Businesses have a lot going on at all times.  Managing your digital marketing campaigns, social media, and overall online performance is a massive job!  Wouldn’t it be great if there were marketing tools that could help get the job done, don’t cost a fortune, and let you keep your sanity?  Well, guess what…there are!

To help make things easier, we’ve put together a list of our top five marketing tools that our team thinks every business should have in their digital marketing arsenal.

(And before we get started, no, we are not endorsed by or supported by any of the following tools. We really do just think they are simply the cat’s meow when it comes to digital marketing tools.)

Canva

Whether you have a full design team on staff or not, we cannot sing the praises of Canva enough!  Canva allows anyone to be a social media graphic designer without breaking the bank.  With pre-designed templates, the Canva software allows you to create the perfect image for your blog, newsletter, or social post.  It also has templates for flyers, portfolios, and emails.

You can use the pre-designed templates, or create and upload a custom template, establish brand colors, and create a library full of selected images and logos for your team to use.  The tools are perfect for a one-man shop or a small design team that wants to crank out beautiful images without using the traditional Adobe suite of products.

Zoho Social

Zoho Social is a social media management tool that helps growing businesses reach and engage with audiences quickly and easily.   The tool itself is easy to use and is as flexible and robust as many of the other social management tools on the market but at a seriously reduced cost.

You can schedule and post to all the major social platforms, incorporate Bitly links, monitor feedback, and track performance via analytics and reporting.  There are also more advanced features like a publishing calendar, audience targeting, and Facebook lead ads.

MailChimp

Yes, an oldy but a goody, MailChimp is still our favorite way to send and manage email campaigns.

With MailChimp you can create and send emails, manage a variety of emails lists, set-up triggered emails, and even publish newsletters to social media.  It’s also cost effective because it’s based on your contacts size, so you only pay for what you need.  Nice!

The Google: Analytics and Trends

Speaking of an oldy but a goody, Google Analytics just keeps getting better and better, which is why we think it’s a must for our list of marketing tools.  Google Analytics allows you to how users engage with your website:

• where they are coming from
• what pages they spend time on
• who is linking to your website
• what keywords are performing best for your website

Google Trends does exactly what its name suggests —- it identified current online trends.  Find out what’s trending online in general or that is specific to your industry.

Partner the information from Google Analytics with Google Trends and you have some seriously powerful marketing research at your fingertips!  From memes and videos to blogs and keywords, Google Trends keeps the finger on the pulse of what’s hot and trending online.

Trello

To be successful in marketing, you need a plan of attack.  Consider Trello to be your command post — the place where you can plan, collaborate, and put tasks into motion.

With its super intuitive user interface, you can create boards, define tasks, and watch your marketing plan be put into action.  You also have the ability to run reports to see who is working on what, what tasks are on time and identify any areas where team members might be overloaded.  Plus, there is a free version that is perfect for small business and teams.