Quick answer
The main types of internet marketing strategies are SEO, local SEO, AI search optimization, content marketing, pay-per-click ads, social media, email, remarketing, conversion rate optimization, reviews and reputation, partner marketing, and Connected TV. Some help people find you, some help them choose you, and some bring them back. Most small businesses do best starting with two or three that match how their customers already buy.
Each type covers a different stretch of the digital marketing funnel, so they work best together.
Picture a website, a Facebook page, a few Google ads and an email list that hasn’t heard from you since spring. Each piece is a real type of internet marketing. The trouble is that none of them hands the customer to the next one.
What internet marketing is (short answer)
Internet marketing is any work that brings customers to your business through the web: search results, maps, AI answers, social feeds, inboxes and streaming screens. Most people now use it and "digital marketing" to mean the same thing.
The types overlap on purpose. A blog post feeds SEO, gives social media something to share and gives email a reason to go out. A review helps your local rankings and convinces the person comparing you with a competitor.
That’s why we don’t treat the list below as a menu where you pick one item. What usually goes missing is a plan that connects the pieces, so each channel passes people to the next.
Key takeaways
A mix that works comes down to:
- Start where buyers already are: If people search for what you sell, search comes before reach.
- Get chosen before you get louder: Reviews and a clear website decide whether new traffic turns into calls.
- Follow-up costs less than finding: Email and remarketing reach people who already know your name.
- Judge every channel by key events: Calls, forms and bookings tell you more than clicks or likes.
The 12 strategy types, grouped by the job they do
We sort the 12 into four jobs: getting found, getting chosen, following up and extending reach. These jobs follow the six buyer stages in our digital marketing funnel guide, from first need to repeat business, and buyers often loop back. Each type below starts with what it is, then where it fits for a small or local business.
1. Search engine optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the work that helps your pages show up when people search for what you sell. It covers site structure, page content that matches the search, and links from other sites that vouch for you.
SEO is slow to start and keeps paying off after the work is done, so results build over time. Our SEO services start with structure before content, because a well-organized site gives every new page a better chance to rank.
2. Local SEO and Google Business Profile
Local SEO helps a business show up in map results and local listings when people nearby search. Your Google Business Profile does most of the work here: categories, hours, photos, posts and reviews.
You can’t buy your way up the map. Relevance, distance and how well-known you are decide the order. For a storefront or a service-area business, local SEO keeps your profile, listings and location pages consistent.
3. AI search optimization (GEO)
AI search optimization, sometimes called GEO, aims to get your business named in the answers AI tools and Google’s AI summaries give. Google’s guidance on AI features says there are "no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode."
So strong SEO is the starting point. What helps on top is clear, self-contained answers, consistent business facts across the web and pages that name what you do plainly. Our AI search optimization work builds on that SEO foundation rather than replacing it.
4. Content marketing
Content marketing is publishing useful material, mostly articles and guides, that answers the questions buyers ask before they call. The best topics come from real sales conversations: the objections your sales calls keep hitting and the questions customers ask twice.
One strong article can feed search, give social media something worth sharing and give email a reason to go out. That’s how the types connect. Content marketing works when each piece answers a question buyers ask at one stage of the funnel, not just a keyword.
5. Pay-per-click advertising (Google Ads)
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads put you at the top of search results right away, and you pay each time someone clicks. $5.26 was the average cost per click in WordStream’s Google Ads benchmarks, drawn from more than 16,000 campaigns. That’s real money for a click that doesn’t turn into a call.
We start with the searches closest to buying, like "emergency plumber," before broad terms. PPC is also the fastest way to test which offers people respond to. Good PPC management measures calls and forms, not just clicks.
6. Social media marketing
Social media marketing is building attention and trust on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, through organic posts, paid ads or both. For a local business, social rarely closes the sale by itself. It keeps you familiar, so when the need shows up, yours is the name people search.
Your best social ads won’t look like ads. They’ll look like the useful posts people already stop for. Social media marketing works best when every post or ad offers a clear next step, like a page to visit or an offer to claim.
7. Email marketing
Email marketing is sending planned messages to people who’ve already given you their address: past customers, leads and subscribers. You own the list, so no algorithm decides who sees your message.
Emails that convert move with the customer, sending the next useful message after a quote, a first visit or a purchase. This is the Expand stage of the funnel, where monetization happens: repeat business, renewals and referrals. A short drip email sequence can turn a quote that went quiet into a booked job.
8. Remarketing and retargeting
Remarketing reaches people who visited your site or started to act but didn’t finish. We split it in two. Retargeting uses ad pixels to show your ads to past visitors as they browse elsewhere. Remarketing in the narrower sense uses your own data, like an email to someone who requested a quote and went quiet.
Aim both at the missed conversion, not the missed click: abandoned forms, repeat visits with no call and quotes with no reply. Each of those is a signal of real interest, and you already paid to earn that attention once.
9. Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is improving your website so more of the visitors you already have call, book or buy. It means finding and removing friction: slow pages, long forms, phone numbers you can’t tap and offers buried halfway down the page.
CRO doesn’t add traffic, so it can feel slow. It makes every other type on this list pay better, because more of the people they bring in can act. Conversion rate optimization starts by watching where visitors drop out, then fixing the biggest drop-off first.
10. Reputation management and reviews
Reputation management is earning, answering and showing reviews so buyers trust you when they compare. Just 4% of consumers say they "never" read online business reviews, according to BrightLocal’s consumer review survey. In other words, your reviews sit in front of nearly every buyer before they call.
Strong reviews also help your local SEO, which makes them a strategy, not an afterthought. A steady habit of asking happy customers and replying to each review, good or bad, does more than a one-time push.
11. Partner marketing: affiliates and influencers
Partner marketing borrows someone else’s audience. Affiliates earn a commission on the sales they send, while influencers and local creators get paid to feature you. With influencer marketing, you’re borrowing the trust a creator has built, so choose partners for audience fit, not follower count.
A local creator whose followers live in your service area beats a big account spread across the country. Give partners a brief that leaves room for their own voice. The FTC’s endorsement rules call for disclosures that are "difficult to miss" and "easily understandable by ordinary consumers," so build that into each agreement.
12. Connected TV and streaming ads
Connected TV (CTV) ads run on streaming services watched on a TV screen, and you can target them by area and audience. CTV ad spending grew 16% in 2024, according to IAB’s video ad spend report. Viewers have moved to streaming, and ad budgets are following them there.
For a local business, CTV builds awareness. The ad sparks interest, and the online follow-through closes the sale. Send viewers to a page that matches the ad, and make sure your search results and reviews are ready when they look you up.
How to choose a mix for your budget
Most small businesses can’t run all 12 types at once, and they shouldn’t try. Spreading a modest budget across every channel gives each one too little to work with. We’d rather see two or three types done well, chosen by how your customers already buy.
| Strategy | Speed | Cost shape | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO | Slow, builds over months | Ongoing work, no cost per click | Services people search for |
| Local SEO and Google Business Profile | Medium | Mostly time and upkeep | Storefronts and service areas |
| AI search optimization | Slow | Builds on SEO work | Businesses that answer clear questions |
| Content marketing | Slow | Writing time per piece | Considered or expensive purchases |
| PPC (Google Ads) | Fast | Pay per click | Urgent needs and testing offers |
| Social media | Medium | Time, plus ad spend if boosted | Visual or community-driven businesses |
| Fast once a list exists | Low per message | Repeat and referral business | |
| Remarketing | Fast | Pay per view or click | Sites with steady traffic |
| Conversion rate optimization | Medium | Project-based fixes | Sites with traffic but few leads |
| Reviews and reputation | Medium | Mostly time | Every local business |
| Partner marketing | Medium | Commission or flat fee | Offers with a clear audience |
| Connected TV | Medium | Pay per thousand views | Wider areas and brand awareness |
Our starting order for most small and local businesses runs like this:
- Do people already search for what you sell? Start with SEO and local SEO. Add PPC if you need calls this month and your site is ready to take them.
- Will they choose you when they compare? Fix your reviews and your website’s friction before you buy more traffic.
- Do you have past customers or leads? Start email and remarketing, because following up costs less than finding someone new.
- Do you still need more reach? Only now add social media, partners or Connected TV.
More traffic can’t fix a business that people find and then don’t choose.
Steps two to four follow the bottom-up order in our digital marketing funnel guide: get chosen, then follow up, then add reach. The trade-off is patience. SEO and content take months to build, so pair them with PPC if you need leads while they grow. As organic traffic picks up, you can shift ad budget toward the searches that still need it.
Measuring results
Each type has its own numbers, but they all answer one question: did it bring in customers? Set up key events in Google Analytics for the actions that matter, like calls, form submissions and bookings. Then you can compare channels on the same terms.
Clicks, likes and impressions are signals, not results. They tell you something is happening, while key events tell you whether it’s working. Those signals still matter early on. The funnel guide lists a measure for each stage, from branded searches to referrals, so you can spot where buyers drop out.
A channel that brings visitors but no calls isn’t failing. It’s showing you where buyers drop out on your site.
Review each channel once a month. Put more behind the ones that bring in key events at a cost you can live with. When a channel brings traffic but no action, fix the page it sends people to before you blame the channel. Drop what does neither after a fair test.
Now ask yourself: could you name the channel that brought in your best customer last month?
Ask new customers how they found you, too. Phone calls and word of mouth often start with a search or a post that your analytics can’t see.
Types of internet marketing strategies FAQs
What’s the difference between internet marketing and digital marketing?
In practice, they mean the same thing. Both cover marketing that reaches people through search, social media, email, websites and streaming. Some people use "digital marketing" more broadly to include channels like text messages and digital billboards. For a small business, the label matters far less than how well the channels connect.
Which internet marketing strategy is best for a small business?
The best one is the channel your customers already use to find businesses like yours. For most local service businesses, that’s search: SEO, local SEO and a well-kept Google Business Profile, backed by strong reviews. Add PPC when you need leads quickly, and email once you have customers to stay in touch with.
Should I start with SEO or PPC?
Start with both if you can, and lean on whichever matches your timeline. PPC brings calls quickly but stops when you stop paying. SEO takes months to build but keeps working after the effort. A common path is to run PPC while SEO grows, then trim ad spend as organic leads pick up.
How much should a small business spend on internet marketing?
There isn’t one right figure. Start from what a new customer is worth to you over time, then work back to what you can afford to spend to win one. Fund two or three channels properly rather than spreading the same budget thin across many, and give each a fair test before judging it.
Getting help in Reno
If you take one thing from this, pick the few types your customers already use and tie them together.
White Peak is a web design and digital marketing agency in downtown Reno, laser focused on visibility, conversion and monetization for our clients. We help businesses in Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Truckee and nationwide choose the right mix and connect each channel to the next.
If you want internet marketing in Reno that works as one plan, book a free consultation. We’ll look at where your customers come from today.
