Whether you need content production, distribution or measurement, or strategic guidance doesn’t matter. There is always a marketing tool to help with your ongoing and current marketing problems.
You can add more tools to your marketing toolbox or blame marketing failures on a lack of sophisticated toolsets. However, finding the right software for your business needs isn’t easy, even when you have the resources.
These three steps will help you to identify the best marketing software for your needs and make an informed purchase decision.
Although an industry expert or influencer can suggest the right set of tools for your team, your challenges, internal skills maturity, and custom audiences will make your business model unique. You’ll need to do most of the research on your own.
Openly share your problems with your marketing department, company shareholders, and any outside consultants or companies you work with, especially if they relate to organizational goals. When appropriate, tie the conversation back into revenue.
Let’s take, for example, a blog strategy that aims to generate 1000 marketing-qualified leads per year. You can generate 5-10 MQLs once you have published and distributed your blog content. However, scaling up your blogging efforts to reach your goal takes time and effort.
You can gain internal support and receive feedback from other departments to help you find a solution. This will allow you to share your findings with transparency and collaboration and provide insight for your leadership team to meet company expectations.
Once you have analyzed your marketing problems and decided to pursue software solutions, it is time to weigh all your options.
Begin by sharing a document with your team or brainstorming on the company whiteboard. You should identify at most 5-6 solutions, 3-4 similar solutions, and some wildcard solutions.
Google can help you find detailed reviews or comparison articles if you need help figuring out where to begin.
If you’re looking for analytics solutions, an example question could be, “What is the best marketing software?” This step may seem simple, but it often needs to be remembered.
Once you have found a few possible solutions, start searching for their competitors using queries like “google Analytics competitors,” “software like Google Analytics,” or “google analysis alternatives.”
You can search a website using a “site colon search” if you follow a trusted author or publication. Enter “site:” followed closely by the URL of your journal, and then enter your search query.
Only content from this domain will be returned in your results. You can also use the tools tab to search for content older than 24 hours.
Professionals can request software recommendations via LinkedIn and Twitter or through software review sites like G2 Crowd.
It is essential to have various options that you can thoroughly research. Stay involved in the product pricing process. Studying expensive software can often provide clues to other solutions and help you narrow down your search for the best.
