IN TODAY’S digital world, business owners and entrepreneurs know too well the pressure to stand out from the competition and maintain relevance. Throw in technological innovations like AI and AR/VR for more tailored and immersive marketing campaigns, and it gets even harder to keep up with all the trends. While for some, it seems like a great opportunity for growth, it can also turn out to be a trap for others.
So, what’s the best solution? Digital marketing, in this scenario, requires you to adapt to thrive or be forgotten. Your best bet is to leverage the modern marketing tech solutions available and to keep learning about ways to innovate the way you do business. We will look at why you should seriously consider this idea and the best solutions for different needs.
How Do Marketing Technologies Empower Modern Businesses?
It is hard to imagine an aspect of marketing that technology has not significantly improved, especially in this fast-paced world. For example, thanks to the many marketing technologies and tools available, business owners can now access crucial data for better decision-making. This means you get the crucial insights needed to create personalized content, targeted campaigns, and improve customer experiences. You can more accurately track the performance of your websites, ads, and engagement rates and make quick adjustments, etc. But that’s not all.
It is now possible to automate several marketing processes like email marketing, social media posting, nurturing leads, and much more. Besides, this has also led to more efficiency even in the complex aspects of marketing like link-building. For instance, links make your website look natural and improve online visibility. Still, it takes days to weeks to scour the web for quality relevant domains, but now that can be done in minutes to hours using the right tools. You get more done in less time while increasing your revenue and growth.
8 Top Must-Have Digital Marketing Tech Solutions
According to Statista, there are over 11,000 marketing tech solutions currently available in 2023 alone. That’s a lot of options for anyone, so you need to be able to know which ones are crucial for your business needs and the best in that category. Here are our top picks:
#1. SEO Software – SEMrush
Voice search and text searches are a huge minefield for businesses looking to expand their reach. SEO tools are one of the most important marketing tech solutions that you should invest in. Search engine optimization is a vital part of any modern marketing strategy serious about increasing profitability and building a competitive edge. With SEO software, you will be able to better gain insights into what your consumers want and optimize your content to deliver better tailored solutions to them.
Also, apart from the keyword and content optimization benefits, SEO software like Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc, comes in handy for competitor analysis, site audits, and optimizing your website for increased visibility. Then, there is the added benefit of better link-building results, whether you are doing it yourself or relying on a credible agency that charges a reasonable average price per link. The result is more traffic to your pages, more leads, and increased sales.
#2. Email Marketing – Hubspot
There are many marketing tech solutions to help you communicate skillfully with your target audience and consumers and close deals faster. Some of the modern tools, like Hubspot, can generate content for your campaigns and send personalized messages that are optimized to help boost your lead generation abilities and conversion rates.
#3. Social Media Marketing Tools – TikTok
Social media is one of the relatively modern, powerful tools for digital marketing. Brands take advantage of it to build a better personal connection with their audience, which can improve brand loyalty. And today, there are several SM tools platforms (Instagram, Facebook, etc) and tools that you can leverage to drive growth, like Buffer, Hootsuite, etc. SM tools can make it easy for you to generate more leads, boost your brand awareness, and drive more traffic to your website. Some platforms like FB are working on making AR marketing tools more accessible, which is something that marketers can look forward to.
#4. Graphics and Video Editing Tools – Canva
No modern brand marketing strategy is complete without visual content – besides this has a direct impact on your search rankings and engagement rates. Already, we have about 91% of consumers reporting that they prefer visual and interactive content over any other form. Thankfully, you don’t need to search long to find several graphic tools that let you design and create stunning visual content for your SM channels and web posts. This lets you create attention-grabbing infographics and make stunning edits to marketing videos that look very professional.
#5. Project Management Systems – Asana
Every business owner needs a reliable system to track and manage their projects, and that’s where software like Asana, ClickUp, Notion, etc, are helpful. You get to easily collaborate with your team in real time, assign tasks, monitor progress, and create a better workflow for your business. This way, you are able to boost productivity and improve your results.
#6. Content Management Systems (CMS) – WordPress
Content is at the core of all digital marketing practices today. Not only will you need data to know what kind of content you should create, but you can also ensure that your efforts are not wasted. You can polish the whole marketing process by using a CMS tool to deliver the content where your audience is more likely to engage with it. You will also find that CRMs make it easier to tailor content to different segments of your audience based on accurate data gleaned from your analytics. With these tools, you will be able to scale up your marketing strategy based on your growth rate.
#7. CRM Software – Salesforce
UK financial firms are planning to focus on digitalization and automation in 2024, and this is becoming a common trend in several different industries all over the world. And CRM tools do offer a great opportunity to businesses looking to automate tasks and save time.
You can manage your interactions or communications with your customers efficiently. It is also quite helpful to use CRM tools for monitoring campaigns and nurturing leads from any location. This way, you can improve your sales process and customer support, which will inevitably drive greater profits. Since most now come with AI-driven analytic features, you will be able to gain deep insights to sell more.
#8. Web Analytics Software – Google Analytics
Analytics (i.e., being able to monitor users’ behavior on your website) is a crucial part of marketing. Today, you can take the guesswork out of your decision-making process and strategy by using tools like Google Analytics or any of the other SEO technologies for marketers. This will help you discover how your visitors respond and what their preferences are. Besides, it empowers you with the insights you need to tweak and streamline your business processes.
Technology for Marketers: Common Challenges & How to Deal With Them
Technology for marketers is not all sunshine and roses. To use your tools successfully, you must know about common challenges like privacy concerns and vulnerability to cyber-attacks. But here are some other hurdles you may face:
- Labor shortage. The digital skill gap is a real thing, even in developed countries. Finding a tech-savvy employee can quickly become an expensive and time-consuming process. Chances are only a few applicants will know how to use the tools you prefer. You can try to get around this issue by offering a probation period and training to help the recruits find their way around your company’s marketing technologies.
- The need to integrate tools. Most likely, you will use multiple software for different marketing purposes, which creates a unique problem. Any brand should have a consistent customer perspective across numerous channels. By integrating marketing technologies, you get to provide a unified experience to your clients and gather vital data from multiple sources in one place.
- Budget issues. It takes money to access most marketing tech solutions, and you must train your staff to utilize the chosen tool. Even then, there’s a high chance that not everyone will master it completely. Sooner or later, you will have to splurge on an expert to fix any issues that arise. Besides, feature upgrades might also come with a price tag.
Conclusion
Marketing technologies can and do help you understand consumer behaviors better, build better connections, and drive more sustainable growth. Still, you will find that it also comes with a lot of challenges that you have to overcome as you also try to adjust to the already constantly shifting trends in marketing. This will require you to become a master strategist and a very patient yet skillful marketer. But if you push forward, you’ll find the ride pleasant.
