Hupspot, Ahrefs, WordPress, and SEMrush logos.

13 Best Digital Marketing Tools You Should Be Using (If You’re Not Already)

Yes, we’re the experts on digital marketing. But that doesn’t mean we do absolutely everything ourselves. In fact, you know real marketing masters like us use an arsenal of digital marketing tools to make sure everything we do is the best it can be.

Making a digital marketing strategy come to life – and be successful – takes a lot of moving parts. That’s why there are certain digital marketing tools for different aspects of online marketing, from email marketing automation to analytics tools. Let’s take a look.

Project Management Tools

You can’t meet your digital marketing goals without every team member doing what they’re supposed to do — and that includes knowing what they’re supposed to do in the first place! Try these project management tools to keep it all organized.

Wrike

At Lift Marketing, we use Wrike as our main project management tool. It helps us keep track of projects with everything we work on logged as a task. This way, everyone on our marketing team can easily see the status of any campaign or project. If you’re struggling to stay organized with everything your small business has going on, use a project management tool like this one.

Trello

Another project management tool is Trello. It uses a system of boards, lists, and cards so that you never lose track of a task or project. You can even drag and drop tasks between lists. Utilize their integrations with Slack, Google Drive, and Dropbox to streamline your workflows.

Slack

First things first: you can’t start your digital marketing strategy without all your team members being on the same page. Slack is great for internal communication — and external if your partner companies or contractors use it, too! We use Slack to communicate with each other so that everyone knows what’s up with each of our clients. (We also have super important channels where we share food pics.)

Email Marketing Platforms

To this day, one of the most important parts of online marketing is a good email marketing strategy. Email marketing can both nurture leads and keep you on the mind of past customers. It’s crucial to use at every stage of the buyer journey (which means you need proper segmentation for your email list, too).

Hubspot

Hubspot is more than just a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. It’s an all-in-one marketing platform covering the gamut from email marketing to analytics tools. As an inbound marketing platform, Hubspot aids in lead generation by allowing you to capture and prioritize leads with a communication tracker to boot. You can build out landing pages, create blog posts, and design emails (then schedule them to send) all in one place. Plus, their analysis tools help you track all your marketing efforts! Take a look at your website traffic, track lead generation, look at metrics from marketing campaigns, and see how well you’re doing on social media platforms.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email marketing tool that makes sending emails a breeze. You can set up automated email campaigns using templates, segmentation, A/B testing, and personalization. Schedule automated campaigns based on what your audience is doing based on triggers like when they first sign up (welcome email) or when they stop before they click “checkout” (abandoned cart email).

SEO Tools

Search engine optimization is the backbone of digital marketing strategies. It helps you build credibility for your site while helping your target audience actually find you. Learn more about the SEO tools you need to add to your belt.

SEMrush

SEMrush is one of the best platforms out there to help you with your search engine optimization. This SEO tool provides comprehensive keyword research with competitor analysis to give you a leg up on your competitors. Use it for keyword research, competitor analysis, site audits, backlink analysis, and more to put yourself at the top of Google results (or Bing if you’re a contrarian).

Ahrefs

Another SEO tool is Ahrefs. Use keyword research to identify high-volume and low-competition keywords for SEO and PPC (pay-per-click) marketing campaigns. Backlink analysis helps you find opportunities for link building and ultimately up your site’s authority ranking. Ahrefs also has a sweet plugin and Google Chrome extension that shows related keywords anytime you search for something.

Clearscope

This SEO tool is your BFF when it comes to writing your SEO content. Not only can you find keyword research and competitor analysis on the platform, but it also analyzes and grades your own content. Write your blog right there in Clearscope, and it gives you a score projecting how well the SERPs like it. If you never got As in school, here’s where to find redemption.

Creative Platforms

It’s hard to manage online marketing without good graphics — or a website for that matter. There are platforms you can use – even as a beginner – to get things going.

Canva

If you’re in need of a graphic design tool but the word “photoshop” sends a shiver down your spine, you’re not alone! Canva is a user-friendly platform that lets you create customized graphics, whether you need to use a template or are ready to design from scratch. While functionality is limited compared to other tools, it gets the job done if you need an infographic or social media post.

WordPress

Need a new website but have no idea where to start? WordPress is a user-friendly platform that allows users to build sites and web pages. You can use a template or build your own to your liking. The best part about WordPress is that it’s wildly used by both beginners and experts. As you learn more, you’d be surprised at everything you can do with a WordPress account!

Content Marketing

We’re the experts, but we can still admit it; there are too many social apps out there. How can you possibly keep up to date with everything going on with each social media platform — let alone make content that fits perfectly and finds your target audience? These social media management tools make it easy as pie.

Hootsuite

Social media marketing can be scary to a newbie, but Hootsuite is an all-encompassing social media management tool that makes it easier. With this social media marketing software, you can schedule posts for all the top social media channels (you know the ones: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.). You can even keep track of how your marketing campaigns are doing with their ad management feature. Does the thought of never-ending notifications get you down? Use Hootsuite to monitor mentions for you.

BuzzSumo

Raise your hand if you want to reach your target audience. (Spoiler alert: you should be raising your hand.) BuzzSumo helps you reach – and resonate with – your audience. It’s a content management platform that can provide insights into the type of content your target audience is already engaging with so you can adjust your content marketing strategy accordingly. You can use it to create effective content, stay on current trends, and even search for influencers that fit your niche.

Google Analytics

All these digital marketing tools are fine and dandy, but if you’re not looking at metrics, what are you even doing? Google Analytics shows in-depth graphs on your website traffic, reporting on the number of visitors, page views, bounce rates, and how long visitors stay on your site. It even covers where the traffic comes from (organic search, paid search, social media, email, or referral traffic). Not enough for you? You can also pull real-time reports on user behavior, audience demographics, conversion rates, ecommerce transactions, buffer time, and website performance.

Too Many Tools To Keep Up? We Get It.

With all these digital marketing tools we just threw at you, it can be overwhelming. If you don’t have the time, energy, personnel, or desire to keep up with it all yourself, call us! At Lift Marketing, we’re a one-stop shop for all your online (and even offline) marketing needs. Just give us a ring when you’re ready to #GetLifted and reach your marketing goals.