By Brian Kearney
It’s 2016, and if you’re not investing in tools to advance your marketing efforts, then you can probably bet you’ll be among the 80% of businesses that fail within 18 months.
Understandably, the digital space can be a confusing one, and if you don’t have the budget to assemble a top-tier marketing team, you’ll need to invest in marketing tools that will take your promotional efforts to the next level.
I’ve compiled a list of 7 marketing tools you should think about investing in. Give your business that competitive advantage, and take into consideration the following online tools:
- Constant Contact Email marketing technology is used by more than 80% of B2B and B2C companies, and email marketing strategy is something you should implement the day you launch your business. Constant Contact is one of the top email marketing service providers, and is an extremely user-friendly tool to take advantage of.
- Yesware. Specifically made for sales teams, Yesware shows exactly who opened your latest emails, and tracks link clicks. It also syncs with Salesforce, if that’s something your sales team happens to be using. Another great use for Yesware is for your PR team to track who has opened their PR pitches, and when a good time to follow up would be.
- Trello. Trello is a tool that helps you manage projects and for teams to stay on the same page. It’s a platform that allows you to share, for example, a blog post with your team before publishing so you can receive feedback. There are plenty of tools out there like Trello, but this happens to be my personal favorite.
- Google Analytics. Like email marketing, Google Analytics should be part of your online marketing strategy from the very beginning. GA is quite an amazing tool, with it taking only seconds to add the code to your website, you are able to track every single action by every single visitor to your website. When looking at things like where traffic came from (referral, organic search, social, direct), Google Analytics can have an immense impact on your marketing strategy if you know how to utilize the data. New to Google Analytics? Check out our post, “A Smart Start for Beginners,” to learn how to report the data that’s most important to you.
- Moz Tools. Moz is a leading SEO hub with tips, information, and just about every answer there is to any SEO-related question. Moz offers tools that help you keep a closer eye on your marketing campaign, from spotting opportunities to building quality backlinks and assisting you with keyword research that’ll save you hours of work. Looking to learn more about SEO strategy? Check out our post, “Tips for Large and Enterprise Companies.”
- it. Commun.it is tied to Twitter, and allows for users to monitor the activity of influencers, supporters, and engaged members. Is also tells you who has unfollowed your account, which tweets have resulted in sales, along with other useful social information. Looking for ideas on fun, engaging social content? Try running a social media contest!
- Unbounce. Unbounce is a very cool new service for marketing “beginners” that allows you to create tons of different versions of landing pages. Hosting them on their server, you can use Unbounce to push these landing pages live, test them, and even gather analytics within minutes (for those who aren’t pros at coding).
Whether you’re deeply immersed in the world of online marketing, or just starting out, the tools above are extremely helpful. What other tools would you add to this list? Add them as a comment below!
Looking for more articles on digital marketing and design? Check out the Blue Fountain Media blog.
Brian Kearney is a Digital PR Specialist at Blue Fountain Media. When he isn’t in the office, Brian enjoys Tweeting, traveling with his friends, and spending weekends at his lake house. Follow Brian on Twitter: @KearneyBrian.
