If you are a typical small business owner, you are probably balancing several important priorities. You also might not have thousands of dollars to spend on a marketing campaign every month and may have to be a marketing manager and accountant all at once. Fortunately, you can launch a successful marketing campaign even with a small budget. Here are some great tips to get started in advertising and what to know about setting up your small business right.
FollowerWonk
FollowerWonk is a simple social media marketing tool that can create conversations. You should consider your goal for the account before you sign up for Twitter. Thousands of followers can boost your ego, but thousands of uninterested followers can also hurt your brand. You need to know your target audience. Do you want to provide great customer service, or do you want to send followers to your blog? You need to understand your objective. This tool can help you analyze demographics and analyze your tweets. It makes knowing your audience and followers a lot easier.
Reputation Management Company
An experienced reputation management company can analyze your company's negative and positive news throughout the web. A firm like this can help you reposition your brand and tell you how to fix your reputation online. The experts can help you create realistic goals. You will not outrank all the negative pieces in one month, but they can help you determine what information is causing the most damage.
CRM Software
CRM software can help you manage your interactions with clients, customers, and potential customers. The best CRM software tools can track psychographic information, set reminders, and schedule follow-ups. The software can be a roadmap, and it can convert potential leads into solid deals.
HootSuite
HootSuite is a brand management and social media tool. When you use this tool, you can share social media updates from a central location and you will not have to stay constantly connected to the most popular social media sites. The tool can send a stream of fresh content to your social media accounts at a set time every day.
WordPress
You might not be a web developer, but you still need an online platform. If you do not know how to manage a website, you can use a content management system. Wordpress is an ideal solution for small business owners. You can use the free or paid version of the software. The paid option has more templates, and you can use your own domain name. The content management tool also has several plugins.
Gmail Canned Responses
If your inbox is full of similar inquiries, you can reply with standard responses. The canned response tool allows you to send quick responses. You do not have to waste several hours of your day typing answers to frequently asked questions. If you do not want the responses to be too similar to an automated reply, you can add a personal message to the canned responses.
Pixlr and Gimp
Pixlr is a popular photo editing software tool. The software is free and you can use it to edit and resize your images. Gimp is also a free photo editing tool similar to Photoshop. There are several Gimp tutorials online, and you can download additional Gimp plugins.
LinkDiagnosis
Every marketing plan should have a competitive analysis tool. Competitive research is more than comparing prices. You need to understand your competitors' business strategy since it will improve your marketing efforts when you understand your competitors' strengths and weaknesses. When you use LinkDiagnosis, you can research your competitors' links on your own and see how you stack up.
These are important tools, but you still need to study your industry. Your marketing strategy is likely to be effective when you understand what you’re up against. The latest marketing tools can help you decipher complex information.