Every company tends to favor specific marketing strategies that are proven to yield the results they expect and can sometimes be wary of taking risks and exploring unfamiliar strategies, even though they could be just as effective (or even more so). For those who are hesitant when it comes to trying something new, 12 successful business leaders have shared their favorite marketing approaches and why they work so well.

What’s been the most effective marketing strategy your company has used to date, and why do you think it worked so well?

1. Data-Driven Content

When it comes to creating content, let the data drive what you put out. If you are looking to establish authority and reach your audience, find out what they are looking for. From there, you can create a strategy based on your findings. What does your audience want? What questions are they asking? You want to fill a demand, and data is an easy way to find out what that is. – Matt Bertram, EWR Digital

2. Video Content

Using video content for marketing our business is the most effective marketing strategy that we’ve used so far. Videos can easily engage people within a short span of time. Also, it’s easier to build trust and credibility through videos because people get to see what to expect. If they like it, they’ll share it immediately, which increases our visibility to a great extent. – Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite

3. Long-Form Content

I’d recommend long-form content and consistent website investment. At the start of building my personal brand, I made a commitment to writing books and consistently updating my site with long-form content pieces. I made this decision to double down on content and the website in 2008, and throughout my career and especially now, it has paid off beyond measure. – Matthew Capala, Alphametic

4. Social Media Marketing

We do social media marketing, especially Instagram. I’m now getting into YouTube, which is extremely effective to build the know, like and trust factor. I use social to build community among my target market and show how I transform my clients. – Libby Rothschild, Libby Rothschild

5. Facebook Live

Going live on Facebook is one of the most effective marketing strategies that we’ve used so far. It gives you the opportunity to interact with your audience in real time, so you get to know their expectations. You can use them to make your product better and ensure that it meets your customer’s expectations. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

6. Giveaways

We’ve had tremendous success with social media giveaways. Every quarter, we host a giveaway on our social media channels that promotes our newest products and services. The result is we see more excited subscribers, greater brand awareness and more sales and engagement than we did before we started hosting these events. – Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

7. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has been one of the key elements to success for my company. Its effectiveness lies in the influencers introducing the use of our products to our audience as part of a community. This works not just for fashion, but also for awakening the desire to integrate a community. It’s also not just for describing the product or service, but for generating a connection with people of interest. – Kevin Leyes, Leyes Media

8. Personalized Messaging

Personalized messaging is one of the best growing trends in any marketing or advertising activities. It’s done by digging deep into analytics and understanding demographics, interests, niche, recent activities and in-market segments. This is not about customizing someone’s first name and company in automated emails, but about doing a little research and targeting and reaching out to them with a personalized message. – Kelly Richardson, Infobrandz

9. Reputation Management Sites

I recommend working with the right reputation management and review sites. The “right” sites would be the ones that actually have traffic going to their sites that have intent to work with your business. For me, it comes down to search traffic. It’s the best way to expedite exposure and lead generation. You get to piggyback on the work of these review sites, without needing to do SEO or PPC. – Jason Khoo, Zupo

10. Free Educational Content

Our marketing strategy is simple. We help our customers by creating tutorials and similar content that’s entirely free. We solve problems and answer their questions. The traffic we get by doing this is redirected to our other paid products. This has benefited us tremendously, which is why I always recommend starting by simply helping your customers. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

11. Gamification

One of my personal favorite marketing strategies involves gamification. We have “spin-to-win” wheels and events on our website for both first-time visitors and return customers. I’ve found that creating content that keeps users engaged through games results in more email signups, sales and site engagement. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC

12. Truth Marketing

The marketing of care and value is the most important marketing strategy. Marketing isn’t a gimmick. We don’t see it as a way to “present an image” or “package things a certain way.” For us, marketing is about truth-telling, so we do honest work that adds value to our clients and we talk about it loudly on podcasts, blogs and social media. Truth marketing works. – Asim Rais Siddiqui, Tekrevol