There are so many tools at a marketer’s disposal these days.
You can find everything under the sun, including project management software, social media dashboards, chatbot builders and so much more.
But with so many options, it can get a little overwhelming – to the point that a lot of the best tools can get lost in the shuffle.
That’s why I’ve rounded up the marketing tools you actually need.
Every tool on this list is a tool that I stand behind, and use in my day-to-day work life.
Read on to discover the fifteen tools I can’t live without.
1. MobileMonkey
Facebook Messenger marketing is one of the hottest digital marketing trends out there – and with good reason. Facebook Messenger messages see an 80% average open rate – and that figure blows email marketing out of the water.
If you want to see similarly impressive levels of engagement for your own brand, then the first thing you need to do is a build a Facebook Messenger chatbot.
Enter MobileMonkey.
MobileMonkey is the best Facebook Messenger chatbot builder out there – and did I mention that it’s free?
With MobileMonkey, you can build your first Messenger chatbot easily, with no coding required.
You can use your bot to send out messages, answer questions, interact with contacts, conduct surveys, and so much more.
It can help jumpstart your Messenger live support and marketing campaign.
Use your MobileMonkey-powered chatbot to attract leads and drive engagement.
2. VisualHunt
Good content marketing involves having high-quality images to go with your text, and having a source of those high-quality images is necessary to deliver the best content possible.
VisualHunt is a great source of free, high-quality images pulled from many online sources.
Their photos have Creative Commons Zero license, making them free for commercial use. They also have Creative Commons and Public Domain photos that you can embed in your content directly from the website.
Just search the keyword or theme you’re looking for and you’ll always images you need.
3. Venngage
Nothing beats infographics for delivering information in a visually engaging way – they’re often better than text, video, and photographs, making them a must-have in your content marketing.
With Venngage, you can create amazing infographics for your content in three easy steps.
You can choose a template in Venngage, add your data into charts and visuals, and then customize your design.
And with over a hundred templates to choose from, Venngage is one of the best places to create infographics quickly and easily.
4. Serpstat
If you’re looking to get serious with your digital marketing, then you need an all-in-one SEO platform that you can depend on.
Serpstat was designed for professional marketers who are looking to gain that extra edge. You can gain that by having all the data before you to make decisions on any online business marketing plan.
Serpstat has research tools with advanced analytics for you to learn about your audience. It also keeps a record of historical data over time, giving you a bird’s eye view of your performance.
You can also group keywords by tags, while additionally gathering insights in your traffic distribution. That’ll let you know where you’re getting results from, and what needs improving.
5. Contentful
This service is great for those looking to add more juice to their content marketing efforts. Contentful boasts a new, more flexible approach to content management, promising to make blogging and content creation a breeze.
It’s an API-driven, content management infrastructure, which has been designed to facilitate the creation, management and distribution of content to any platform or device easily.
Basically, it’s like WordPress, but it has a lot more bells and whistles that make it more secure, covering more specific content marketing needs.
Companies like Spotify, Urban Outfitters, Red Bull, and others are already making use of Contentful for their websites. Running your website on Contentful will enable you to get ahead of everyone else with your content marketing.
6. Hotjar
Being able to understand how your audience behaves when they view your website can provide tremendous strategic benefit.
Hotjar lets you see where your visitors are clicking with its heatmap, highlighting the key elements that catch attention. You can then adjust your web design and content to encourage more clicks and engagement with your content.
It can also give you recordings of where their mouse cursors tend to go, how fast they scroll, and so on.
You also get to see your conversion funnel, showing how much of your audience goes from landing page to actual conversion.
With the information you get from Hotjar, you can fine-tune your website to bring in more customers, and increase your revenue.
7. WP-Chatbot by MobileMonkey
Having a Facebook Messenger-powered chat widget on your website is a surefire way to take your engagement and time on page to the next level.
The WP-Chatbot plugin adds a Facebook Messenger widget on your website, which has complete integration with Messenger and your Facebook business Page.
Visitors can then engage with your business easily, without having to leave your site.
And since your chatbot is integrated with Facebook Messenger, every person who interacts with you on the site will be added to your ever-growing Facebook Messenger contact list – which means that you’ll be able to follow up with your chat participants after that initial site chat.
8. Buildfire
Adding an app for your business can be quite an upgrade, letting you reach even more users who use mobile devices.
Buildfire enables you to build your own app from simple templates, with no coding required. If you know how to build stuff like websites, chatbots, and so on with templates, then you should be able to build an app here.
It’s almost like MobileMonkey, but for mobile apps on iOS or Android, instead of chatbots. Of course, building apps involves a lot more than just setting triggers and tasks for a chatbot, but Buildfire guided users through the process, enabling you to create an app that works for your business as you like it.
And the best thing about it is it’s free to build an app in Buildfire by yourself, while you can also choose to hire Buildfire to do it for you.
9. DrumUp
If you’re looking for more help on your content and social media marketing, then this app may be for you.
DrumUp is a free, and easy-to-use app which enables you to manage multiple social media accounts easily.
You can curate top content in your niche, and save time on managing all your accounts by up to 90%.
It can even help you reach out to more people with its great features, and compatibility with many platforms.
DrumUp also enables you to measure the social media engagement you’re getting through its analytics.
Keeping your profiles updated need not be such a big chore anymore thanks to this app.
10. BrightEdge
Artificial intelligence has made digital marketing even more convenient in recent years, and BrightEdge will enable you to take advantage of it.
BrightEdge helps improve your SEO and content marketing efforts through its AI, powering improved organic search performance. BrightEdge also lets you track and use deep data and context to further improve your search rannkings.
The app can also help you run a high-performing website through its data intelligence – and you can then create more specific content which will satisfy present customer demand.
11. Todoist
The rigors of day-to-day digital marketing work can bog you down over time, making it seem like you’re no longer in control.
Todoist aims to help you take that control back, by doing things like giving you reminders on those little tasks you tend to forget.
You can enter your tasks for the day, and maintain a list that’ll help you remember what to prioritize.
But Todoist isn’t just like any other productivity service as it’s designed mostly for business. The sleek interface will help you track your thoughts, your work tasks, assigned errands, and more.
Todoist can definitely help organize your work life with greater deal of clarity.
12. Visage
Visual storytelling is an art of its own – it’s all, essentially, about showing instead of telling.
Visage is a visualization platform which enables content marketers to create on-brand visual content easily.
This relatively new app features simple data visualization tools, which will help improve your visualization and process efforts. You just need to enter your data and choose how it can be best shown – and you can edit it there, within the app, as you can in Canva.
Visage also has additional features which make it great for collaboration. Visage enables seamless ideation, design, distribution, and analytics for your visual content.
13. Oktopost
Managing all of your social media activities can become tedious over time, especially for businesses.
Oktopost makes that easier for, combining three separate solutions into one – you get social media management, social employee advocacy, and social media promotions in one tight package.
If you’re looking to up your social media game, Oktopost is definitely worth looking into.
14. Vidyard
Videos are the best performing content, across all social platforms, for generating engagement and boosting awareness.
Vidyard is a tool you can use to make personalized videos easily, without having to be an expert at video editing. It lets you customize your video with ease, and you can then embed them anywhere you want.
With videos you make in Vidyard, you can maximize your first impression, boosting brand building and reach efforts..
15. ContentCal
Making content is one of the more daunting tasks in marketing, but it’s also one of the most crucial, as it’s really ‘the meat’ of your campaign.
But it does get tedious over time, and it can be hard to stay on top of when you’re in the thick of it.
ContentCal can help you take back control with its visual calendar, which is designed for planning and auto-publishing your social media content.
The app is used by many big companies and agencies for their content and social media marketing needs. You can learn more on how to go about your content and social media marketing through its analytics features.
ContentCal also enables you to customize your setup, so you can tailor-fit the dashboard for every sub-brand, client, or company you work with.
Victory loves preparation, and you too can taste success every single day with a plan laid out in ContentCal.
A version of this post was first published on Inc.com.
