Digital tools and platforms aid in many aspects of one’s business. From enabling Sales representatives to keep track of their clients to assisting the Finance team in their monthly cut-off reports, these tools play an important role in determining the success of any business. Because of this, many startup companies also provide various products and solutions available online that can help digital marketers located in any part of the globe.
The thing is, there are so many tools and platforms these days that a company can use. So as the decision maker or digital marketer of a company, how do you choose which platforms you should use?
The Stack
One of the ways you can start in determining which platforms you can avail of for your business is through a stack. Defined and coined in many ways (stack, technology stack, software stack, application stack), is “a group or system of tools and applications that work and interact with each other to achieve a specific goal or result”.
To start, you can begin creating a stack by determining what your business problem or need is. Think about the challenges you have as a business, and list down the aspects of your business that you need help with. After this, all you need to do is to search online for any digital tools and platforms that can solve your problem, and you’re done!
Source: Snap App
Let’s take a look below at the different tools digital marketers use that assist them in driving and achieving their business goals.
Tools to Reach Your Audience
Google AdWords
While some people might call this tool “basic” and “elementary”, it’s important to note that despite the many digital tools and platforms that are currently out in the market, at the end of the day, many still fall back to and rely on Google AdWords.
Through the Google AdWords platform, you can launch Search and Display campaigns, where ads created by you can be shown to your target market who are online via the Google website, or any website that’s part of the Google Display Network.
Source: Quora
Facebook Business Manager
As the company that is probably Google’s closest and strongest competitor (we’re guessing), Facebook isn’t one to be left in the dark. Similar to how the Google AdWords platform works, you can access the Facebook Business Manager and use it to run campaigns about your business. You can choose from a variety of ad placements, ad types, and ad formats which will come out on Facebook’s News Feed, as well as some of their affiliate apps like Instagram.
Source: Buffer
Google Analytics
Of course, the efforts of running campaigns on Google AdWords or Facebook Business Manager will be futile unless you’re able to take note of the results of your campaign efforts. Google Analytics is a basic tool yet not everyone uses it to its full potential. Since one of the objectives of tools that aid in reaching your customers is to increase web visitors, it’s important to check Google Analytics every now and then so that you can gauge if your campaign efforts are working or not.
Tools to Engage
Ignite
Ignite is an email service provider that automates these email marketing processes for you. With features such as creating and saving email templates and setting up triggers for email sendouts, many of your manual email marketing processes will definitely be taken off of your hands. You can even connect Ignite to your e-commerce website so you can send personalized emails.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a useful tool for many digital marketers because of its ability to keep all your social media accounts in one place. As a social media management platform, you can easily see updates on all your different accounts or pages (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) in one dashboard.
Source: Hootsuite
Tools to Act
WordPress
Many would agree that having a website is extremely necessary for businesses, as it is often seen as your “online calling card”. Without a website, your online presence is significantly diminished. Although in the beginning it was assumed that having a website was difficult to achieve and maintain, tools such as WordPress actually helped in making it easier for businesses to have one at a fraction of the cost. WordPress allows you to create a website and customize it at great ease. The best part is that you don’t even need to be a web developer or design expert to use it!
Source: WordPress
Hello Bar
Perhaps a more concrete example for this would be Hello Bar. Hello Bar is a simple tool that you can use for on-site push notifications. Some of its benefits include getting more newsletter subscribers, increasing your following, and increasing your likes, shares, and retweets.
Source: Buffer
Tools to Convert
Google Tag Manager
One aspect of getting tools to convert is the ability to tag specific users so that you can track the activities of users on your website. By using GTM, you can create events on Google Analytics to track which pages on your site they’re visiting, which links do they click, and other conversion metrics. This will greatly help you, especially if you have an e-commerce website.
Source: Amazee Metrics
Unbounce
Aside from being a tool that allows you to create landing pages, on Unbounce you can also launch targeted tools like pop-ups or sticky bars on any page of your website. It also allows you to track and optimize conversions on your website. It shows you the pages your visitors are looking at, and provides deep insights on how you can further optimize your website to increase conversions.
Source: Unbounce
With the many options for tools digital marketers can avail of these days, you might be wondering where or how you can start building your stack. While some companies normally start with a website and social media tools, they tend to stop there as well. To create a true stack that will definitely have an impact on your business, the key is to have a mix of different tools that your company can use. At the end of the day, a combination of all types of tools for reaching customers, optimizing conversions, increasing engagement, and providing a call to action, is the key to a well-rounded and efficient marketing stack.
Sources:
Allen, R. (2017, May 8). Essential Digital Marketing tools 2017. Retrieved from Smart Insights: https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-platforms/essential-digital-marketing-tools-infographic/
Definition of: application stack. (n.d.). Retrieved from PCMag: https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/37932/application-stack
Definition of: software stack. (n.d.). Retrieved from PCMag: https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/51702/software-stack
Definition of: stack. (n.d.). Retrieved from PCMag: https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/51954/stack
Definition of: technology stack. (n.d.). Retrieved from PCMag: https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/61186/technology-stack
Ignite Team. (n.d.). Features That Work for You. Retrieved from https://Ignite.com/features/
WordPress Team. (n.d.). Create an outstanding website. Retrieved from WordPress.com: https://wordpress.com/learn-more/?v=site
