21 digital advertising and marketing instruments you have to begin a enterprise
Did you know that there are more than 30 million small businesses in the US alone?
With a number like this, small business owners need a competitive advantage. When building a business, you are likely looking for ways to differentiate yourself from the competition. To achieve this, you need a good marketing strategy and access to the best digital marketing tools.
In this post, I am going to describe 21 digital marketing tools you will need to start a business. You may be familiar with a marketing tool or two here. others may be new to you.
Any of these tools can help you get the competitive advantage you are looking for, from simplifying your social media marketing efforts and project management to finding freelancers.
Are you ready to grow your digital marketing business?
Let's start then.
Get This: Eight out of ten marketers use email marketing.
Don't wait for that. Instead, you should implement an email marketing strategy on day one.
With more than 12 million customers, MailChimp has established itself as one of the world's leading email marketing providers and digital marketing tools.
While there are alternatives, this tool remains one of the best for many reasons:
- The story dates back to 2001, long before most companies started email marketing
- Self-service support options that ensure you get answers to all your questions quickly
- Free plan for those with fewer than 2,000 subscribers and those who do not send more than 12,000 emails per month
If you're starting a business, it's unlikely to have more than 2,000 subscribers. Because of this, the free tool allows you to get started with MailChimp early if you get wet with email marketing and then switch to a paid plan when you scale up.
When it comes to marketing, sales and CRM software, HubSpot has become one of the top players.
In this post, we will focus on the marketing software solutions. Here's what the company has to say about this digital marketing tool:
From attracting visitors to closing customers, HubSpot brings your entire marketing funnel together.
You know how important it is to have your marketing funnel working properly. With this software you have access to tools that help with:
- to blog
- SEO
- social media
- website
- Lead management
- Home pages
- Calls to action
- Marketing automation
- Analytics
When you rely on HubSpot's all-in-one marketing software, no stone is left unturned. That is why it is the first choice for those starting a business.
With everything you need in one place, you don't have to drag yourself in many different directions. This will help you succeed in the early days and help you grow.
Trello is a digital marketing tool that helps you manage projects and stay on the same page with your team – a solid digital marketing practice if you're looking to save time and frustration.
For example, you can share blog posts on Trello before you publish them. This gives others on your team a chance to review the post, weigh their thoughts, and make changes that could strengthen the piece before it goes live.
In the past, before the days of Trello and similar programs, email was the best way to collaborate with your team. While this is still helpful to some extent, it can lead to confusion, missed messages, and frustration.
With Trello, everything related to your online marketing strategy can be shared in the same place. Setting up a board only takes a few minutes. Even better, you can quickly invite all of your staff who can all jump into the action right away.
Trello isn't the only digital marketing tool of its kind, but it is by far one of the best. When it comes to collaborating with others on marketing tasks, this tool is hard to beat.
Social media plays a big role in the success of a company, regardless of size, age or industry. I would even argue that social media marketing is a must to be successful in this digital age.
Using digital marketing tools like Hootsuite, you can schedule social media posts in advance and save a lot of time.
Hootsuite has tons of features to help you grow your business. For example, you can:
- Identify influencers for your marketing team and leads for your sales team
- Reply to comments and mentions through the dashboard – there's no need to visit every single platform
- Use pre-written answers
- Schedule posts when your audience is most active (even when you're asleep!).
Social media marketing isn't as difficult as it sounds, especially if you rely on tools like Hootsuite. With this particular tool you can plan and manage social media profiles for more than 30 platforms.
Imagine doing this by hand without a central dashboard to guide you. It would be enough to frustrate even the most seasoned entrepreneur, let alone a new business owner. Let Hootsuite take over like the social media marketing manager.
As one of Google's best free tools, analytics should be part of your digital marketing strategy from the start. I would even argue that it is one of the most powerful digital marketing tools out there.
Adding the analytics code to your website only takes a few minutes, so you can track every action of every visitor.
This is viewed by many as nothing more than a traffic tool, but it can have a huge impact on your marketing strategy if you know what you are doing.
Take the ability to see where your traffic is coming from, for example:
You may find that a particular social media campaign is driving a lot of traffic to your website. With this data, you can adjust your future strategy to achieve the same results.
Or maybe you find that a certain set of keywords does wonders for your organic traffic. Again, this is a great way to get your attention to these keywords and make sure you keep them in mind when creating content later.
Google Analytics is not one of those digital marketing tools that you can ignore. Installing it early is an important decision in your digital marketing strategy. The data you can collect is extremely valuable.
The slogan of this digital marketing tool says it all:
Track, analyze and optimize your digital marketing performance. See what's working and what's not across all campaigns, mobile and web.
It is good that you want to spend so much time on digital marketing in the early days of your business. But do you really want to make decisions that have no impact?
You need to track and analyze your every move as this is the only way to focus on the tactic that will offer the best return on investment (ROI).
With KISSmetrics, you can easily see what is working and what is not in all of your campaigns.
Take the analytics products, for example. You can use a funnel report to determine if there are any "leaks" in your company. Here is a screenshot of what to expect:
Starting at $ 120 a month, KISSmetrics isn't the cheapest digital marketing tool on this list. Even so, it's one thing to think about when your business starts operating.
With a wide variety of products, the insights you get will be invaluable in growing your business.
Are you planning to spend a lot of time on social media marketing?
While this is a great way to target your audience and drive traffic to your website, it will only work in your favor if you have a solid plan in place.
Tools like Followerwonk are designed to help you improve your social media marketing strategy, such as: B. by digging into your Twitter analytics data.
I included this digital marketing tool on the list for two reasons: It is easy to use and extremely effective.
Followerwonk divides its service into three different categories:
- Find: Use the tool to search Twitter bios and compare accounts.
- Analyze: Divide your list of followers by bio, location, who they follow and many other criteria.
- Optimize: Adjust your strategy based on the wins and losses of followers to understand what type of content works best.
The only downside to Followerwonk is that it can't be used with other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. However, if you have big plans for Twitter, this is a digital marketing tool that you should be using frequently.
Although you may not use it every day, it can come in handy from time to time. After all, it is imperative that you understand your audience.
If WordPress is the content management system (CMS) of your choice, don't hesitate to install the all-in-one SEO pack plugin.
A large part of your digital marketing strategy should be based on search engine optimization (SEO). This digital marketing tool ensures that you are always making good decisions about your content and its attractiveness to search engines.
Some of the most important functions of the plugin are:
- XML sitemap support
- Extended canonical urls
- Automatic generation of META tags
- Compatible with most other plugins
- Automatically notifies major search engines, including Google and Bing, of changes to the website
While all of these features are exciting, it's something else that has made it one of the most popular WordPress plugins of all time: its ease of use.
Here is a screenshot showing a small part of the tool's back end:
You don't have to make a lot of decisions to get started. And if you're ever confused about what to do, help is there. All you have to do is click on the "?" You can get more information and advice.
The all-in-one SEO pack plugin has over a million active installs. You don't have to search far and wide to find competitors, but there is a reason so many people are using this digital marketing tool.
Not only is it free and easy, but the results cannot be denied either. It will definitely help your website from an SEO perspective, which all new businesses need.
BuzzSumo is a big deal for people who want to learn more about their market.
When starting a business, it's safe to say that you know a thing or two about your industry and your main competitors. However, once you look around you will find that there are tons of data to be used to your advantage.
If you want to better understand your competition or what type of content works best on search engines and your target audience, you don't need another digital marketing tool by your side.
A BuzzSumo search results page looks something like this:
In addition, each outcome has high-level data associated with it:
This information can often be useful, such as: B. When creating content for your blog.
Why are you guessing what is doing best in your niche? You can use BuzzSumo to answer this question with 100 percent accuracy.
On doing this search, you can see that the top result has around 20,000 social shares. You now know what to strive for if you want to achieve the same success.
As a huge fan of BuzzSumo, this is a digital marketing tool that I use on a regular basis. Even if you don't do a lot with the data at first, each search will help you better understand your competition and audience.
Ever ask yourself the question: what works and what doesn't with my website?
Crazy Egg can step in and provide help.
There are two keys here:
- You can use Crazy Egg to make website changes that will produce better results.
- You don't need much, if any, IT help to get started.
If you're new to your business, you don't want to spend countless hours dealing with IT problems. Unfortunately, this happens a lot when it comes to split testing. Unless you use Crazy Egg, of course.
The tool offers numerous functions such as:
- Heatmaps and mouse recording
- Analysis and reporting
- Platforms and Integrations
- Targeting and Personalization
- Research and user feedback
Having a tool that will help you understand what your website visitors like and dislike so that you can maximize your sales and leads means you have to try Crazy Egg. It's one of those digital marketing tools that you don't know you need until you use it once.
Not only is keyword research a challenging task, it can get expensive with the price tag for premium keyword research tools. Your typical free software doesn't offer you much, but UberSuggest isn't your typical free software.
Overall, this digital marketing tool is easy for beginners as the dashboard is easy to navigate and you can quickly find the data you want. First, you'll enter a root keyword or domain that you want to investigate. You get up to three free searches per day for the free version and can also upgrade to paid software.
UberSuggest provides useful keyword information like Total Search Volume, Difficulty Level, and Difficulty Paid Level if you want to run an advertising campaign for that keyword.
As you work your way down, you'll see historical data showing you how the keyword has performed over time. This is helpful for identifying keywords that are seasonal or currently popular, but which can wither over time.
You will also get keyword ideas and suggestions relevant to what you are looking for so you can update legacy content or develop a content marketing plan.
Overall, UberSuggest is an amazing free keyword research tool that is a great choice for beginners and has sufficient value as a paid tool for those who also scale.
CoFoundersLab is a great digital marketing tool for small businesses that are growing but need a little help taking things to the next level. With the help of the AI, you can find a co-founder, an additional member or an advisor based on certain criteria.
The best digital marketing tools make life easier. CoFoundersLab aims to help create a large ecosystem of business owners, entrepreneurs, consultants and advisors so that you can find what you need much easier in the current stage of your business.
For example, you can search for someone with a specific skill and find them instantly without posting on job boards, interviewing, and onboarding. If you're looking for an SEO content creator, just fill out these criteria and you'll be instantly connected to someone who can take on that role.
It's similar to other freelance platforms, but what sets CoFoundersLab apart is that you can find someone who is on the same level. If you are looking for someone to give your business financial support or to support you in your venture equally, this may be the right place.
When it comes to indispensable digital marketing tools, Adobe Sign does more than the cut. It's a cloud-based e-signature service that allows you to use less paper, save time and retrieve signatures with the help of an automated signature system. You can send and sign documents and manage the entire process from your desktop or mobile device.
There are also integrations that allow you to record any signatures received so that you can fall back on it if you lose something important.
This simple but useful tool solves a huge problem that many companies face. More and more people are working remotely and may not have access to printers and scanners. This creates delays in your workflow and can frustrate customers when you are unable to get what they want while waiting for signatures and approvals.
Adobe Sign can also be used from anywhere on any device. Someone can be in the car on their way to a meeting and log in with the tip of their finger on their mobile device. You don't have to print, scan, fax, anything. It's completely digital, safe and secure.
DropBox is an integral part of today's digital business. This way, all parts of your business can be brought together in one place to avoid clutter and save time looking for things.
Organization is key to a successful business, and downloading and sharing files just doesn't make it anymore. When people work from home, not everyone can download, misplace, or potentially misuse personal company files on their computer.
DropBox prevents this by being a fully cloud-based document sharing platform that lets you set permission levels so that specific people can only see what they need.
You can also connect other tools like Slack and Zoom to DropBox so you have everything in one place. All company data stays in one place so it's organized, secure, and billed.
If you're still manually downloading files to your computer, attaching them to emails, and sending them into space, DropBox is a much more efficient and secure way to keep track of documents and document sharing across your company.
I don't know where I would be without the full range of Gmail products. We used to create content on the Word platform, download it, attach it to an email and send it.
The next person would mark it up with notes and adjustments, send it back, and the process would start over.
Fortunately, those days are long gone.
Google Docs lets you share documents in real time and actually tag them with the writer looking at them so you can see what they're doing. There is a chat feature and a suggestion area where you can ask questions and provide answers about why a particular customization was made.
Again, there is some level of security and protection. Different authorization levels from "View" to "Edit" give you complete control over your documents. When you send a document for reference to something, you may not want that person to make changes to it without making a copy for themselves. This can be the Gmail suite of products.
Plus, everything is synced with your Google Calendar. If you talk about setting up a call in three days in an email, you can instantly schedule that appointment on your calendar and you will get reminders across all your devices.
oDeskWork is a freelance platform that connects you with the right virtual assistant or freelancer to support your business. At some point every company has to start hiring. No matter what business you're in, you need a support system to grow and scale because you can't do everything.
This is where digital marketing tools like oDeskWork come into play. You can upload recent projects you've completed, browse profiles, and communicate with potential candidates.
The platform also offers payment protection, so you can make sure you're getting the services you've been expecting. Payments are only released to the freelancer if you are happy with the job done.
oDeskWork has experts and freelancers in all sorts of niches including digital marketing, virtual assistance, transcription, proofreading, writing, editing, SEO, WordPress, and more.
Upwork is a freelance platform that connects you with qualified candidates who can help your business grow, making it an indispensable digital marketing tool. What I like the most about Upwork is the transparency you get and the fact that you can see all kinds of work that the freelancers have done.
For example, if you were looking for someone to create a WordPress website for you, you wouldn't hire someone without first seeing what kind of work they do, would you?
The platform shows you examples of their work, their professional success rating, a description of their skills, their hourly rate, and any badges they've earned for continuous performance.
The last thing you have to do when looking for digital marketing agency tools is to waste time on people who can't deliver. Upwork ensures that this does not also happen with the fiduciary protection. None of the money you pay for a job is released until you are satisfied with it.
I also find Upwork to be a great place to find long-term working relationships with freelancers that you can continually use versus a one-time job.
I like to think of Fiverr as Upworks' little brother. If you want to build long-term working relationships and hire someone who really offers you premium service, you should turn to Upwork.
However, sometimes you are just looking for a quick job where someone can turn around quickly and at an affordable price. For example, if you need someone to create a quick logo for an affiliate site for $ 5, Fiverr is the way to go.
One thing I really like about Fiverr is that you can use the search feature to quickly find freelancers. Enter the service you're interested in and you'll find information like its overall rating and average startup cost.
Fiverr also offers titles such as "Top Rated Salesperson" and "Level 2 Salesperson" for certain freelancers. You can use this information to help you determine what experience you are looking for in the job you are about to complete. The best digital marketing tools offer this type of confidence.
This tool is best for one-time jobs that are on a smaller budget and are not that difficult. However, I wouldn't recommend hiring Fiverr for overly important tasks like link building or content creation.
Do you have to stay at work? This digital marketing tool can help.
OmniFocus is a task management tool that lets you manage all of your operations in one place. You can keep track of everything that's happening through your browser or mobile device.
You can tag specific projects, assign them to the person you want to complete, and set due dates so you can make your week as productive as possible. Once the work comes in, you can hire support agents to get the job done and close it when it's done.
One of my favorite things to do at OmniFocus is forecasting, which gives you an overview of your future tasks, including repetitive tasks that might only run once a quarter, every six months, or even every few years. This ensures that nobody forgets anything.
The main disadvantage is that this tool is only available to Apple users at the moment. For all of the Windows and Android folks out there, you'll have to go for something else like Trello or ClickUp for now.
We all know Zoom as the video conferencing software that brings people together, no matter where on the planet they are. We all face our own unique remote work situation, but sometimes we still need to connect, and Zoom makes it possible. The best digital marketing tools help bring businesses together.
You can share your screen, draw on the screen, record meetings, and invite others to join. Zoom offers free video conferencing for up to 100 participants for up to 40 minutes.
In the past, when you have a one-on-one meeting that lasts longer than 40 minutes, I've found that Zoom often extends the meeting for free and with no time limit.
Toggl is helping put together this list of digital marketing tools. For all of your work, freelancers to manage, and documents to share. You need to have an idea of how long everything will take.
This tool does it with time tracking, reporting and project planning. Toggl lets you show exactly how long a task or project will take so you know how many resources to allocate for the next time.
Toggl offers various tools for time recording, project planning and candidate checking. This makes it a comprehensive tool for companies managing a remote team.
Conclusion
Starting or growing a business isn't easy, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming either.
The first step is to develop a strong digital marketing strategy that includes social media marketing, search engine optimization, email marketing, and consistent, valuable content that really engages your audience.
To ensure that your business is successful, you need to use the right digital marketing tools at the right time. I hope this list will help you in your digital marketing endeavors and bring you the success you want.
Would you like to add other tools to this list? Did you use any of these when you started your small business? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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