Digital marketing is ingrained into the fabric of today’s business. Every sound business depends on actionable digital marketing strategies to intercept the customer at the right place and time. With the ever-growing reach of social media, you can no longer afford to take digital marketing casually. Statistics show a steady increase in the number of people constantly on the internet. If you want to make an impact, you need a proper marketing approach backed by the right digital marketing tools. You need to exploit every single channel available to try and reach the customer.
Speaking of which, digital marketing tools are having a moment. There are hundreds of options for every aspect of digital marketing. The problem isn’t the many choices; the problem is that they are all mixed in the same petri dish.
For this reason, you need a simplified breakdown of the Top Digital Marketing Tools.
We got you covered.
Here is a list of the Top 5 Tools in the topmost crucial aspects of digital marketing.
But first…
Different Aspects of Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing is a blanket term for any and all endeavours to market goods or services through digital devices.
In this era of a gazillion different electronic devices, you have to use all the different tactics and marketing avenues available to reach your customers.
These include:
- Email marketing
- Content marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- SEO and Keyword research
- Landing Page curation
- Customer service tools
- Website analytics
- Visual design tools
Sure, some of the Digital Marketing Tools we will discuss cut across several sub-categories. But a majority of the rest are specialized tools.
Top 5 Digital Marketing Tools for Email
1. Mail Chimp
Mail Chimp is arguably the biggest name in Email Marketing.
It does more than help you personalize your bulk mail; it also provides insights into your audience to help you understand your audience better.
You can incorporate Mail Chimp into your Marketing CRM. Moreover, based on your customer’s insights, Mail Chimp can predict New Demographics for your business.
Create your own Contact Segments or use the ready-made segments. You can also use Tags to organize your audience so that it is easy to remember who’s who even when pressed for time.
Mail Chimp offers a Free Plan as well as Subscription-Based Packages.
2. Aweber
Aweber has been around since 1998. This is quite some time to build a solid reputation.
And it has.
Aweber is the preferred choice for many businesses because it has the best Customer Support.
In addition to that, Aweber features a powerful Auto Responder Tool that allows you to create personalized Auto Response Emails and Call-To-Action Campaigns.
There are Sign-Up Forms and Blog Broadcast features included.
Make use of the Segmentation Feature to categorize your contacts into pretty much any category you can think of including DOB, active users, passive users, and interests among others.
3. Get Response
This Email Marketing tool takes analysis to a whole new level.
Get Response not only helps you to curate and send targeted and personalized emails, but it also provides insights on the best time to send.
The goal of Email Marketing is to get as much response as possible. Get Response highlights results through Email Tracking and advises you on the best measures to increase engagement.
You can integrate Get Response with Analytics tools like Google Analytics. Additionally, you can link your RSS to Email so your audience knows every time you have a new blog.
Get Response is a subscription-based service. You can, however, use their 30-Day Free Trial to find out if they are the right fit for your business.
4. Constant Contact
Constant Contact focuses on making your email creation as simple as possible.
With their Drag and Drop type editing, you can create exactly the kind of graphics you need to increase your Email Open Rate.
Moreover, you can Track Emails in real time and categorize results depending on the action taken by your audience. This way, you can plan your next move and further personalize the subsequent emails.
Constant Contact goes further to help you connect with your audience in other ways. You can organize Surveys, Live Events, or Donations right from the Constant Contact platform.
Constant Contact offers One Free Month when you subscribe for any of the two available packages.
5. MailShake
MailShake markets itself as a Link-Building Software rather than a simple Email Marketing tool.
We have featured MailShake on this list because it is an excellent tool for Cold Emailing. While we would all love to patiently build a mailing list, sometimes cold emailing can jump-start your audience in ways you never imagined.
With Mailshake, you can track your emails and automate follow-ups based on clicks, opens, and replies.
You can also utilize your analytics to predict new audience demographics and increase your email open rate.
Mailshake offers 30-days money back guarantee for all three of their packages.
Top 5 Digital Marketing Tools for Content
6. HubSpot
HubSpot offers a comprehensive solution to all your marketing needs. The working term for their strategy is Inbound Marketing.
Inbound marketing connotes availing useful content to your audience and then letting the value of the content drive your traffic. Content can refer to anything from emails and social media posts to native and targeted Ads.
HubSpot offers 3 different software that can be used individually or together. These are; marketing hub, sales hub, and service hub.
First, Marketing Hub covers Lead Creation, Analytics and Marketing Automation.
Next, Sales Hub encompasses Email Automation, Tracking, and Scheduling.
And finally, Service Hub caters to Customer Feedback, Ticketing, and Knowledge Base.
HubSpot has a Free Plan that never expires. However, if you want any of the advanced features, you will have to get a subscription package.
7. BuzzSumo
Content marketing is more than just creating and posting useful information on your platforms. You need to understand your audience and current trends. This way, you can provide exactly what your customers want in perfect timing.
BuzzSumo is a Content Sniffing and Marketing Tool that enables you to find the most relevant content on the internet.
With BuzzSumo you will find out what people are buzzing about on social media as well as other platforms. Additionally, learn who your audience is listening to as well as what your competitors are doing about it.
Moreover, you can set up Keyword Alerts to spy on your competitors. BuzzSumo is a subscription-based service though they do offer a Free Trial.
8. Feedly
Finding relevant content is crucial to your Inbound Marketing strategies. With this in mind, you need a tool that enables you to keep track of trending content across multiple platforms.
Feedly is that tool.
With Feedly, you can find content through Keyword Alerts, RSS Feeds, Publications, YouTube, Tweets, and Blogs.
You can organize your finds, read right away or save to read later. In addition, you can Conduct Specific Searches into the content or Discover new trends and niches within the Feedly database.
Feedly is a Free service.
9. Basecamp
Basecamp is less of a content marketing tool and more of a content management tool.
We included Basecamp in this category because it is an integral part of getting everything done in a systematic order.
First, Basecamp helps you to create and assign to-do lists complete with notes and follow-up on the overdue tasks.
Next, it organizes and curates your emails so that same topic emails appear on the same page. This way, it’s easier and faster to follow the conversations as well as share with your team.
Finally, you can schedule events and link them to Google Calendar, Outlook, or iCal.
Basecamp is a subscription-based service. There is a 30-day Free Trial.
10. Marketo
Marketo is by far the most extravagant of all the Content Marketing Tools in our arsenal.
It is a formidable SaaS (Software as a Service) tool that ties up all your marketing needs into a neat bundle.
Among the most powerful features are Marketing Automation, Account Insights, Email and Mobile Communication Management, Social Media Management, and Digital Ad campaigns.
You can expect Marketo to attend to;
- Lead scoring, nurturing and management
- Email, Mobile and Social marketing
- Website personalization
- CRM management
- Customer base management
- And much, much more.
As you can see, Marketo is in a class of its own. It is no wonder that the subscription rates are among the highest in the market.
You can watch a 4-min Demo on their website.
Top 5 Digital Marketing Tools for Website Analytics
11. HotJar
HotJar is gradually becoming the Go-To Website Analysis Tool. This tool reveals candid insights into your visitors’ interactions with your page.
Top among our favorite features is the Heatmaps. Heatmaps color-code user interactions. Blue is for Cold Areas where there isn’t much attention while Red is for the Hot Areas attracting a lot of attention.
With HotJar you can literally stalk your visitors recording all the areas they visited. You will even see their cursor movements, where they lingered and clicked, if or not they viewed the whole page and so on.
Make use of their actionable Online Form Analytics as well as Conversion Funnels insights.
Recently, HotJar added Feedback Tools including Survey Creation Tools, Feedback Polls and Incoming Feedback Tools.
HotJar has a Free Basic Package for personal use. Any Business or Agency has to pay a subscription. The Business packages come with a 14-day Free Trial while the Agency Packages extend the Free Trial for a month.
12. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a must-have tool for all digital marketers. The sheer amount of information you can acquire from this tool is mind-boggling.
However, a lot of information is not always a good thing. If you don’t know which areas of Google Analytics to pay attention to, you will end up more confused than when you went in.
As far as Website Analytics go, the most important areas are Audience, Acquisition and Behaviour.
The audience breaks down the number of visitors you received, gender, age, and location. You can also find out the devices they used and their interests.
The acquisition is an insight into the sources of your traffic. You will find out where your visitors are coming from and consequently strategize on how to capitalize on those areas.
Behaviour covers your visitors’ interests in your website; which pages are popular.
Google Analytics is Free.
13. KISSmetrics
KISSmetrics is referred to as a Business Intelligence Tool capable of giving you a true picture of how your business is doing.
The goal of KISSmetrics is to improve customer engagements, increase conversions, and retain growth.
To achieve this, KISSmetrics employs deep data tracking and behavioural analytics to create optimized automated email engagements with your customers.
KISSmetrics is a Free service.
14. Parse.ly
Parse.ly is a thorough Web Analytics Tool that enables you to see what your audience has been up to on your site.
With Parse.ly, you can view Real-Time Data on page views, engagements, new and returning visitors, and the devices used.
You can also Track your website to see how people behave around your content. In addition, Parse.ly will reveal which Ads, offers and promotions are getting the most traction.
Ultimately, Parse.ly can help you optimize your content by using their Personalization Tool.
This way, you will get more audience loyalty and engagement by automatically recirculating relevant content that your audience wants to view.
Parse.ly is a subscription-based service.
15. Sumo
Sumo was formerly known as SumoMe. It is an outstanding all-encompassing tool meant to improve the functionality of your website.
And while many may refer to Sumo as a WordPress Plugin, it is much more than that. In fact, Sumo can work across numerous websites not just WordPress.
Sumo rocks feature such as a List Builder, On-Site Analytics, Social Sharing, E-Commerce, Communication, and Traffic.
With these features, your audience can stealthily subscribe, share, and highlight your content.
You can view your website stats right from the Sumo platform as well as hook your site to a List Builder, a Smart Bar, or a Welcome Mat.
Sumo has a Free Plan as well as a Paid Plan.
Top 5 Digital Marketing Tools for SEO and Keyword Research
16. Cognitive SEO
We all know there is no ranking without SEO.
Cognitive SEO is a Powerful SEO Optimization Tool that has come a long way.
Users love this tool especially for its ability to Flag All SEO Issues and show you how to fix them. For instance, Google’s Penguin Update can spell doom for your website if you don’t have a good tool to alert you beforehand.
Cognitive SEO also helps you to stay at par with the ever-dynamic search engine algorithms. The SEO Audit Tool will crawl your website highlighting the areas that need SEO optimization.
You can also expect Backlink Analysis and actionable Keyword recommendations to help your website rank.
Cognitive SEO is a subscription-based service. There is a 7-day Free Trial.
17. Moz
Moz has one goal, and that is to simplify SEO.
Truth be told, SEO is arguably the most difficult aspect of digital marketing. It is difficult to master and especially because the rules keep changing.
Moz offers a wealth of information on how to understand SEO for beginners. There is a Free SEO Education Centre as well as numerous resources on the Moz Blog.
With your SEO skills updated, you can conduct Keyword Research, SEO Audits, Rank Tracking, Backlink Research, and Citation Clean-ups among other tasks.
Moz is a paid service. You will get a 30-day Free Trial if you subscribe to the Moz Pro Plan.
18. SEMrush
SEMrush is an all-in-one solution for your SEO and digital marketing inquiries.
For one, SEMrush doubles as a Spy Tool to not only reveal insights into your own SEO strategies but also your competitors’ Ad campaigns.
With SEMrush, you can perform SEO Audits, Track Position, Back Link Audit, and Analytics, and explore actionable insight on how to attract more organic traffic.
You can also conduct Keyword Research and Competition Analytics while optimizing your PPC efforts.
There is a bit of Content Marketing as well. You can find out trending topics while optimizing your SEO for better ranking.
SEMrush is a subscription-based service.
19. Ahrefs
Just like SEMrush, Ahrefs is an SEO and PPC Marketing Tool as well as a Spy Tool.
No one flies blind anymore.
All the savvy digital marketers spy on their more successful competitors to determine what they do differently.
In addition to spying, Ahrefs enables you to curate Audit Reports, Keyword Back Links, and Content Research, Rank Tracking, and Web Monitoring.
But fundamentally, Ahrefs is loved for SEO Analysis. The website even goes educational with tons of material to educate beginners about SEO Basics, Link Building, and Keyword Research.
Ahrefs is a paid service. You can try their 7-day Trial for $7.
20. Yoast
As previously established, SEO is a hard nut to crack. You need all the help you can get more so if you are a greenhorn.
Yoast is the ultimate SEO tool for WordPress. It is, in fact, a Plugin.
With Yoast, you can easily Optimize your content and create XML sitemaps, Metadata, and Canonical URLs.
Moreover, Yoast assists you in improving your Content Readability, Text Length, Focus Keywords, Internal and External Links, as well as Snippets.
Yoast offers a Free version and a Premium Version. The Free Version works just fine but if you want advanced features, go for the subscription-based Premium package.
Top 5 Digital Marketing Tools for Social Media Management
21. Buffer
Social Media Management Tools are invaluable to digital marketing. With the sheer number of platforms available, you need a good management tool or you’ll be posting all day every day.
Buffer enables you to manage all your Social Media Platforms from a single dashboard.
You can post and schedule content for all your social media pages including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest.
Moreover, you can view all your page insights and engagements right from your Buffer as well as Re-Buffer(re-post).
Buffer is a paid service. You will, however, get a 7-day Free Trial for the Pro Package and a 14-day Free Trial for the Premium and Business Packages.
22. Meet Edgar
Maintaining a formidable online presence for your business is no easy feat. In reality, managing social media without a managing tool is an exercise in futility. It will take tons of time and will still not be as effective.
Meet Edgar is among the most popular Social Media Management Tool. And it works quite easily. All you have to do is upload your content, create a schedule, and let Edgar do the rest.
Meet Edgar will share your posts on all your platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The Automation Feature ensures content is posted exactly when your audience is online.
Meet Edgar also creates a queue that Auto-Refills from your Content Library and automatically re-posts the most relevant content.
This is a subscription-based service. Enjoy a 14-day Free Trial.
23. HootSuite
HootSuite is a well-known powerful Social Media Marketing tool. It allows you to manage all your social media interactions from a single dashboard. If you so wish, you can create a tab for each platform.
To date, HootSuite integrates with over 20 different Social Media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest among others.
You can schedule your posts, receive real-time insights about your engagements, coordinate with your team for consistency, and create a more engaged audience by accurate targeting.
Hootsuite offers an array of paid packages to fit different businesses. There is a 30-day Free Trial.
24. Post Planner
Post Planner is another Social Media management tool. The most outstanding feature of this tool is its Spy Tool capabilities.
Post Planner does not just schedule and posts your content across multiple platforms; it researches trending content so that your posts fall within the relevant searches.
You can organize your content into categories called “Streams”. This way, it is easy to find what you’re looking for.
From the top-rated content, you can hand-pick the best content to feature on your posts based on real-time engagements. This way, you know your content will automatically get traction.
Post Planner is a paid service and the cheapest we have seen so far.
25. Sprout Social
Sprout Social tries to offer more marketing solutions than just being a plain Social Media Management tool.
Currently Sprout Social works with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
In addition to the popular Social Media Platforms, Sprout Social integrates with Zendesk and User Voice Helpdesk to help you manage your Customer Service.
We love the Smart Inbox Feature that pools all your customer engagements onto a single dashboard. This makes it way easier to respond and keep track of what your customers are saying.
And of course, you can create, schedule, and post your content to all your Social Media pages from a single point.
Sprout Social also allows you to manage your team with their Team Collaboration Tools. This makes it easy to curate, edit, and share content within your team until you are ready to post.
Sprout Social is a subscription-based service. They do, however, have a 30-day Free Trial.
Final Thoughts
This has been our comprehensive list of Digital Marketing Tools. We do hope it shades some light into what to look for. If you have any thoughts to share, please do so in the comment section below. We love to hear from you.