at Graza, said at an April 2025 Shopify panel event. “We send product to people, and they use it. We’re very proud of the fact that we don’t pay people to use it.”

15. Affiliate

Influencers may also participate in another type of marketing: affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing model where you pay creators and publishers commissions every time they successfully sell new customers on your products or services. Affiliates receive a unique tracking link and earn a percentage of sales when customers purchase through that link.

16. SMS

SMS marketing is a strategy in which you text your customers updates and offers. As an owned marketing channel, it’s an effective way to reach people directly with personalized, well-timed content. Whether you’re advertising a flash sale or giveaway, a text message allows customers to act immediately, wherever they are.

17. Cause-based

Cause marketing allows brands to gain a competitive advantage while contributing something positive to society. Cause marketing is, by definition, a form of corporate social responsibility, where businesses and nonprofits work together to benefit one another. It is a win-win model in which companies can support causes they believe in while achieving their broader brand recognition.

18. Event

Event marketing traditionally includes hosting or participating in conferences, professional seminars, trade shows, or other industry events. These can be particularly effective avenues for business-to-business (B2B) brands. Business-to-consumer (B2C) brands can similarly find success connecting with customers at local markets, branded activations, and pop-up store venues.

With event marketing, businesses set up branded spaces to maximize their exposure, generate leads, and increase their potential client base.

This approach involves face-to-face interaction, effectively connecting customers with a brand or service to build a solid, long-term relationship. Event marketing also presents opportunities to make direct sales and gain valuable feedback.

💡Read: The Kylie Effect: The Power of Offline Experiences for Online Brands

Heyday Canning Co. is a champion at hosting events. The brand’s one-for-one “bean swap” event encouraged customers to bring in cans of beans to exchange for Heyday cans. The brand then donated the cans it received to City Harvest, a food rescue nonprofit. 

 

💰Learn from Heyday’s successful event and hear cofounder and CEO Kat Kavner Woolf’s advice for planning a viral marketing campaign for your own brand.

19. Guerrilla

Guerrilla marketing is a low-budget promotional strategy that involves using unconventional tactics to generate interest in your product or service. Specifically, guerrilla marketing campaigns leverage public spaces and person-to-person connections and often include an element of surprise. Think flash mobs, provocative stickers blanketing city telephone poles, and stunts.

B2C marketing vs. B2B marketing

The types of marketing you choose will depend, in part, on the type of business you run. B2C brands have different priorities than B2B brands, and their advertising strategies reflect this. Here’s how the two compare:

B2C marketing

B2C marketing refers to the strategies and tactics you use to sell to individuals. Think consumer packaged goods, home gym equipment, apparel, and toys. The B2C sales cycle can be relatively short since one person is typically deciding to purchase something for themselves or their family. Communication commonly happens via channels like social media platforms, email, traditional ads, and SMS. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tower 28 Beauty (@tower28beauty)

 

This educational Instagram post from the skin care brand Tower 28 is a classic example of B2C marketing. It defines a core ingredient in Tower 28’s SOS spray and speaks directly to individuals who may be interested in trying the product. 

B2B marketing

B2B marketing is the process of promoting products and services to other businesses instead of to individual consumers. Enterprise software providers, wholesalers, manufacturers, and marketing agencies all employ B2B tactics. The sales cycles tend to be longer because multiple stakeholders are involved in purchasing bulk orders or signing long-term, expensive contracts.

For example, Brooklinen’s wholesale business sells bed sheets to hospitality companies. With the help of Shopify, the brand created a custom B2B website to market and sell to clients in an accessible, user-friendly way. “B2B on Shopify allows us to engage with these customers in a new way—kind of like a typical [direct-to-consumer] customer, but for B2B,” says Kelly Hallinan, senior vice president of emerging channels.

Brand marketing vs. product marketing

Two broad approaches shape your marketing strategies, and they can both draw from a variety of marketing types. While product marketing focuses more directly on driving conversions, brand marketing focuses on awareness and long-term loyalty. Here’s how they break down:

Product marketing

Product marketing is the process of identifying a product’s unique value and communicating that value to its target audience. It focuses on getting consumers to enter the sales funnel, learn more about a specific product, and ultimately buy it.

Brand marketing

Brand marketing is an approach that goes beyond product marketing to establish long-lasting relationships with consumers. Brand marketers create messaging in a distinct brand voice that establishes a connection between the business and the customer. Over time, these relationship-building efforts help make your brand more readily recognizable, strengthening market position and extending loyalty. 

Factors to consider when choosing marketing types

• Business goals
• Budget and resources
• Your audience

Consider these factors when building out your marketing plan and deciding which strategies to prioritize.

Business goals

What are you hoping to achieve with your marketing efforts? Some of the most common marketing objectives require looking at the following indicators of business health: 

• Revenue. Perhaps you just launched your business and want to start ramping up sales quickly to cover the costs you incurred getting started. 

• Brand awareness. When your initial sales bump starts to flatline, increase brand awareness to grow your customer base. 

• Average order value. You’re selling to a lot of people, but they’re buying very few items on average. Bundling, upselling, and free shipping upon reaching a spending threshold can help you get there.

Budget and resources

Realistically, how much can your business afford to spend on marketing? How much time do you or your employees have to devote to it? A solid marketing strategy prioritizes what you’re able to accomplish well and sacrifices activities that will only spread your team too thin.

If your goal is to raise revenue quickly with limited funds and time for hands-on monitoring, invest in programmatic ads with the highest immediate return on ad spend (ROAS). If you have the time and creative expertise but no budget for paid ads, focus on creating a steady stream of content to build an audience organically. 

Your audience 

Where does your audience spend the most time? What communication channels would they prefer to use? What experts are they turning to to answer their questions and solve their problems? The answers to these questions will determine where you advertise, how you frame your unique value proposition, and which creators to collaborate with to build brand authority.