Marketers today rely on tools to make their jobs easier but also to put forward more strategic, well-planned ideas. Rather than spending time on tedious tasks, marketers can lean on these tools to assist them with their lengthy to-do lists. They can also be leveraged to help streamline processes, encourage collaboration, and manage deadlines and expectations.
Deciding on what types of tools to add to your toolkit can be a bit overwhelming. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of options currently available! The key is to think about what you’re lacking today or the areas that you could use the most support. Below are four categories of tools that can help boost the efficiency of your marketing strategy, so they’re a good place to start.
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1. Competitor Analysis Tool
Gaining insights into other brand’s marketing strategies can give you a leg up on your competition. You can identify your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses with competitive content analysis. The main purpose of having this insider knowledge is to identify where you can either meet or exceed the standards they’ve set. You can also work on creating content that fills any gaps, providing your target audience with the related information they’re seeking.
Stalking your competitors’ social handles and reading through their content is an outdated way to perform this analysis. Thanks to AI, there are tools to make this exercise easier. These platforms can give you insights into the top search engine results and your competitors’ sites. If Google prefers your competition’s article because it has more images, you’ll know you need to edit your visual content.
These tools can also reveal what content on your site is performing well and how to rank for new content. Through personalized metrics, you’ll see which keywords will be difficult to rank for and those that you can use to your advantage.
2. Project Management Tool
If you’re struggling to keep up with all your marketing team projects and campaigns, then it may be time to invest in a project management tool. These tools allow everyone on your team to have a purview of current projects. They can be assigned specific tasks based on their roles. This can help you and your entire team with time management, prioritizing what needs to be completed on any given day. It can also help leaders delegate tasks.
Whether your goal is better team collaboration or managing deadlines, there are numerous project management tools to help streamline your processes. Some, such as Trello and Asana, are known for task management. You can see where each campaign component is in development and the individuals responsible for them. Other tools, like Wrike and Marmind, excel in managing custom workflows as well as campaign planning and tracking. When selecting a tool, try to get a trial to ensure that it works best for you and your team’s current and future needs.
3. Brand Management Tool
You’re trying to get something live on social and need a high-resolution image of your logo. You search your crowded desktop to find the most up-to-date PNG file. Sound familiar? This is a task that many marketers go through day in and day out, however, it can be a waste of time and even lead to unintentional errors.
Brand management tools solve these issues because they centralize your brand’s assets, ensuring everyone has access to the same files in one location. With these tools, you can establish a stronger brand presence, increasing brand recognition and loyalty in the marketplace. These tools are also a way to collaborate better internally. When a brand guideline document is updated, everyone at your company will instantly have access to it. No more digging through inboxes — or scanning your desktop — for the most recent files.
4. Data Analysis Tools
In today’s marketing world, data is key. Launching a campaign without knowing how it’s performing is a reckless way to eat up your marketing budget. Notably, more tools are available today than ever before to help you analyze, manage, and optimize performance. With this data, you can make better, more informed decisions. Rather than leaning on your intuition, you’ll know what levers to pull and when for the highest ROI.
These tools can produce a wide range of functions — everything from monitoring website traffic to social media engagement to predicting sales. These types of insights can lead to more efficient and strategic marketing campaigns. Be aware, however, that some of these data and reporting tools can come with a steep learning curve. Before signing up for a new platform, see if you can test it out first. Again, this tool should make your life easier, not harder!
Tips for Building Your Toolkit
As you can see, the number of tools available today is quite robust. But before you get too excited and start incorporating everything all at once, take a step back. There’s a fine line between having too few and too many tools to lean on. While you want all the support you can get, having an abundance of tools can just add more confusion.
To keep your marketing strategy efficient and streamlined, seek out tools that offer a variety of use cases and integrations. Your needs will change over time, and you don’t want to go through the process of learning a new tool each time you need to adapt. Also, look at platforms that can work across teams. If your company’s editorial team is already leveraging a project management tool, see if it will work for your own needs. This can encourage cross-team collaboration and make it easier to implement for your team too.
