Business, Fundamentals 7 mins read

Top 7 Tools for Digital Marketers

DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links, in which our company gets a commission or bill credit from purchases made through these links, at no cost to you. This content is not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned, nor have we received any free services. 

The Spectrum of Tools for Digital Marketers

After nearly 30 years of digital marketing being in existence, advertisers now have hundreds of options for tools that can make their job easier. Digital marketing tools, sometimes also known as “MarTech” or marketing technology, are usually either robust and complex or very user-friendly and simple to use. While some tools and platforms can seem exciting and flashy, it’s important to be strategic in your selection as subscription costs can add up quickly. In this guide, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite tools for digital marketers, providing high value and benefits for our agency and our clients, and covering most areas of a marketing team’s needs.

 

Landing page testing with Unbounce

After you have a website launched, you may need to create standalone pages for specific campaigns outside of your main template. Unbounce’s platform makes it very easy to create landing pages and integrate them into your CRM of choice if needed. What makes this an even better digital marketing tool? It also allows you to create and add popups and sticky bars to any page on your website in just a few minutes, without a developer’s help. Interested in trying it out? Take advantage of this 20% discount on your first three months, or annual plan, of Unbounce.

 

Email Marketing with MailChimp

Believe it or not, email marketing is not dead! It’s actually still one of the highest engaging marketing channels today, and most consumers prefer receiving communications via email from brands they follow than any other method. So how do you grow your email list, and manage email campaigns? We recommend MailChimp, which we use to manage our internal newsletter (if you haven’t signed up to receive The Crimson Guide, you can do so here)! This tool is great for digital marketers, in that it provides several ways to collect email addresses – both as a landing page, a footer sign-up on your main website, or pop-ups for downloadable content. You’ll be able to make the emails you send to opted-in users even more personal by sending them customized content based on their needs, with tons of templates to choose from.

 

Call Tracking Metrics

Track inbound phone calls with CallTrackingMetrics

We are huge on conversion tracking, being a data-driven agency. This includes not only online conversions such as web forms, offer sign-ups and sales, but also offline actions such as phone calls. A great digital marketing tool for tracking inbound phone calls is CallTrackingMetrics. This platform really has it all, giving marketing teams not only the ability to purchase tracking numbers (either local or toll-free) for marketing campaigns, but also provides call activity recordings, inbound caller details, and voice menu set-up (which is great when your brand has multiple locations but uses one phone number for marketing purposes). Select tracking numbers are also compatible with SMS text messaging, giving you the flexibility for call and text campaigns. With a few different tier plans, you can customize your subscription based on your specific call volume and marketing needs – you can even get your first month free, here

 

 

Get creative with Canva

This next tool is imperative for digital marketers who don’t have access to creative teams or graphic designers. Canva is an all-in-one design platform, allowing you to create advertising banners, social media images, infographics, PDFs, eBooks, and videos – literally anything you’d need to visually promote your message or offer! Once designs are made, you can easily share your cloud-based assets with other team members via custom links or internal team folders – as a Canva user ourselves, we love that feature. You’re also able to skip your local business center or print shop, by ordering flyers or postcard prints directly through the Canva platform and getting them delivered right to your door.

canva

 

Connect your data with Supermetrics

supermetrics

Being a data-driven company, we had to mention Supermetrics – this tool helps digital marketers connect their data from multiple marketing platforms and integrate it into one inclusive reporting format of their choosing. Our Crimson Park Digital team uses Supermetrics for both Google Sheets and Google Data Studio and allows us to provide visually appealing and user-friendly reporting to our clients, without hours of manual updating. With over 16,000 data-driven businesses already using this tool, including Hubspot and Shopify, it’s the clear winner in regards to data compilation and automation.

Streamline your social media with Sprout Social

Our agency’s social media marketers love Sprout Social, mainly because it allows for efficient management of client social media programs, from drafting, to approvals, to publishing. It also has a robust social listening feature, which allows us to monitor topic or keyword-specific posts across social channels and integrate those conversations with our planning. It provides easy campaign tagging post by post, for future performance reporting as well. Sprout Social is truly a tool for digital marketers and brands that embrace social media as a vital part of their overall business strategies—and is a key to making deeper connections with their audience.

sprout social

 

Improve Messaging Strength with Grammarly

When it comes to converting customers with marketing messaging, grammar can make or break your credibility. That’s where Grammarly can help (and we run everything we publish through it!). This digital marketing tool checks for spelling typos and completely proofreads instantly, pointing out where punctuation may be missing or incorrect, for example. It can also provide a perceived tone of voice based on your content, to ensure that your message is written based on your intent. Furthermore, grammatical errors can negatively affect content marketing not only at a reader’s level but at an SEO level as well. Poor grammar may result in the loss of credibility, user experience, and search rankings.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most important tool for digital marketing?

The most important tool used in digital marketing depends on the goal of your digital marketing campaigns and channels. Available tools include website analytic trackers, email marketing services, graphic design programs, data analysis for multiple channels, and social media schedulers.

What tools are best for digital strategy planning?

The best tools for digital strategy planning are those that help marketers get organized. Social media scheduling applications such as Sprout Social provide tools that help both content planning and distribution.

What tools are best for analytics and tracking?

Dynamic reporting tools such as Google’s Data Studio (now Looker Studio) provide ways to visualize data from multiple digital marketing sources.

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About the author

Alexa Parker launched Crimson Park Digital in 2018 with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for digital marketing. With nearly ten years in the industry, she's been fortunate to learn from the best mentors, work on inspiring campaigns, and fine-tune her craft. Now, along with my team, she provides expertise to clients across the country and enjoys every day of it.