In today’s digital space, the world is your oyster when it comes to marketing tools available for your business. Whether you’re a startup looking to grow and scale or a growing company looking to leave a larger digital footprint, there are so many available tools that take the guesswork out, allowing you to focus on growing your business instead of working in the day-to-day grind.
You may be thinking that of course you know there are many tools available, but there are simply too many choices and you don’t know where to start. Sit tight—we’ve got you covered with the 5 must-have small business marketing tools you can implement today.
Content
Content is king. If your business hasn’t started blogging, there is no better time than the present. Contrary to popular belief, writing for a blog is not a daunting task. You can start by asking your sales team what are the 10 most frequently asked questions they get and begin developing content around those questions.
Blogging on a consistent and regular basis does wonders for SEO, which in turn, drives more organic traffic to your website. Blogging is such a powerful tool because it houses valuable content resources for current and prospective customers, and it powers your social and digital outreach by creating a library of information to share with your network.
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If you’re like most small businesses, your business has a social media presence; however, posting to it goes in streaks, interacting with followers is minimal, and the thought of having a comprehensive social media strategy is nonexistent. We get it—social media is more work than what meets the eye.
The good news is that by leveraging a social media management tool, you can lessen the burden as it allows you to schedule posts ahead of time and gain better insight into analytics. Even better news? A lot of these tools offer a free version that will get you by until you’re ready to really make the social media jump.
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Email is an integral part of people’s everyday lives, as over 300 billion emails are sent and received everyday. While it might seem easy, fast, and modern to engage with your customers and prospects via social media, email is still very much an avenue you should pursue.
Use it at a very basic level by sending out a monthly newsletter, or get a bit more advanced and set up automations that nurture customers and prospects based on where they are at in the buying process. No matter how you intend on using an email marketing tool, start building up an email list and incorporating it into your marketing strategy today—after all, it’s one more touchpoint and it may be the final touchpoint you need to close a deal.
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SEO & Website Analytics
Deciphering where to start when it comes to SEO and your website analytics can be a daunting task. However, thanks to many free tools, you can get a better understanding of the health of your organic search ranking, how you compare to competitors, and suggestions on how to improve your SEO.
A good starting point to understanding your website traffic is Google Analytics, where you’ll uncover insights into most visited pages, how people find you, and how long people stay on your website. Once you develop a basic understanding of how your website performs, you can take it a step further with tools like SEMRush and SpyFu to see how you stack up against competitors. After combining the insight you gather on your website and competitors, start by improving the small things, as overtime those small improvements will turn into major SEO wins.
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Design
Gone are the days of needing to budget an entire salary to having a graphic designer on staff. There are many free design tools available that house a plethora of pre-built templates for any type of graphic design need you have. These types of design tools open a world of possibilities for your brand without the high price tag.
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In Conclusion
When it comes to marketing, the key is to just get started. Try out an email or two, schedule a few posts on social media, or review your website analytics regularly. Getting the small things right will pay off big in the long run.
