Marketers are a busy bunch. Every day they manage a slew of projects, campaigns, and clients, all while coordinating efforts with other teams and immediately reacting to change. The right tools can make a marketer's life a lot easier, but with the overwhelming number of options, where do you start?
Take a look at our list of top marketing tools and marketing project management software that will help you build leads, opportunities, and revenue.
Inbound & Content Marketing
Inbound & content marketers work to attract, nurture, inform, and entertain potential customers to earn their business and loyalty. They examine how today’s consumers make buying decisions and place helpful, interesting content at each stage of that process.
- Hubspot's inbound marketing platform
- Up Close & Persona to help generate marketing personas
- A/B testing tools like Optimizely to analyze and tweak your current inbound strategy
- Google Analytics to examine where your traffic is coming from and how customers are interacting with your website
- Content discovery tools like ContentGems, Scoop.it, Triberr, or Trapit
- Collaboration tools like Wrike for brainstorming, writing, peer editing, and task delegation
- Online publication tools like Paper.li, Flipboard or Kuratur to organize and distribute your content
- Disqus to respond to readers who comment on your blog
- Tools to help recruit and recognize brand advocates, like Influitive
Graphics & Multimedia
Did you know that YouTube reaches more U.S. adults aged 18-34 than any cable network? As the content landscape grows increasingly crowded, more marketers are turning to engaging visuals and videos to grab customers' fleeting attention and stand out from the competition.
- Video platforms like Brightcove or Vidyard
- Webinar platform like GoToMeeting or BrightTALK
- Piktochart to create infographics
- Canva to make instant graphics for web or print
- Slideshare, List.ly, YouTube, and Pinterest accounts for distributing and curating content
- AdWords for Video and YouTube TrueView for creating video ads
Search Engine Marketing & SEO
Search engine marketers increase a site’s visibility in search results pages, either through search engine optimization (SEO) or paid advertising. SEO experts determine the top keywords that people are searching for about your topic or market and then include those keywords in strategic spots on the website and blog.
- Google Keyword Planner to find top keywords, as well as long-tail and niche keywords
- Yahoo Search Marketing or Bing Ads to post ads on search results pages, blogs and websites
- Optimization, reporting and link building tools like Moz, Raven SEO Tools or SEMRush
Social Media Marketing & Social Advertising
Social media networks help marketers increase brand awareness, engage with customers, and direct traffic to the company website. Marketers package and post updates readers will want to share, manage online communities, and run paid advertising campaigns to reach new customers.
- Social media accounts or pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. for sharing internal and curated content
- Sprout, Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule social media posts, determine the best times to publish, and discover the most popular types of posts
- Followerwonk breaks down followers into specific demographics
- Mention and Social Mention track where brands — or certain keywords — get mentioned across the web, including social media sites, discussion forums, and blogs
- NinjaOutreach identifies influencers based on keyword. Filter by tags to find bloggers, influencers, and companies to refine your search
- Sprinklr or SocialBakers analytics tools to determine click-through rates, cost-per-click, and overall reach and engagement
- Viral Content Buzz account to share stories that interest you, and earn tweets and likes on your own content
Mobile Marketing
Mobile is overtaking desktop internet usage, as more customers are defaulting to digesting content on smartphones and tablets. And because people carry their devices with them, marketers can send personalized messages directly to them via SMS, push notifications, in-app ads, QR codes, and more.
- Digital Advertising Alliance Principles to check opt-in and privacy guidelines
- MailChimp Mobile to manage your MailChimp email campaigns while on the go
- Mogreet Express or Textus.biz to exchange SMS messages with customers
- Mobile ad creation and distribution tools, like Huzzah Media and Adagogo
- Location-specific mobile marketing tools like MobSav and Thumbvista
- Mobile app creation and testing tools, like BuildFire and TestFlight
Email Marketing & Marketing Automation
82% of consumers open marketing emails, and 66% of them have made a purchase as a direct result of an email. In order to attain that success, email marketers must send helpful, relevant messages to recipients and respect customers’ inboxes by not sending spammy emails.
- AWeber, MailChimp and Constant Contact are popular tools to manage email marketing
- Hubspot, Marketo, ExactTarget, Eloqua, and Customer.io are marketing automation tools to help with email campaigns as well as other marketing channels
- MailChimp's subject line suggestion tool to refine your all-important subject line copy
- Email Spam Test checks to make sure messages are compliant with applicable SPAM laws
- See how the email looks on various clients and devices with Litmus
The marketing landscape is constantly shifting as new strategies and tools arise. Stay ahead of the curve with these 6 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch.
