In the last decade, the role of digital marketing in small businesses has grown. While many businesses still rely on traditional methods of marketing, such as radio ads and billboards, online marketing has become the mainstream method.

This growth is perhaps most evident in the realm of digital marketing tools, where specialized software and platforms have sprung up to help businesses of all sizes and stages with the ever-expanding digital marketing tasks.

It’s important to take the time to understand the various types of digital marketing tools available. Knowing this can only help you make the right choice for your business. In this article, we’ll introduce you to the world of online marketing tools and help you understand the various types of solutions available so you can find the one that’s right for you.

Types Of Digital Marketing Tools

There are various types of digital marketing tools that can be used to help small businesses. These tools range from free to costly, and, in some cases, even from web-based to desktop applications. Knowing the differences between the various tools is critical if you want to find the best solution for your business. Here are the most common types of digital marketing tools.

Social Media

If you’re active on social media, you’ll need to have a presence on various platforms. To build credibility and gain visibility, you’ll need to engage with potential customers on social media. Creating content, such as blogs and videos, as well as participating in discussion forums, can all help establish your brand identity and get your name out there. There are numerous social media platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, that can be used to reach potential customers. If you’re just getting started, opt for free options, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, and see how they can help you build your business.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is all about attracting, engaging, and delighting customers through the marketing (and sales) process. One of the important concepts to grasp is the idea of customer discovery. The more you know about your customers, the more you can engage with them and the more you can delight them.

Inbound marketing is all about taking the time to get to know your customers, their interests, and what makes them tick. Once you have that knowledge, you can create buyer personas that can help guide your strategy and decision-making process. You can also use that information to offer value before the end of the buying cycle (i.e., before the sale)

HubSpot is a popular tool among small businesses for inbound marketing. This integrated marketing platform allows marketers to create highly targeted lead lists, drive traffic to websites, and engage with leads through a variety of methods, all from one place. Additionally, marketers can use HubSpot to track and analyze customer behavior across email, social media, and website activity.

Marketing Automation

Automation is going to be a major theme in marketing in 2022. As machines continue to get better at performing tasks that humans used to do manually, the role of marketing professionals is changing. With that change comes the need for specialized tools to make the process easier. Marketing automation can help businesses automate repetitive tasks, such as email marketing, social media posting, and website content curation, so that humans can spend more time on higher-value activities, such as customer engagement and business growth.

HubSpot is again at the forefront of marketing automation. With this tool, you can create automated email campaigns and landing pages, as well as set up social media accounts and blogs for business.

Analytics

The world of marketing is changing as fast as the world of computing. Once static, printed ads and radio spots are becoming outdated as more people work remotely and social media usage continues to soar.

While it’s a great tool for gaining insight into the performance of your marketing campaigns, Google Analytics is one of the more popular analytics tools used by businesses of all sizes. With this tool, you can track user behavior across the various platforms you’re using, including social media and web logs (e.g., website traffic and conversion data).

CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) is all about retaining and attracting customers. By understanding individual customer needs and goals, businesses can gain traction in the right direction and offer value that speaks to these individuals. Because of the sensitive nature of customer data and the variety of sources that it comes from, a CRM system can help businesses gain credibility and trust with their customers.

Salesforce, a company that provides tools for businesses of all sizes, partnered with marketing automation provider HubSpot to create an integrated solution that can help businesses gain credibility and trust with their customers. Through this partnership, marketing and sales teams can work together to gain better visibility into lead generation activities, follow-ups, and customer value.

Getting The Best Results From Your Marketing

One of the most important things to consider when choosing a marketing tool is how easy it is to use and, more importantly, how effective it is in generating results. To put it simply, if you’re looking for a tool that can generate more leads and increase sales, look no further.

However, just because a tool is available, doesn’t mean that it’s going to be the best fit for your needs. For that, you need to set up a test group with a few selected accounts and see how the tool handles real-world scenarios. Remember: not all leads are equal. Some leads are more valuable than others depending on your niche, product, and stage of the buyer’s journey.