Introduction
Every company wants to sell its products and services to a broader audience and ensure brand recognition. Merchants in ancient Mesopotamia realised this as early as 1500 BCE when they started stamping their products (or their gunny bags) with a signature mark. This mark stood as a testament to the quality of the product and helped buyers return to the merchant for goods of equal quality.
The introduction of the printing press in 1450 CE by Johannes Gutenberg helped merchants replicate their logos enmasse. They could also add words to their logo, giving rise to the earliest form of print advertising. Print ads went a step further when Edward Cave used the Arabic word makhasin to describe his magazine and create mass appeal. Magazines further gave rise to a new way of information sharing called billboards in the 1850s, radio in the 1920s, TVs in the 1940s, and finally the internet since the early 2000s.
Contemporary Scenario
Today, search engine-driven digital marketing helps companies get clients anywhere in the world, at any time. Such is the popularity of digital marketing that Google alone raked in nearly $135 billion in 2020 from online ads. Facebook, the world’s largest social media network, earned nearly $85 billion from advertisements in 2020. Although this is still short of the staggering amount spent on offline media marketing, which peaked at $218 billion in 2019 in the US alone, the fact that two online platforms could easily match (and soon surpass) this number makes a case for digital marketing.
Digital Marketing: What is it?
Digital marketing is any marketing activity on a digital platform such as search engines, websites, online videos, social media platforms, emails, and instant messaging systems. With over 3.7 billion active internet users and 2.8 billion users of social media platforms worldwide, digital marketing has more reach than all of the other mediums of advertising and marketing combined. This has made digital marketing the primary focus of all marketing teams today.
The popularity of digital marketing is due to a combination of factors that make it so effective today. These factors include:
- Cost Effectiveness
- Measurable insights
- Actionable metrics
- High levels of customer retention
These are just some of many reasons that make digital marketing the most effective way to grow your customer base—without breaking the bank.
However, no profession is effective enough without tools that are custom made for the job. Digital marketing teams rely on a host of tools to make their lives easier and ensure that their digital marketing campaigns run as planned. Here are the top tools used by digital marketers according to their use cases:
EMAIL MARKETING
Email marketing is essential and relevant in today’s times. Reaching out to customers through newsletters and promotional emails is vital, as emails are an excellent way to ensure deliverability and determine if people actually read your email through buttons, links, and other methods. Popular email marketing tools include:
MAILCHIMP
MailChimp was one of the earliest in the game and is still the top tool for email marketing. With loads of self-support options and a free plan for less than 2000 subscribers, MailChimp is an effective tool for email marketing.
HUBSPOT
HubSpot is a popular tool that is used for marketing, sales, and CRM. Using automation, emails, and analytics, HubSpot’s all-in-one approach makes it a top choice for marketers around the world.
SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)
Staying on the first page of search engines is important for every business. Most searchers do not look beyond the first ten listings on popular platforms such as Google. This is why digital marketing teams consider SEO as their top priority today to ensure relevance in search results. Here are the top three tools they use:
SEMRUSH
Semrush is an amazing all-in-one digital marketing platform that delivers every time. With its world-class SEO management and strategy development capabilities, SEMrush is great for all your SEO and SEM use cases, including PPC, ad campaigns, keyword research, and more.
AHREFS
Ahrefs is a great tool to analyse websites, backlink profiles, conduct keyword research, audit websites, track rankings and even has a content explorer that helps you stay on top of your niche market at all times.
COMMUNICATION
The best teams in the world can fail due to communication issues. Every digital marketing team must communicate well amongst themselves to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Here are the top tools that help you stay on top of your comms game:
SLACK
Slack is often touted as being the alternative to email. Real-time messaging, team collaboration, task management, file sharing, and automation are only some of the ways Slack helps teams be more productive, communicate better, and stay ahead of the competition at all times.
CLICKUP
ClickUp is a great communication tool that helps everyone in a team stay on one page. With an excellent user interface and world-class messaging, task management, and planning capabilities, ClickUp is preferred by millions of digital marketing teams worldwide.
CONTENT MARKETING
Content is king in today’s digital world. Content marketing is a significant part of every digital marketing strategy. You must know what is trending in the market and what resonates with your audience to stay ahead of the competition using blogs, website content, social media campaigns and more. Here are the tools that can help you win at content marketing:
BUZZSUMO
BuzzSumo ranks content on websites based on the number of hits. This helps you find influential curators and aggregators in a niche. The tool can help you analyse your competition, create great social backlinks and filters, and help you win at your content marketing game.
STORYCHIEF
StoryChief is a one-stop shop for content planning, SEO, social media insights, and much more, and is considered by many to be the modern way to work on content.
ANALYTICS
No marketing team can work without tools for analytics. These tools help you figure out your user base and see what campaigns are working and what aren’t. Here are the top analytics tools:
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
The most popular search engine in the world is best tested by its own tools. With custom reports, cross-device data, segmentation for subset analysis, and seamless integration with other Google products, Google Analytics is for every digital marketing team that is serious about what it is trying to do.
KISSMETRICS
Kissmetrics is a web-based solution that helps to analyse, recognise, understand and enhance the metrics that drive online businesses. With real-time tracking, A/B testing, reports, and behavioural comparisons, Kissmetrics is a great tool for every digital marketing team.
A tool is only good if it makes you and your team more productive in the long run. Therefore, research and find the best fit for you and your team so you can take on your competition with confidence!
Conclusion
Digital marketing is a field that is vast and has several specialisations within it that help businesses grow faster. Creating a great digital marketing strategy requires planning, organisation and a vision that helps your company speak to your audience better. An excellent digital marketing team with the right tools for the job is any company’s first step towards success.
About Chitkara University
Chitkara University, situated near Chandigarh (India) has emerged as the most vibrant and high-ranking university in North India which has been ranked A+ by the NAAC. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, scientifically driven pedagogy, strong industry collaborations, and 120+ working associations from schools across the world, Chitkara University not only attracts the finest students from across the nation but with its seamless placement support, it is also able to help them carve high growth careers.
For more information, visit: Chitkara University