Small Business Tax Center
Small Business Ideas, Grants &
Plans to Start & Run a Business:

Small Business Grants
CyberSchmooz
Network in Cyberschmooz Community Ask Questions Questions and Answers Share Tips Small Business Ideas List Your Business Business Advice from Idea Cafe Experts Coffee Talk with Experts Starting A Business Business Plan Biz Planning | Sample Plans Small Business Ideas Idea Name Your Biz Name Plan Your Biz Plan Financing $ Starting a Business Do It! Running your Business Marketing Tips Promotional Merchandise Marketing Tips Marketing | Sales | Customers Human Resources HR | Employees | Contractors Legal Forms & Tax Information Legal | Biz Forms Managing a Business Managing | Operations
Financing Resources Financing Your Business E Commerce & Webhosting eCommerce Take Out Info Trade Publications FREE Trade Publications Business Books Biz Books Your Own Business Small Business News Small Biz News Gen X Biz Gen X Biz Work at Home Work @ Home Business Information The Fridge - Biz Info on Ice Destress Send Awards Send Awards & Greetings Yoga At Your Desk Yoga @ Your Desk Fun Guide Guide to Find FUN Online About Idea Cafe Press Idea Cafe has received Idea Cafe in the News Idea Cafe's Kudos Kudos for Idea Cafe Advertise on Idea Cafe Advertise on Idea Cafe Privacy Policy Privacy Policy Contact Idea Cafe Contact Idea Cafe Link to Idea Cafe Link to/from Idea Cafe Join Idea Cafe
Search Idea Cafe Site Directory Site Map Online directory to business resources Biz Web Guide



Expert Answers to Biz Questions

Listen in! Pick up some expert advice to a reader's question that we selected from CyberSchmooz.

color business bar

5 Industry Standard Marketing Technologies That Are Worth The Investment

 

Marketing is all about technology. Some of the technology we once thought would change marketing forever has had little impact, while machine learning and artificial intelligence coupled with big data are changing the game.

 

There are tools and technologies essential to any marketing plan, but there are a few that are worth the investment. Many of these tools offer monthly subscriptions you can cancel anytime and pay using your business credit card so you can try them before you commit to the long term.

 

Others are even free or offer annual subscriptions that will save you money once you have determined the right tool for you and your business.

 

Here are five of the industry standard marketing technologies worth the investment:

 

 

1.     Analytics

 

The most popular tool for analytics is the free Google Analytics, which is used on over 80% of all small business websites. This tool lets you see the number of your site visitors, and a great deal of information about them, including how long they spent on each web page and how they moved through your website.

 

The key to analytics is not gathering the data: that part is easy, and many of the tools listed below have their own analytics. The key is having people on your marketing team who know how to read analytics and know what to do with that data.

 

At some point, you may find that you need the more robust paid version of Google Analytics, or a more comprehensive enterprise type tool like Adobe Analytics.

 

2. Conversion Optimization

 

This is the practice of getting visitors to your website, blog, or landing pages to do whatever you want them to do more often. Users who visit from a web ad typically convert at a rate of around 3%. With the right tools, you can easily double this or more.

 

Top tools include:

 

  • Landing Page Grader
  • Optimizely
  • Unbounce

 

Try each of them to see what works best for you and has the best conversion results.

 

3. Email

 

Email marketing is, of course, the giant of marketing technology. Developing a solid email list and sending out regular emails that resonate with your customers is still one of the keys to successful marketing, and one of the most cost-effective.

 

MailChimp and Constant Contacts are two of the most prominent tools, but many marketing automation tools have their own email programs as well. The key is that you are finding people who are interested in what you have to offer and only sending them valuable information that fits their interests. What you are not doing is buying lists that are also being sold to your competition, and spamming subscribers.

 

4. Remarketing

 

Remarketing happens when you visit a site, and then you go to another site like Facebook or even another website, and you see ads for the site you just visited. This is easy for you as a brand to set up, and it is inexpensive. The reason is that you usually pay by the cost per one thousand impressions, or CPM (cost per mille). Remarketing can allow you get a lot of exposure for a small investment. Some of the leading tools are:

 

  • Google AdWords Remarketing
  • AdRoll
  • Perfect Audience

 

One wrench in this method is the new update to Apple’s browser, Safari. Users can opt to prevent cross-site promotions (essentially remarketing). Google and other vendors are working on a solution to this that still will not violate user privacy.

 

5. Marketing Automation

 

Marketing automation brings many features together in one package. It often includes analytics, online forms, tracking user behavior on your site, web personalization, email campaigns, integrating information from your CRM and more. There could be an entire article on this technology alone.

 

There are several tools for mid to enterprise level businesses that work well:

 

Small to Medium:

 

  • Hub Spot
  • ActOn
  • InfusionSoft

 

Medium and Larger:

 

  • Marketo
  • Adobe Campaign
  • Oracle Eloqua
  • Silverpop

 

Note that one of the keys to all these things is content. Content is still king in the marketing world. However, the user is the queen and user experience matters. This means the content you provide needs to be excellent. That alone can help your conversion rates, inform your email campaigns, and give your marketing automation software something to work with.

 

If you are not an expert at creating content, you may want to hire a content strategist as a consultant, at least to get you started. Content is the currency of marketing today, and the way to judge if it is good enough is to ask yourself, “Would your customer thank you for that content?” If the answer is no, consider revising it.

 

There is a lot of marketing technology and a lot of buzz about each different type but these five examples are technologies well worth the investment.

 

Did you find this article helpful and informative? Leave us a comment with your thoughts in the section below.

Google      

Small Business Tax CenterIdea Cafe HomeSign UpBiz Grant CenterCyberSchmoozCoffee Talk with ExpertsPeople in Biz ProfilesStarting Your BizBiz PlanningRunning Your BizFREE Trade PublicationsMarketingFinancing Your BizHuman ResourcesLegal & Biz FormsManaging Your BizeCommerceYou and Your BizGen XWork@HomeThe FridgeDe-StressSend an AwardSend an eGreetingYoga @ Your DeskWeb GuideIdea Cafe in the NewsAbout Idea CafeAdvertise on Idea CafeContact UsPrivacy PolicySite MapSmall Biz News

Copyright 1995-2024, Idea Cafe Inc. Downloads are for personal use only, not for resale to others, and may not be reprinted in any form without written permission from Idea Cafe Inc.

DISCLAIMER: We hope whatever you find on this site is helpful, but be cautioned that it may not apply to your own situation, or be totally current at any given time. Idea Cafe Inc. and all of its current and past experts, sponsors, advertisers, agents, contractors and advisors disclaim all warranties with regard to anything found anywhere on this family of websites, quoted from, or sent from Idea Cafe. and its related sites, publications and companies. We also take no responsibility for comments published by others on these pages.

TRADEMARKS: The following are Registered Trademarks or Servicemarks of DevStart, Inc.: Idea Cafe®, Online Coffee Break®, The Small Business Gathering Place®, Take out Info®, Biz Bar & Grill®, Complaint-O-Meter®, A Fun Approach to Serious Business™, CyberSchmooz™, and BizCafe™.