5 digital marketing tools to generate leads.

Regardless of the business, you are in, you need to successfully gather customers and generate leads if you want your company to grow. To grow your business in the best possible way, you need to understand what tools are available and make the most of your marketing. Digital marketing allows you to reach more people efficiently, maximizing your efforts. 

Using the internet to get more leads – known as digital marketing – is one of the most cost-effective ways of promoting your business to new faces. Running a Facebook account, having a website, and using Twitter are all effective ways of reaching more people efficiently.

total digital advertising revenue for online companies from 2012 to 2019

As shown by the above graph, Google, Facebook, and other media platforms are showing steady growth. This means increasingly more people are using the internet and are available for you to reach them with your marketing tools. Digital marketing is not going anywhere: In fact, over 70% of users on the internet would prefer to learn about new products through content instead of traditional means of advertising. With more and more people turning to the internet to learn about new products and services, there is a growing need for digital marketing tools across the board. Here are some of the most common tools for online marketing available.

The most common digital marketing tools you should use.

Digital marketing doesn’t have to be something difficult. In fact, you are likely already familiar with many of the digital marketing tools available. Websites and blogs have been around for years now. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are likely something you already use. Learning how to use common tools to spread your business’s message can be a steep learning curve, but for many, it can be quite simple. Here are a few things for you to consider before getting you started.

What are digital marketing tools?

Google Analytics on Tablet Screen

Digital Marketing tools are essential to the survival of business in the millennium. These tools make it much faster to reach your customers. They also make it extremely easy for businesses in any industry to capture and analyze data. With the right social media marketing tools, you can gather customer data, organize it, and target your digital marketing strategy accordingly. 

What are the best and most effective digital marketing tools?

When it comes to digital marketing, there are many products to choose from. But as with all things, you need to be selective about where you allocate your time and finances. Therefore, we will discuss the most effective forms of internet marketing. 

In the past, we tended to view marketing as slick magazine advertisements, billboards, and TV commercials. With the internet, we need to rethink how we reach potential customers. For example, a consumer can readily access online product and service reviews on before using a given product or service. This makes managing reviews something that businesses need to concern themselves with.

In addition, having an online presence is more important than ever. Taking initiative to interact with your consumers on these platforms will go far in creating a sense of community. However, digital marketing is much more than social media. Take a closer look at the five most effective ways to reach your online audience and convert them to profitable customers with a few simple steps.

#1 Content Marketing

woman sitting on floor while working on laptop

Content marketing is one of the best forms of digital marketing. As stated above, well over half of internet users prefer to get their information through content. Content is defined as written information such as blogs as well as videos. You must have an up-to-date website that is chock full of content.

Make sure any products or services you have available have an easy-to-read, SEO-optimized write-up. SEO stands for search engine optimization and is used to help drive traffic. When someone puts searches through Google, the words put into the search are where keywords come from. You can use Google Analytics to discover what most people search to get to your site.

Creating landing pages for your website with properly placed SEO terms will help to get people to visit your site. To learn more about how SEO works, check out one of Podium’s many available tutorials. 

As great as getting traffic to your site is, it alone doesn’t help if the leads are not converted into new customers. One effective way of increasing this possibility is with the use of live chat software. It will help convert this traffic into customers and leads. It can be set up to automatically pop up and prompt them with questions gaining you emails, telephone numbers, and other ways to convert that prospect into a client. 

#2 SMS marketing – the superior email marketing tool. 

Email is an effective channel for communicating with customers. In fact, internet marketing was synonymous with email marketing for a few years; however, this is no longer one of the most effective ways of reaching your target audience. SMS text messaging is far superior in the fact that it has a 98% open rate while emails tend to average closer to just 20%. If your customer is not even opening your email, your promotions will not reach them. Using text will allow you to get better feedback from your customers and even more reviews. As a bonus, SMS marketing tends to make your customers feel more connected with you, adding an element of personalization.

#3 Analytic Tools

Google Analytics Logo

You can gather all the data you want, but unless you know what to do with it, it is useless. There are dozens of tools for analyzing marketing data and making use of any one or several of these will go leagues to making your business more efficient and profitable. Segmenting your audience will help you target your advertising to them, tailoring the correct message to the right consumer. Google Analytics is free and extremely thorough. It is the most used tool for businesses to analyze their site traffic and therefore create an effective marketing strategy.

You can make these analytics tools even more useful by combining them with other marketing tools on this list. For example, Podium can help organize your communications through dozens of platforms while Google Analytics gives you the information you need to craft conversations that lead to conversions.  

#4 Marketing Automation

paper that says "marketing strategy"

A fantastic digital marketing strategy just would not be the same without using automation. Being efficient does not necessarily go hand in hand with working harder. The statement “work smarter, not harder” really applies to the internet world. There are tons of software options available that will help you create automatic messages that respond to customers, text messages, reviews, or feedback. This can shorten your time at the computer while still helping your customers feel like you and your business are attentive to their needs. 

Automation can be part of more marketing strategies than you think. You can incorporate it into email marketing, your web chat, and more. Think of automation as a way to save your team members time so that they can focus on more important tasks. 

#5 Social Media Marketing

Social Media apps on phone

Social media marketing refers to platforms where the average person goes to socialize. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are some of the most popular places people go to entertain themselves. Businesses use these platforms to connect with larger audiences for a fraction of the financial and time costs. With more than half the world’s population using one form of social media or another, every business needs to seriously consider using social media to reach new clients.

Building these accounts will help you communicate with your audience. You can get feedback easily on products, information, or events they might be interested in. Even better, it is meticulously organized by their individual platforms. By connecting with your customers and future customers, social media provides the opportunity for you to easily access and organize more leads. Social media platforms also provide an easy place to gather reviews, fostering the potential for even more clients.

Conclusion: Digital marketing tools will help you win customers.

The above digital marketing tools can help your business’ digital marketing strategy. By marketing to a larger audience with less effort, you will improve your customer base with ease. The above strategies and digital marketing tools will help you not only attract people to your website but then convert them into leads. Throughout the process, staying in constant communication with your leads will help with conversion.

Podium software has many amazing features that can help you organize your marketing plan. You can get started with Podium free. Use Podium to communicate with your customers, team, gain feedback, and much more.

Matt Boyce
Matt Boyce Head of SMB Marketing

Matt Boyce is a marketing and business professional at Podium, the premiere messaging platform that connects local businesses with their customers.

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