Whether you're managing, populating or measuring them; leveraging your digital channels to connect with current and prospective customers is essential to your success. With the number of people accessing the internet still increasing, focusing your marketing efforts on engagement with audiences online is now fundamental.
In the following article, we help find the right tools to make your digital marketing process easier and assist in reaching your goals. Much has been written about Google Analytics, so we bypassed it to bring your attention to the ones you may not have heard of but are still great the same.
We brought in the expertise of the Sherpa team to curate a top 6 list of our favourite tools to use — and will continue to use — this coming year; including the key benefits of each tool, their ‘Aha’ features and if taking out a small loan is required to get going.
1. SCREAMING FROG - SEO
Simply put, Screaming Frog is a site crawling tool so easy a novice can use it. However, with customizable options, even the most experienced SEO-master can find new insights for their site. Retrieving relevant information like HTML, CSS, and Javascript; it creates a spreadsheet of all the site’s pages and their SEO elements. Bonus, it can locate broken links and meta tags needing optimization.
For Sherpa’s Digital Marketing Coordinator, Jessica Jacon, it’s been a long-time favourite and she’s planning on using it regularly in 2019. “You can supercharge Screaming Frog by linking your Google Analytics for a fuller picture of SEO-related information about your site. And you can download info and keep it on file for future use,” says Jacon.
‘Aha’ Features
1. Find all meta tag information in one place;
2. Analyze crawl depth status;
3. Identify and track broken inbound and outbound links.
PRICING
Free OR $255/year Canadian (the free version will only crawl up to 500 URIs).
2. CALLRAIL - SALES
Data-driven digital marketing agencies are intrigued with CallRail, one the industry’s top customer acquisition tools from a scrappy startup. Providing call analytics to marketers, it’s an intuitive self-service software for organizations that need to track phone calls.
According to Dan Nicholson, Sherpa’s Digital Marketing Lead, CallRail provides unique phone numbers that can be tracked both online and offline. “We especially love it because now there’s a tool we can use to prove the cost of advertising for B2B companies. It gives us insights into which campaigns are working best,” swoons Nicholson. CallRail also records calls for leads qualification and coaches on how to increase call conversion rates.
‘Aha’ Features
1. Record and listen to phone calls (great for sales teams);
2. Measure exactly which media source your conversions are coming from;
3. Allow for text messaging campaigns right in the system.
PRICING
Starter $40/month OR $160/month Canadian.
3. GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE - SEO
It’s been a tough go for Google and their search console. Formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, the new and improved SEO/SERP tool has been a work in progress since its rebranding in 2015.
With its refresh in September 2018, it’s now one of our most essential tools. It makes getting people to your site easier than ever. Google Search Console (GSC) helps inform Google of your site’s content, it shows you the search terms visitors are using to find you and it advises of malware or spam problems that may be occurring on your site.
The redesign of its search performance and index coverage data makes it easier to detect trends because you can now create year-over-year comparisons. “It’s great that they keep extending the window of data. We now have access to 16 months of information, which is beneficial,” says Nicholson.
‘Aha’ Features
1. Check mobile usability and page errors;
2. Submit your website’s sitemap for easier crawling;
3. Find out how your visitors are finding your websites, your best performing keywords and long-term SERP performance.
PRICING
Free.
4. ACTIVE CAMPAIGN - SALES AND MARKETING
Build a relationship with your contacts by engaging welcome emails, trigger campaigns, follow-up messages and more with Active Campaign. Now, small businesses can even apply marketing automation tech to their marketing efforts. With a great user interface, its tools are intuitive and require practically no training to get started.
With over 150 integration options, you can connect the app to other services you use. “We can create data automations, so we don’t miss a lead for a client. We use AC to attain new contacts for clients and keep tabs on their returning customers,” says Jacon.
‘Aha’ Features
1. Have marketing automation and CRM in one-place;
2. Access a real-time dashboard of website and contact activities;
3. Create custom landing pages, contact forms and automated e-mails.
PRICING
Basic starting from $12 OR Plus for $65 Canadian.
5. SPROUT SOCIAL - SOCIAL MEDIA
Move aside Buffer and Hootsuite (we still love you), there’s one social media management tool that’s trending up. This old dog, founded in 2010, has new tricks. Sprout functions as a management hub for your multitude of social platforms with an approachable user interface. Sprout’s real strength lies in its design but also its CRM function. With every account you follow or follows you, it tracks your interaction history as well as basic profile information. The information can be very useful for digital marketers as you communicate with account people and clients.
“SPROUT allows you to connect and engage with followers in an easy and timely fashion.”
Now with Sprout’s acquisition of Simply Measured in 2017, Sprout has expanded the range and depth of their offerings — specifically within social analytics. “It allows you to connect and engage with followers in an easy and timely fashion. You don’t have to look through multiple pages, like Hootsuite, to view comments and reviews. It’s all there to review,” says Sherpa’s Digital Marketing Coordinator, Ovy Ohioze.
‘Aha’ Features
1. Manage all your social accounts in one place (ideal for digital marketing agencies and companies that have more than one social media profile);
2. Build your social into your workflow with the Sprout browser extension ;
3. Manage your team with Smart Inbox; that’s built around the ‘mark as complete’ concept.
PRICING
Starter $135/month OR $200/month Canadian.
6. CANVA - GRAPHIC DESIGN
Not everyone can afford $70 CDN a month for Adobe Creative Suite. Canva is a great option; with its drag-and-drop design it’s so simple Ma can do it. Choose from one of their numerous trendy templates or go it from scratch; customizing colours, fonts or available stock logos. You can have a serviceable Twitter graphic for your latest post or email campaign in a matter of minutes.
“I have friends that are freelancers and they don’t have access to an in-house design team. They use Canva on some their work and the quality is surprisingly good for a free tool,” says Jacon. “It makes even the least design savvy person look good.”
‘Aha’ Features
1. Share links and collaborate with people globally;
2. Make yourself a better designer with their tutorials;
3. Access your designs from anywhere; Canva is cloud-based.
PRICING
Free OR $18/month Canadian.
NOTABLE MENTIONS
Majestic SEO - SEO
Mouseflow - UX
Gradeproof – AI Proofreading
Sizmek - Independent buy-side advertising platform
It’s an exciting time to be in marketing, hopefully some of these tools can make their way into your arsenal so you can further your 2019 goals. Hit us up (here!) and tell us what your ultimate digital marketing tool is this year. Thanks for reading!
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Thanks for reading!
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