Top 7 Marketing Tools You Can Use to Create an Experience Worth Sharing
Are you a small business that isn’t sure how to get noticed online? Are you not even sure where to start?
One place you can start is to create an excellent experience for your customers, no matter where they are. That sounds great, but you may be asking yourself, how do I do that?
You use tools that can help minimize the work you need to do and take some of that stress off your shoulders. Check out these great tools we at Small Hits use to see which ones will help you with your business.
Canva
Canva is a great place to create the images and visuals needed for your small business. Use it to make things like:
Blog headers
Calls to action
Social posts
Infographics
Ebooks
Proposals
With Canva, you can plan, create, schedule, and publish your social media content right from the site. And with thousands of templates to choose from, finding the right one is easy.
You can use it to create business cards, flyers, brochures, and more. For example, take a look at our flyers below. We used Canva to create and print them, as well as our business cards. Printing is very affordable, and the quality is top tier.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with Canva. There’s so much more you are able to do with the site so go explore to see what they have. Plus, they make it super easy to work with a team in real-time. Team folders and built-in comments make it simple to stay organized and on track so you can be the best you can be.
Social Pilot
Once you’ve created all your excellent social posts on Canva, hop on over to Social Pilot to schedule them. Having a schedule for your social posts helps keep everything organized and on time. Being able to schedule the posts all at one time saves time, money, and your sanity.
With Social Pilot, you can publish and schedule on Facebook, Google Business Profile, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more. In addition, you can customize your posts with images, gifs, and tags. And being able to see all your posts in one calendar makes it easy to know what you’ve done and what you haven’t.
There’s even an option for bulk posting, saving you even more time and energy. Check out this infographic to learn how to post in bulk:
It includes analytics and reporting with downloadable and shareable reports and easy-to-read charts and graphs. And don’t worry, all these reports are white-labeled and ready to go.
It even includes a browser extension to make posting even more effortless. Social Pilot is so much more than just a scheduler and can help your business succeed in all aspects of your marketing.
Engagement
Social Pilot also helps with your engagement online. The social inbox allows you to connect and communicate with customers all in one place. View and respond to comments, messages, and story replies in real-time across all your accounts.
Collaboration
Social Pilot makes it easy for you to invite team members and collaborate on specific accounts. You can assign specific roles and access rules to team members. The ability to do this all from one site makes it easy to stay on top of your social accounts and keep everyone on the same page.
SquareSpace
Having these tools for social can help you take your business to the next level. But what is a business social account without a website to direct it all back to? Building a website can be a struggle, but platforms like SquareSpace make it a breeze.
You’re able to purchase a new domain or transfer one from an existing site. Small Hits has just moved to SquareSpace from our old hosting platform, and it was one of the easiest experiences I’ve ever had.
The builder is extremely easy to use and includes plenty of templates and color palettes to choose from. You can add an online store, booking services, or third-party extensions in a snap. And if you decide to use an eCommerce site, you can create and manage everything from merchandising to checkout.
If you have a blog, you’re going to love SquareSpace. They’ve created an effective process for setting up each blog post's SEO and metadata. Squarespace is an excellent platform for new business owners and people who may not have much website building experience.
Neil Patel Digital
Now that you’ve got a website let's take it to the next level. Optimizing your website is just as important as having one. Neil Patel Digital helps you with all aspects of search engine optimization.
Digital IQ
The digital IQ is the strategy and planning part of NP Digital. You can see your customer journey map, track analytics and insights, and even create customer personas. Use this section to help make the right decisions and optimizations for your site.
Earned and Paid Media
NP Digital helps with normal, technical, and local SEO to keep you on the top of your game without spending money. They focus on things like link building and content marketing, as well as organic social media and app store optimization. Plus, they can help you with any Amazon marketing or affiliate marketing.
If you want to go the paid ads route, they’ve got that covered too. Whether it’s paid search or social media, they can help you create a campaign perfect for you. They offer display and native ads so you can choose the one that's best for your business.
Tools and Tech
NP also offers a great tool belt for you to use for your business. You gain access to their Ubersuggest web app, which helps find SEO keywords that get your business noticed and ranking higher. It even has a Chrome extension that lets you see things like keyword overviews, link overviews, keyword data, and more right from any search. It also offers an ROI calculator and an ads grader so you can track how your ads are performing.
HubSpot
Are you looking for a customer relationship management software that will be your inbound marketing hub? Then HubSpot is your site. They have a range of popular features, including:
Ad tracking and management
Social media management
Live chat
Marketing automation
Marketing analytics
And much more
But that’s just the beginning. HubSpot also has a sales, service, and CMS hub.
Sales Hub
The sales hub is where you will find the email marketing templates, tracking tools, and conversation intelligence needed to create a great email marketing campaign. It also includes a meeting scheduler that syncs with your Google or 365 calendars. They also offer sales analytics and reporting pipeline management, which you can view from their mobile CRM app.
Service Hub
Need to contact a customer? This hub has you covered. HubSpot offers omnichannel messaging, inbound calling (BETA), and VoIP calling. Send out customer feedback surveys to get feedback from your customers and create a playbook for your customer service team to follow to get the most out of HubSpot.
CMS Hub
This hub is the spot for your fully integrated customer relationship management (CRM). HubSpot offers premium hosting, website themes, and adaptive testing. In addition, the drag and drop editor makes it easy to create your best website.
And that’s not even all that HubSpot has to offer. So go check them out and see what they can do for you.
Honeybook
Honeybook is a great client management software that we’ve found. You’re able to keep track of all your projects on one platform.
You can create your customer process, customize your business's stages, and move each one through the stages. You can create an entire process from inquiry to payment and add your clients to each step.
With Honeybook, you are able to keep track of all your client's information and be able to find or create the documents you need quickly. You can create proposals, schedule meetings, and so much more.
If you want 20% off your first year with Honeybook? Use this link and sign up now!
Proposals
You are able to keep your invoices, contracts, and payments all together with Honeybook proposals. You’re able to add your products or services to packages, import them directly into your invoices, and add them to your contracts.
You can accept payments on a recurring or scheduled basis. Clients can pay from any device, including an auto-pay feature. Discounts and tax calculations are done automatically, so you don’t have to do the math yourself. In addition, you are able to send your clients payment reminders and then be notified as soon as your client pays.
Contracts
Creating your contract for the proposal is just as easy. With the use of templates, you can create something perfect for your business. Adjust the style and format to fit your needs and use smart fields to auto-fill for things like location, dates, or names. These can be e-signed from any device and are legally binding.
Scheduling
Honeybook allows you to set your availability and schedule meetings all from the same platform. In addition, you can include session details and time buffers to keep you on track and on time. It even syncs with your Google Calendar and connects with your Honeybook projects.
Automation
So I know I’ve mentioned the automation Honeybook offers, but there are so many that it needed its own section. For example, you can create sequences of messages, files, or tasks to send out, but only when the time is right. You can set up triggers based on your client's behaviors, dates, or other criteria. There’s even a setting you can choose where you must approve the automation before it goes out.
Having an automation setup can help you stay on your customer's minds and keep them interested in your business. You can follow up with questionnaires, marketing materials, or a scheduling link or offboard clients with thank you’s and surveys.
You’re able to set up and save multiple automations for your standard processes and reuse them again and again. This is great for email campaigns and follow-ups as these are very common and are used often.
Simplified
Simplified.co is an artificial intelligence writer that can create over 30 different types of content. You can create text for videos, ads, products, blogs, and so much more. Choose between short-form and long-form content, depending on the project.
The short-form includes individual sections like blog ideas and titles, blog outlines, blog section completer, and even a hashtag generator. The long-form is a complete document writer where you can access different templates for the AI writer to go off of. You can select each section (blog title, blog selection) right in the document.
But that’s not all they offer. Keep reading to learn more about Simplified.
Content Calendar
Manage all of your social media accounts from one simple platform. Designing and editing images, videos, and text from the social media marketing planner makes creating content easy. You can also tag, comment, and assign work to your team members in real-time. And with the Chrome extension, you can share articles, posts, and more in seconds.
Animation Maker
This animation maker is Simplified’s image animation tool. There are 24 different animation effects you can add to boost your images, plus it has one-click editing tools like background remover, image resizer, and instant text animator. And with the premium asset library, you can find exactly what you need to be successful.
Video Editor
With Simplified’s video editor, you are able to upload your own media or choose from their stock library. You can add icons, illustrations, soundtracks, and many other elements to optimize your videos. You can add and animate different elements and trim videos as well as add:
Gradients
Filters
Effects
Icons
Text
It’s even easier to create incredible videos with their templates and watermark free stock videos. Plus, you can use the AI writer to generate video descriptions, titles, and written calls to action.
Once you’ve created your video, you can customize and resize it for any platform you want to share it on. Then, export the videos in MP4 or GIF or upload and convert the media files for free. From there, you can tag and comment in real-time.
Design
Simplified also has an AI-powered graphic design tool. Choosing a template is easy, whether a brochure, flyer, business card, logos, or other marketing assets. Then get your team to check it by inviting and collaborating with them instantly. And with their one-click editing tools, it’s so simple to get things done quickly.
Is Your Tool Belt Packed?
Well, there you have it! So many tools you can use to create an experience worth sharing. Add these to your tool belt, and you’ll be bringing in new clients before you know it.
