Digital marketing has revolutionised the way we connect and interact with customers. I barely even stop to think about traditional marketing now. Don’t get me wrong, it has its place, but the world is digital. The physical world is only to become more intertwined with the digital world, and marketing will change for it. To help you and your team to succeed in digital marketing, you will need to have the right tools. You wouldn’t fit a boiler with the wrong tools, so why would you do the same with your marketing? Okay, so tools are important- but which digital marketing tools are the best?
In truth, the answer is simple but slightly frustrating. It depends on what you need the tool for, that’s a simple truth. For example, if you’re looking for something that can help you to schedule your social media posts, then you won’t be wanting to use Google Analytics. Thankfully, we’re going to be going over a range of different tools. These tools will all have something different to offer you in terms of assisting with your digital marketing campaigns. If you have any suggestions for some tools that you think should be on this list, drop them down in the comments.
Ahrefs: SEO Digital Marketing Tool
Ahrefs as a business are premier providers of SEO solutions for other businesses. Their service is all-in-one, meaning that you’ll be able to do everything through them. There’s also a free repository of learning materials and a supportive community. They’re definitely a go-to if you’re new to SEO and you don’t necessarily have the experience to do everything yourself. They’ll point you in the right direction. Their interface is also incredibly easy to use, with a dashboard that can be used to easily navigate their platform. They have big brands on their books too with Facebook, LinkedIn, Uber and many more where that came from.
So, going a bit into what these actual tools do, with their Site Explorer, you can see your search traffic and backlinks. Additionally, their keywords tool helps you find great keywords and see how they rank. That way you’ll be able to see what kind of traffic you can get. Their Site Audit can help you to see underneath the SEO and how your website is performing. This can be useful for boosting your ranks. Their Rank Tracker does what it says on the tin and helps you get insights into your ranking performance. Finally, the Content Explorer helps you to see what content is working best in your sector.
Yoast: SEO Digital Marketing Tool
Yoast SEO is a fantastic plugin that can be implemented on your WordPress website. It’s also particularly useful for blogger, take it from me. I always use Yoast when writing these articles for you. There are a few key benefits to using Yoast that makes it worthwhile. Firstly, you’ll get more visitors to your website from search engines. Additionally, you’ll get more visitors finding your site through various social media platforms. Finally, you’ll be able to make your content more engaging for your readers. This will keep them on your site for longer and make them more likely to want what you have to offer.
Their platform has a number of free courses, with additional ones being unlocked after subscription. You’ll be able to use their tool to perfectly optimise the text on your website for the keywords you want to rank for. You’ll also be able to get a great glimpse into the readability of your text, with actionable insights to help you improve. There are many more reasons why you should be using Yoast for your website content. In terms of the subscription, the free version is more limited in functionality whilst the premium costs £89 per year. When you break it down over a monthly period, it’s not that much, so why not get it?
Mailchimp: Email Digital Marketing Tool
If you’re running an email marketing campaign, then Mailchimp is going to be a great option for you. With their platform, you’ll be able to bring audience information, your marketing channels and actionable insights under one banner. This will help you to reach your marketing goals much quicker. I don’t recommend that you get a website with them, or hosting your domain with them. Although, the other tools that they have to offer are incredibly useful. They have different pricing plans targeted at businesses of various sizes, with some features being exclusive to higher tiers.
- Free
- Essentials: Starts at $9.99 per month.
- Standard: Starts at $14.99 per month.
- Premium: Starts at $299.99 per month.
The platform allows you to effectively manage your audience with a variety of tools, including a CRM system and sign-up forms, this is in addition to other features. Their creative tools allow you to make dynamic content that will be sure to catch the eye effectively. You can also automate large parts of your marketing functionality, which can save you time and money. Finally, you’re able to get access to have a host of different insights and analytics. This includes reporting, recommendations, surveys and more.
Google Analytics: Digital Marketing Tool
If you haven’t heard of Google Analytics, then you may be new to marketing. It is one of the quintessential tools for anyone that has a website. There are many reasons for this, but mainly it easily allows you to see how many people are viewing your site. That might be a little too basic, you can also see session duration and how many pages were opened. You can even segment the data by locality and device usage. Something that’s really useful is being able to see how many people you convert from your website. To top it off, it’s free.
The process to set your website up on Google Analytics isn’t very difficult. You need to make sure that you have a Gmail account and never let anyone set up your account with their own email. If you do, you risk losing all of your data when they leave, taking it along with them.
Canva Business: Graphic Design Tool
I’ll be the first to admit, I never really thought that I could do graphic design. I still wouldn’t say that I’m first-class either, but the Canva Business graphic design tool helps. You can choose from a variety of different graphic types, including social media, flyers, banners, infographics and more. Then, you can use a catalogue of pre-created icons, shapes, photos, animation and more to create your graphic. Once you’re done with your creation, you can then export it easily into a number of different file formats.
One of the things I liked the most about my experience with Canva is the fact that you can either use the free version or pay. With the free version, you don’t get access to their entire asset catalogue, even though it’s still extensive. Despite this, with the paid version you will have everything you need to transform the graphic design in your business. The Pro plan runs at £99 per year and the Enterprise plan starts at £24 per month, per person. Another great thing about them is that they offer their Pro plan free of charge to non-profit organisations! So, if you’re a non-profit or a profit-making organisation, you should use Canva.
Trello: Project Management Tool
Trello is a fantastic tool to use if your marketing team needs a project management tool. When I used to work as a freelance writer, I would always be using Trello. This was initially at the suggestion of one of my clients. So, he shows me how it works and I fall in love. The Trello platform is an online-based app that allows you to build and operate lists. This sounds dull, but the use of the Kanban board style makes the platform incredibly intuitive and easy. It’s as simple as creating a task board, assigning people to it and getting to work.
The free version of Trello is absolutely brilliant. You get more out of it and than you do with most free software versions. With it, you get access to 10 boards, unlimited cards, unlimited team members, unlimited file storage and more. Despite this, the Business Class and Enterprise packages both offer massively increased functionality from the free version. If you’re wanting to get a bit more advanced, the Business Class package will set you back by $10 per user, per month. So, if you need to collaborate on a project with multiple moving parts, Trello is a great option for you.
HubSpot: Complete Marketing Solution
HubSpot is another example of a company that provides a brilliant digital marketing solution. Personally, at DMS we use the HubSpot CRM to keep track of our customers and handle their accounts. It’s not only the CRM that you can get, but you could also up the ante and go for their Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub and CMS Hub. Be warned though, if you’re getting any additional bolt-ons then the cost of your plan can increase massively. Alas, getting all of the bells and whistles is going to cost more than a small business will be able to afford.
The company’s Starter Bundle includes all of the packages in the Starter subscription. This would normally cost £129 per month, but the company is currently offering a COVID-sale. Even more ludicrous are the Professional Growth Suite at £1,102+ per month and the Enterprise Growth Suite at £3,453+ per month. That’s not to say that these digital marketing tools aren’t great, but they’re not exactly accessible to smaller businesses with more limited budgets.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we’ve looked at a number of different digital marketing tools. There’s not one digital marketing tool that’s better than all the others, they all have their own benefits and disadvantages. It really depends on what you want to use them for. If you want to improve the SEO on your site, then I suggest that you use Ahrefs and the Yoast SEO plugin. Additionally, if you want a detailed breakdown of the traffic on your site and trends related to that, you might want to consider using Google Analytics. Of course, there are alternatives, but I can only recommend something I’ve had experience with.
Canva is one of the premier digital marketing tools for business. It allows you to get the most out of your marketing content by allowing you to design like a pro, even if you’re not one. Mailchimp is an example of one of the premier email marketing tools out there, but they offer a lot more than that. If you want to manage a project easily, with no fuss then you should use Trello. Finally, if you have the money and you’re looking for the full solution, get HubSpot.