Business owners are always curious about what PR and marketing tech tools we use to run our client campaigns. So, as we approach the end of 2019, we thought we’d come clean, with our A&E favourites.
Want to power-up your business marketing? Don’t overlook the worth of marketing tech
We’ve been working within this industry for over twenty years, and what we’ve learnt is that tech know-how is a key differentiator between the most effective and the least effective marketing campaigns.
Of course, marketing tech triumph is more likely if you pick the right tech tools suited to your firm’s needs. From Account-based marketing (ABM) solutions, to email platforms, social media suites, and content analytics.
We know…choosing the right tech tools is easier said than done. For the most part, the business owners we talk to say they’re uncertain whether they have the right tech tools to manage marketing & content across their business, and almost all feel certain they’re not using tech to its full potential.
As marketing tech tools multiply every day, penning a short list of options – let alone choosing the best choice – only gets more difficult. Even more reason to start with a well-planned strategy and research to establish the tech tools that best fit your business and team.
A&E’s favourite marketing tech tools
- Email marketing
When it comes to content marketing, email software is THE top tech tool. Our favourite is Campaign Monitor’s Effective Email platform. For its free entry point Mailchimp is great too, but we love how simple and straight forward database segmentation, automated email journeys, and email design & layout can be using our professional grade Effective Email software.
[Struggling to taker the right tone with your B2B content? This recent blog ‘3 Strategies to Turn Complex Topics into Compelling Content‘ will help]
- Digital analytics
While we have tinkered with Moz & SEMrush, our favourite remains Google Analytics. Plus, Google online training is invaluable and makes staying up to date with advances in analytics hassle free.
- CMS and web experience management
For those businesses or marketers who manage digital content or a blog, the Content Management System (CMS) you choose, and how proficient you are at using it, can have a major impact on how easy it is to update content and on the experience of your reader/audience. WordPress is our top pick. Simple, reliable, and easy to navigate.
- Project management
Managing a marketing campaign, with multiple contributors and collaborators can be a little like herding cats. Coordinating deliverables, deadlines, and status requires a strong project management tool. Our go to is Basecamp, we use it within the business for our own operational project management too.
- Social media management & monitoring suites
For most SMEs, especially those operating in the B2B space, social media is simply about building a strong digital shop front and demonstrating to potential customers & clients the value of service you provide. Hootsuite is our go-to social management platform. Enabling automated posting across multiple social channels, as well as stakeholder engagement and issues tracking. Helping to keep the time invested in social as lean & efficient as possible for our clients.
[Unsure what your social media strategy should be? This recent blog ‘Time for a Social Media Break Up?‘ will help]
The best of the rest
Other tech tools we rate include: 1) HubSpot, for outstanding account-based marketing solutions 2) Slack, for time-saving collaboration within teams 3) Otter, a clever voice note app making blog idea brain-dumps effortless and 4) Grammarly, to pick up on grammar and punctuation errors.
You’ll note that we choose to work with specialised tech tools for specific tasks. But, often for an SME just starting out with tech tools, the simplicity of all-in-one platform is what’s needed. In this instance we’d recommend you consider HubSpot, as it does tick most boxes.
We’re not suggesting you run with our list of favourites from Q1 2020. First, do your research, talk to your team (don’t forget IT!), consider your options, and then go for it. 2020 marketing efforts will be more successful because of it.
Good luck and keep us posted on how you get on!
Connect with Jill Willis via LinkedIn
