It can be hard to compete if your marketing department lacks sophisticated martech tools. And the moment you fall behind, you have to work doubly hard to catch back up.
Yet it can be tough to know where to start when it comes to investing in new tech systems and integrations. One way to make the process less overwhelming and more valuable is to consider which types of tools your team needs most.
For instance, let’s say you conduct a gap analysis on your current marketing processes. Your analysis reveals that your team is relying on a number of social listening tools. However, none of them are being optimized. In this case, you would want to explore the latest social listening options to choose a single one that aligns with your goals.
Of course, social media solutions are just the beginning.
The Top Small Business Martech Tools
Listed below are martech tool types that can help your small business succeed.
1. A high-powered centralized marketing software
Too many marketing departments are working with tons of individual software products each day. According to a survey from Emarsys, around one-third of marketers struggle to reconcile a plethora of martech integrations that don’t communicate well with each other. This can end up causing workflow snags, not to mention constant logins into different portals. Plus, it can cause irritating customer interruptions.
The simplest workaround for this problem is to identify one centralized marketing software solution to be your core, all-in-one platform. Ideally, you want to choose a tool that can integrate with the other essential systems, software, and apps used within your department (and maybe your company.)
For example, Thryv Marketing Center features a user-friendly interface that’s designed to integrate with the most popular small business apps and niche software, so you can work efficiently and move fast. The new addition of AI-enhanced social media and review response tools makes growing your customer base, and engaging with them in meaningful ways, fast and easy.
2. Project management software
How are you currently tracking your marketing department’s many projects? Do you use a mixture of communication vehicles and databases, such as Slack, Excel, and email? The issue with this kind of cobbled-together strategy is that it can be difficult to keep projects flowing through the pipeline.
Think about your authorization process. Do projects tend to become “lost” amid a complex maze of authorizations? If you need to get creative approvals from several people to move projects from conception to completion, you need to know where projects are. Otherwise, hidden bottlenecks can turn into serious headaches.
Project management software can allow you to get a clear and immediate view of where your department’s projects are at all times. As you begin to investigate the best project management tools available, remember that they all have strengths. For this reason, even ClickUp (which is a project management solution) gives a nod to some of its competitors in a “best of” blog post. Ultimately, you want to find a tool that offers the precise project management features you need.
3. A real-time analytics delivery system
Your marketing team should be relying on data to drive your decisions. Consequently, you need an analytics software that’s capable of both amassing and making sense of your data. And Google Analytics does it all very well.
Google Analytics is a top tool in this category for a reason: It’s built and maintained by the leading search engine. Over the years, Google has kept increasing the capabilities of Google Analytics, turning it into a cost-effective martech investment for smaller companies. (Yes, it’s free!)
Once you have Google Analytics in place, you can use other tools to further interpret your data. For instance, Analytify operates as a WordPress plugin that strives to simplify your statistics and generate reports. If you don’t have WordPress, you could try a different analytics tool, like Narrative BI. Narrative BI has been built to transform data into stories, thereby giving you the chance to better identify anomalies, make confident choices, and get more customers through your sales funnel journeys.
4. Email marketing software
Texting and DMing are certainly popular messaging methods. But don’t give up on email marketing. It’s still a solid way to connect with customers and encourage them to take actions. However, you shouldn’t have to deploy every message by hand.
Software like MailChimp can do all the heavy lifting on your behalf. And that includes offering up content suggestions via generative AI. In other words, you can let MailChimp guide you every step of the way toward constructing more effective email campaigns that convert.
Remember that email marketing can work whether you’re in a B2B, B2C, or even D2C space. With that in mind, consider adding it into (or making it a bigger piece of) your marketing plan.
Being a marketer for a small business offers you many advantages, such as the ability to pivot rapidly. With the right martech tools, you’ll be able to leverage your speed and flexibility — and launch your brand into the spotlight.
