If you’re in the marketing industry, you need to be using the right tools to get the job done. That means you should know where to get them, and have done your homework on how they should be used. Getting them wrong can mean trouble with your marketing efforts, and that’s something you’ll definitely want to avoid. You don’t want to see that you’re falling behind even with your best efforts.
That’s disheartening, and it can also end up costing you a lot of money, in the long run, in the form of failed campaigns and lost customers. Fortunately, there are ways you can get the knowledge and help you need to market successfully, and it’s all readily available to you. Here are some categories and tool suggestions to consider, so you can choose all the right tools for your marketing needs.
1. Content Organization
- Evernote – even if you have great content, you have to be able to find it all, so you can work with it properly! That’s why you need a great workspace, where you can have everything you need. Evernote can give you that, so you can take all the great ideas you have, and move them closer to completion. By being able to take your research, writing, pictures, and other materials and have them all in one space, you’ll stay organized and on track.
- Person – Finding your target customers are a big part of getting your marketing efforts just right. With Person, you can create personas based on the information you have about your target audience. That can help you see what kind of content and marketing you’ll really need to consider, so you can do the right thing on a consistent basis. Being able to store all that data in one place and work with it with more standard content can really help you move forward.
2. Research
- Open Enterprise Intelligence– How can you know what your customers want and need, if you haven’t done any research on them and what’s important to them right now? Open Enterprise Intelligence can help with that! You get up-to-date information on how well that particular content performed. When you find something that performed really well, you can run with it and get more hits.
- Feedly – by having all your RSS feeds and other information in one place, it’s easy to keep track of everything that’s going on in the news or only on one niche market. Then you can take the information you learned and use it to provide the high-quality content your customers are craving. Staying on top of news and happenings in your industry and around the world is vital if you want to be taken seriously.
- VWO – there’s more to research than just the latest trends or current news program. You also need to know what’s working when it comes to your website and online presence. With VWO, you can research and test your headlines, website copy, and website design, to find out what customers are going to respond to most easily. It’s market research, made simple.
3. Creation
- visual.ly – Being able to create visual experiences for your customers is important. Infographics, interactive experiences, videos, and related content all matter. With Visual.ly, you can produce great-looking visuals, and it’s easy to use. Don’t assume your customers want to read walls of text all the time. Breaking it up with graphics can really grab their attention.
- Piktochart– Want high-quality infographics? Piktochart is the place to get them. You can create a number of beautiful graphics, and you won’t have to spend a lot of time doing it – but you’ll still be able to impress your customers with what you’ve done. Add some graphics into that text, and you’ll see more people respond to what you have to offer.
- WriterAccess – need good content? You want WriterAccess. The company is a vast marketplace of amazing writers, and you can get high-quality writing on nearly any subject. Don’t skimp on the content, or customers will see that you aren’t taking things seriously. Hire a professional writer, and get your content done right!
- Mailchimp – When it’s time to create mailing lists and send out information to customers, MailChimp can help you get things done. It’s a great service provider when it comes to email marketing, and you can send emails, track results, and manage your contacts, all in one convenience place, so you know what works.
4. Promotion
- Mention – you want to know who’s talking about you, don’t you? With Mention, you can see what people are saying about your company, and about your competition, right now, across a number of sites. That way you can get involved in the conversation in real time, so you don’t miss an opportunity to promote yourself to your customers and showcase what you have to offer.
- ReferralSnip – most of the promotion you’ll be getting, especially if your business is small, is through word of mouth. Help expand that with your own referral program, so customers who like what you do can refer other people to your business. Lots of people like being helpful, and having a referral program just encourages them to offer that help to your business.
- Buffer– If you want to manage your social media presence so you can stay active when it comes to current conversations, you want Oktopost. There, you can focus on social media, see what’s being said about you, and see how effective the content you’re sharing really is. Doing that all in one place makes things a lot easier.
5. Content Marketing & Analytics
- Google Analytics – Google Analytics is basically the gold standard when it comes to tracking what you’re doing and how you’re doing. You can use it to learn about the number of people viewing your site, where they are in the world, and countless other tidbits of information. It’s one of the best tools to have in your arsenal.
- Open Enterprise Intelligence – If you want Google Analytics integrated with Drupal, you want LevelTen. It’s your answer to ROI and will give you insight into everything you need to know about your site and its customers. The more you know about the people you’re trying to reach and how they’re interacting with your site and content, the better off you’ll be.
Are yo using some of these tools already? What are some of your favorites? Let me know in the comments below!