Benjamin Franklin once remarked that “the best investment is in the tools of one’s own trade.” But marketers are faced with a unique, if somewhat fortunate, challenge. With so many marketing tools online, how to select those which will can really help transform a business?
This guide aims to help answer that question. Here we detail some of the best in class marketing tools for small business. These range from SEO to design to analytics to marketing management tools. What they have in common is that they can each make a substantial difference to any small business. What’s more, where possible we have aimed to highlight marketing tools which are either free or have low cost option.
Before deep diving into the best digital marketing tools, let’s take a look at the major trends which will define online marketing for 2019 and beyond.
#1 AI & machine learning
Analysts at Gartner predicted that by 2020 AI will be included in most new software products and services.
Artificial intelligence (AI), and more specifically machine learning, will become pervasive in marketing software and services. Machine learning leverages huge data sets that would be impossible for a human marketer. This enables marketing software to identify trends that may otherwise go unnoticed. It also allows businesses to respond faster and with greater personalisation to the needs of their clients. Through personalisation businesses can present targeted offers at the point in time when customers are most likely to choose to purchase. Machine learning can optimise advertising spend, allocating budget to the channels and advertisements which will produce the highest return on investment.
#2 Voice Search
By 2022 Voice search is predicted to be a $40 billion channel according to OC&C Strategy consultants.
If existing trends persist then voice search could soon be the dominant way, we look for new products and services. According to SEO service Wordstream by 2020 half of all searches online will be conducted by voice. Tech giants have been rolling out a range of smart speakers including Google Home, Microsoft Cortona and Amazon Alexa. As voice becomes predominant digital marketers will need to adapt their SEO strategies. In particular SEO will need to a greater voice on natural language to cater to the requirements of this search. In addition, long tail search queries are also more likely to become important. This is because users are more likely to be specific in their search queries when using voice.
#3 Email personalisation
Emails triggered by a user action have a 76% higher open rate compared to average according to an Epsilon study.
Broad based email marketing is becoming less effective. The future of email marketing will be with greater personalisation. In a survey from SmartHQ it was found that 51% of consumers said that email was the best marketing channel to reach them. But even more important was the finding that 72% of respondents said that they would only respond to email that had a personalised marketing message. This is supported by research of marketers, 40% of who said that email was their most effective marketing channel. Personalisation in email marketing can come in a number of different forms, from segmentation based on demographic information through to email being triggered based on a specific action.
#4 Micro moments
People use the phrase “near me” 15 times more frequently compared to 2013 according to TimbDesign12.
Smartphones have transformed the way consumers find information about relevant business and their products. As the statistics above illustrates, consumers increasingly, use “near me” mobile searches to identify business in their vicinity which can meet their needs. This creates an opportunity for businesses to insert themselves into the customers product selection process. Geo targeted searches are not the only type of “micro moment” that businesses can capitalise on. Micro moments can also include the space in times when customers are trying to compare buying alternatives or find out more information about a particular type of product. The key is that these moments typically only lasts for a relatively short space of time. Marketers need to adapt their strategy in order to ensure that their products or services are included at these moments. In the case of “near me” type searches this could include ensuring that the business online presence is properly optimised for local search.
#5 Augmented reality
67% of media planners want to use augmented reality in their digital marketing campaigns.
Augmented and virtual reality may be one of the more hyped technologies of the past few years, but their impact will still be significant. Augmented reality in particular looks like it will play a key role in the way that clients are marketed to. Already the value of the augmented reality market has reached $3.5 billion. Augmented reality ties in with a broader trend which is greater personalisation. Ecommerce fashion retailers have been early adopters of AR technology allowing customers to “try on” clothes virtually. This helps to bridge one of the gaps between the instore experience of trying clothes and buying them online. Augmented reality will also change the instore experience of shopping. Using a smartphone additionally information can be overlaid over the physical product. This means that customers can see information that is relevant to them, without presenting unnecessary information to other buyers.
To capitalise on those trends and ensure the future success of your small business you need the right tools. Here are our recommendations for the best digital marketing tools to grow your business.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics can provide you with a very granular picture of how visitors are finding your website, how they interact with that site and future opportunities for you to exploit.
60% of websites use Google Analytics as primary tracking tool, while 2% use conversion events.
Key features of Google Analytics
Cost of Google Analytics
Google Analytics is available for free.
Uber marketer Neil Patel changed the game for SEO research when he purchased and revamped UberSuggest. For marketers needing a cost-effective way to perform keyword and search competitiveness analysis UberSuggest is a great place to start.
Key features of UberSuggest
Cost of UberSuggest
UberSuggest is a free tool.
YoastSEO plugin
WordPress takes care of 80-90% of SEO mechanics. Yoast SEO is a powerful tool that covers the other 10-20%, and your SEO worries are behind you.
YoastSEO is a WordPress plugin that provides an extremely useful guide to ensure that your correctly optimising content on your website to target keywords. YoastSEO also comes with plenty of other useful tools to improve the rankings of your website in the search engine results.
Key features of YoastSEO
Cost of YoastSEO plugin
YoastSEO provides a powerful free version of the plugin. There is also a premium version of the plugin which costs $69 for one website. YoastSEO premium comes with more advanced features including social previews, internal linking suggestions and a redirect manager.
Ahrefs knows more than 15 trillion links. Crawling daily about 4 billion web pages!
Ahrefs is a comprehensive suites of SEO tools. It combines everything need to audit your own website and that of your competitors. It includes a particular powerful keyword search engine, categorizing an immense number of available keywords.
Key features of Ahrefs
Cost of Ahrefs
Ahrefs offers a 7-day trial for only $7. After the 7-day trial you have three tiers of pricing options. Lite allows for 1 user and 5 project, costs $99 per month. Standard allows for 1 user and 10 projects, costs $179 per month. Advanced allows for 3 users and 25 projects, costs $399 per month.
Google Search Console
Google search console is another useful, free digital marketing management tool. Google Search Console is providing in-depth analysis of your website, current search engine rankings and future SEO opportunities.
Features of Google Search Console
Cost of Google Search Console
Google search console is a free tool.
Canva is an intuitive, web-based graphic design platform. The platform uses a drag and drop interface that is faster and easier to get started with than many other similar design tools.
Features of Canva
Cost of Canva
The free version of Canva includes all of the core functionality and libraries you need in order to create design assets. Canva also offers a premium subscription with Canva Pro for $12.95 per month. This gives you access to a range of additional features and libraries. Included with Canva Pro is access to millions of more photos at $1 per photo, 800 templates, unlimited storage for digital assets and custom fonts.
BuzzSumo is a curation and social media analytics tools designed for marketers. BuzzSumo simplifies identifying the best performing content in a specific niche. Using BuzzSumo you can enter a particular topic, domain or author and see the best performing content.
Features of BuzzSumo
Cost of BuzzSumo
Most of the core features of BuzzSumo are available for free. BuzzSumo offers a range of premium plans ranging from $39 to $499+ per month.
Hootsuite is a social media management too. The platform enables marketers to manage and monitor multiple social media channels through a single dashboard.
Features of Hootsuite
Cost of Hootsuite
There is a free version of Hootsuite which includes all of the core functionality. This allows you to connect up to 3 social profiles. Hootsuite also offers premium pricing packages which include a Professional tier for $25 per month which allows for 10 social profiles and 1 user. And a team tier for $99 per month with 20 social profiles and up to 3 users.
Hello Bar
Hello Bar, enable you to create customised messages for visitors to your website. Hello Bar, offers a range of popups and slide-ins to convey your marketing message.
Features of HelloBar
Cost of Hello Bar
Hello Bar, has a free version and a two premium package options. The free version allows for up to 5,000 views per month, 10 popups and the basic design features. The Growth package is $29 per month. This package includes up to 5,000 views per month, unlimited popups and advanced design features. The Elite package is $99 per month. This includes up to 500,000 views per month, unlimited popups and premium design features.
Moz is an all in one SEO suite. Moz provides a full range of on page and off page SEO tools. This include site audits, keyword explorer, ranking tracker, link building opportunity and custom reporting.
Features of Moz
Cost of Moz
Moz offers a range of pricing packages with tiers from $99 per month through to $599 per month.
Mailchimp is a flexible email marketing platform that you can use to schedule and automate your email campaigns. Mailchimp provides a drop and drag editor and a selection of templates to simplify building marketing emails.
Features of Mailchimp
Cost of MailChimp
MailChimp has a free plan which allows you to mail up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails sent. Their pricing depends on the number of subscribers in your account and the number of emails you are sending. For $10 a month you are able to send an unlimited number of emails up to 500 subscribers. From there the cost increases by $5 per month for each additional 500 subscribers. Mailchimp also offers a pay-as-you-go option for $0.03 per email.
Google Ads
Google Ads allows you to advertise your product and services across Google and their partner websites. Using keyword targeting your advertisements can be placed directly next to search results of people look for information about those products and services.
Features of Google Ads
Cost of Google Ads
Registering for Google Ads free. Google Ads charges for advertising on its platform using an auction system. The cost of individual keywords will therefore vary depending on the other users who are bidding on it.
Data Scraper
Data Scraper is a chrome browser extension that enables easy web scraping. Using the extension, you can extract data from any HTML web page and then import it into an Excel spreadsheet.
Features of Data Scraper
Cost of Data Scraper
Data Scraper provides a free starter subscription plan which includes 500 pages of web scraping credits per month.
Google Data Studio
Google Data Studio is a free business intelligence and data visualisation tool. Data Studio allows you to integrate disparate sources of data and compile them into visual, interactive dashboard reports.
Features of Data Studio
Cost of Data Studio
Data Studio is a free product.
PushEngage enables business to create browser push notifications for Firefox and chrome. PushEngage enables micro-targeted engagement with the ability to segment audiences and deliver custom notifications.
Features of PushEngage
Cost of PushEngage
PushEngage offers a range of pricing plans from free through to enterprise level. The free package allows for 2,500 subscribers and 120 notifications per month. Next is the Business level package with up to 5,000 subscribers and unlimited notifications per month. The premium package is for up to 10,000 subscribers and unlimited notifications.
Bookly is a booking and scheduling WordPress plugin. Bookly allows you to easily create customised, user friendly booking forms for your website.
Features of Bookly
Cost of Bookly Pro
Bookly offers both a free and premium version of the booking plugin. The free version of the plugin includes many of the core features and is available through the WordPress plugin directory. The premium version of the plugin can be bought via the Codecanyon marketplace for a one-off fee of $89.00. There are also dozens of paid add-ons for Bookly which offer increased features.
The combined effect of the digital marketing tools listed here can have a huge impact on your business. Most of the tools are free to try or use. Taking the time to master them and integrate them into your business is one of the smartest investments you can make.