Everyone knows digital marketing is a field of constant evolution. In many cases, a strategy is only as good as the tools it employs.
Using the right resources enables you to keep the “tricks of the trade” in your back pocket and stay on top of the shifting landscape.
It’s no secret the next few years are poised to be monumental for the business world. Most notably, marketers are bracing themselves for breakthroughs in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, and the extremely hyped arrival of widespread virtual reality.
With so much innovation, brands need to constantly be looking for new ways to set themselves apart. Let’s talk about five little-known tools you can use to stay one step ahead in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
1. Client Heartbeat
When you’re researching a product or service online, how important are customer reviews? A BrightLocal study found that 92 percent of consumers take online reviews into consideration during the buyer’s cycle. With numbers like this, including customer feedback on your platform needs to be a priority.
Enter Client Heartbeat. This tool lets you send surveys to customers via email following an interaction. While this isn’t the only tool on the market to accomplish this task, what sets it apart is the option to incorporate benchmark data and compare with scores related to customer satisfaction.
As far as gaining the feedback itself goes, Client Heartbeat has one of the industry’s best response rates – around 60 percent.
The reason it’s successful is because they make it a point to keep the process simple. There is a maximum of six questions in which the customer can answer with a 1-10 rating.
You can also automate the tool to send out surveys at the most opportune time, so you don’t even need to think about it. One of the premier benefits is you can gauge your results with competitors to see where you stand.
Online reviews play a huge role in today’s customer lifecycle. Use this tool to get the most out of them.
2. Workzone
Success in an organization is something that starts on the inside and works its way out. With all the different factors and distribution channels in marketing today, companies need to establish an optimal system to complete tasks and streamline information across the board.
Regardless of the size of your business, digital marketing is very much a team effort.
It can be easy to take for granted the modern organizational tools we currently have at our disposal. Finding a good rhythm for effective campaign management is much easier than it was, say 10 years ago.
Even today, there are a great deal of challenges at hand with the substantial cost of low performance. Back in the old days, there was a lot more trial and error involved. Now, there are tried-and-true templates to use.
Workzone is an effective collaboration workspace for enterprise marketing managers, with all campaign statuses integrated in one place. The task status on the dashboard shows the team leads responsible for each sub-task and ensures that each job is nudged to completion.
There is also a Gantt Chart function that allows you to set timelines for every campaign. Regardless of skill level, Workzone is designed to be user-friendly for everyone involved.
By promoting open communication and proper task management throughout every project, this program is truly one of the best on the market.
3. Canva
Research tells us that humans process images way quicker than text. Taking this information with a grain of salt, incorporating visual effects into your brand messaging is a requirement. Regardless of what types of images you include, they need to pop. More importantly, they need to be authentic.
This is where Canva comes in. Using this tool, you don’t need to be a graphic designer to produce compelling visuals.
You can simply upload your pictures and add some pizazz to them with a variety of color schemes, fonts, and custom templates.
Additionally, you can choose from a wide selection of images in the Canva library. While some of the more advanced ones cost money, there are plenty of free options to get you started.
4. Content Idea Generator
As many bloggers will tell you, one of the toughest parts of the job is coming up with captivating titles. There are all kinds of scientific facts that apply to how certain words and phrasing impact click rates.
The truth of the matter is you can have the best content the world has even seen, but, if the headline doesn’t draw people’s eyes, no one will be enticed to read it.
Portent’s Content Idea Generator is about as easy as marketing tools get. By simply entering in the subject you want to write about, this resource will spit out all kinds of possible ideas for headlines.
Now, you can’t expect EVERY generated title to be a winner, but this tool certainly beats all the others in creativity and grammatical correctness. Use it as a jumping off point to get your creative juices flowing.
Chances are, with all its possibilities and suggestions, the Content Idea Generator will give you a few good ideas.
5. Hotjar
Your website should be thought of as the central hub for all of your brand’s content. Therefore, you need to be watching how people interact with it like a hawk.
If you’re new to the game, there are a lot of website behavioral tools out there to choose from. But, due to its relatively low entry price and simple usability, Hotjar will serve you well.
This tool generates heat maps of your website to give you an idea of how and where visitors spend their time.
Rohan Ayyar, my fellow SEW contributor and colleague at E2M, who consults with clients on UX design at our website and app development arm MoveoApps, has a very interesting piece of advice:
“Depending on the layout, visitors have two typical patterns of scanning your content: F-shaped and Z-shaped. Identifying the one that works for you will help you tweak the visual hierarchy of your content for more conversions.”
You can record full sessions of how visitors read your content for insights on how your pages are being consumed to help identify bottlenecks and plan your next approach. One of the best functions of this resource is you are able to recruit test subjects for objective input on your platform.
If you are looking to boost conversion rates, analyzing heat maps is one the best types of research you can conduct.
In conclusion
Digital marketing is a fascinating entity, to say the least. With so much change and innovation, there seems to be new resources coming out every day to make business operations run smoother.
If you want to get ahead, you need to keep an eye out for the tools that can tackle your most prevalent issues. Consider these ones in your next campaign!