How to Translate Foot Traffic Into Digital Sales

As an entrepreneur, the move towards e-commerce and digital transformation shouldn’t pass you by. The good news is that as a brick-and-mortar business owner, you can promote your website to the foot traffic in and around your store to aid your online visibility and increase digital sales.

Perhaps your biggest advantage is you don’t need to spend quite so long building the relationships that turn people into buyers: you’ve already done that. 

Shoppers coming into your store know you, trust you, and are more likely to purchase from you. Also, the surrounding foot traffic is at least familiar with your business, even if they haven’t bought anything from you yet.

Now comes the question: How do you turn your foot traffic into more digital sales

Whether your website is fresh up or you’ve been running your website for some time, the techniques featured in this article are open to everyone.

First, let’s look at the two main different types of retail traffic along with their advantages and disadvantages.

Foot Traffic Vs. Online Traffic: What Are the Pros and Cons

When we talk about foot traffic, we mean the number of people coming into your store and those who walk nearby. It has always been an important measure of retail success, and naturally, the more foot traffic an area has, the more chances there are to make sales.

Each type of traffic has its pros and cons. 

With regular foot traffic, the advantages are it:

  • allows businesses to see and interact with customers personally
  • can generate word-of-mouth advertising and, in turn, repeat customers through recommendations
  • enables face-to-face sales, which many consumers are more comfortable with
  • allows customers to ask questions directly and get immediate answers

However, there are also disadvantages to foot traffic. The most significant disadvantage is the decline. According to RetailNext, recent Black Friday figures were down 48 percent, and this is a trend that’s likely to continue as more consumers turn to e-commerce.

There are other disadvantages too, such as:

  • It’s weather dependent. Fewer shoppers are out about when the weather’s bad or the heat’s too intense.
  • There are declining brick-and-mortar sales

Consumers who use e-commerce benefit from the convenience and special offers available online. However, the growth in online sales is good for website owners too. 

The main advantages of online traffic include:

  • There’s a constant flow of visitors to your store anytime, even when you’re sleeping.
  • It provides targeted reach.
  • There are little to no geographical limitations.
  • Tracking allows you to spot patterns and refine your marketing strategy.

Disadvantages of online traffic include:

  • It takes time to get established online.
  • There is over-reliance on technology.
  • Changing algorithms mean you can lose your position in search engines.
  • It costs money to keep getting fresh visitors to your store.

8 Ways to Convert Foot Traffic Into Digital Sales

No store owner can afford to ignore the potential of digital sales. E-commerce has dominated the retail sector for years now, and that’s not going to change, according to forecasts.

According to statistics, e-commerce sales are likely to reach 563.4 billion dollars by 2025, and your online business can benefit from this surge.

Foot traffic Statista forecast chart

1. Advertise Your Online Presence

You’ve got customers coming into your store every day. Make sure they know about your website and social media presence by advertising your digital channels around the store. 

Don’t go too crazy, though. 

There’s no need for giant banners with “find us online @” written on them. Instead, be a little more discreet. For instance, you could:

  • Add your website URL and social media pages to receipts.
  • Include business cards with a discount code when packing bags. 
  • Put your online details on any packaging.
  • Include small plaques on shelving around the store with your online information.
  • Advertise details on any outside signage and in your windows for passing foot traffic to see.

Also, if you have any special internet offers, promote them through in-store advertising and handing out promotional materials. Add an incentive to spur interest.

2. Advertise Online-Only Sales

Many people have two things in common: they love a bargain and have a fear of missing out (FOMO). According to the stats:

  • Sixty-nine percent of millennials have FOMO.
  • Wealthier households are more likely to experience FOMO.
  • Social media is a major contributor.

FOMO is a proven psychological tactic for driving sales. That’s why offering online-only items or special discounts can be an effective profit booster for your business, especially when you include a time limit on the offers.

E-commerce companies like Sleeknote use this approach, creating a sense of urgency to get consumers to sign up.

drive foot traffic sleek note

Another benefit of this approach is that buyers are only too keen to tell their friends and families about the great deal they got. This could mean even more visitors to your digital platforms.

When doing this kind of promotion, be sure to spread the word among your offline customers with leaflets or small cards and a promotion code so you can track your campaign’s success.

3. Offer Free Shipping Discount Codes

One deal-breaker for consumers is shipping costs. Eighty-two percent of shoppers hate them and prefer free shipping overpaid expedited options.

To overcome this obstacle, why not offer a free shipping discount code?

Once customers get to your website, sign up and register, it’s easier to engage them and build relationships by sending targeted offers. They also get to realize the benefits of online shopping.

If it makes sense, you could also offer free shipping on orders of a minimum value for future orders to further engage and encourage your customers to purchase.

4. Offer Incentives for Connecting on Social Media

Sometimes customers just need a nudge. They might have meant to check out your business on social media but just haven’t got around to it yet.

What can you do to get buyers to visit your social media platforms? You create incentives. They can be in the form of coupons, freebies, contests, and prizes.

You could also offer points or a percentage off if your customer shares your social media pages with others or gets a friend to sign up to your digital channels. 

5. Highlight Exclusive Online-Only Products

Let’s go back to FOMO just for a moment. 

Arguably, FOMO has done a lot to keep the retail industry alive, especially on major shopping occasions, like Black Friday.

costco foot traffic example

E-commerce store owners often use FOMO to secure more sales, and there are multiple other ways you can use it in your marketing campaigns.

By offering exclusive online-only products, you’re giving shoppers the reason they need to head to your website and sign up.

However, FOMO has a downside, too. 

It can lead to impulsive buying by consumers. That’s not what you or your business needs: you want customers that keep coming back for more. 

Also, it could be damaging to the overall customer experience, so use this strategy with care.

6. Cross-promote With Other Store Owners

If another local store has a product that complements yours, then you may find cross-promoting each other’s products/services is mutually beneficial.

For example, an organic store selling nutritious foods and natural skincare products could pair with a local beauty salon or a gym.      

You promote their online offerings and digital platforms in your store, and they do the same in their premises. 

Perhaps take this a step further and collaborate with other local store owners to create a co-branded coupon with local businesses’ online details.

This approach can reach a broader scope of foot traffic, potentially leading to more visitors to your website and increased digital sales.

7. Use In-store Events

In-store promotions have been around for years, and they’re a staple of retail marketing. The goal of in-store promotion is to:

  • increase customer traffic 
  • improve brand awareness
  • create awareness for new products
  • get people talking

By creating a buzz, an in-store promotion attracts foot traffic from regular customers and possibly from passersby. 

These events give consumers the chance to visit a store, check out products, and get to know you. They also give you the opportunity to promote your online channels and give out promotional materials directing people to your website. 

Additionally, in-store promotions help with word of mouth, build customer loyalty, and you also have some flexibility regarding the style of the event.

Depending on what you want to achieve, your promotion could be:

  • educational
  • luxurious
  • experimental 
  • holiday-themed

Alternatively, you could take the Ikea approach and create a bring a friend event. Ikea asked people to “like” their Facebook page if they wanted to access the special offers only available to attendees who brought a friend along.

You can use such events to promote your store in other ways too. For example, you could invite visitors to take pictures or videos and share them on your digital channels to promote your brand further online.

8. Hand Out Flyers

Go wider and make the most of the foot traffic outside of your door. Flyers are one of the oldest forms of advertising, and they still work.

Hand out flyers to passersby highlighting your special deals and internet-only products to passersby. However, be sure to check if it’s permissible locally before you do.

You can then use this as an opportunity to introduce yourself to potential customers and tell them about your business and the advantages of buying from you online.

You can also:

  • pin flyers to local community boards
  • advertise in your store windows 
  • keep a pile of flyers on your counter for shoppers to take
  • include flyers in your customer’s grocery bags

Finally, offer discounts to anyone that signs up and include a code for people to use so you can track success.

Frequently Asked Questions About Foot Traffic

How can I use my website for more foot traffic?

You can use your website to attract extra foot traffic for a further business boost. Consider inviting people to buy online and pick up in-store, providing in-store redeemable coupons, and offering in-store exchanges and returns.

What’s the best way to track the success of my campaigns?

You can add codes to any flyers, cards, or other promotional materials that you put out or ask customers how they found you when they registered online.

How can I improve my foot traffic offline?

By using signage, introducing a loyalty program, marketing, and social media. However, remember that these tactics take time, so they may not increase your foot traffic immediately.

How does foot traffic increase sales?

The more foot traffic you have, the greater the opportunity for engagement and sales, helping boost your revenues.

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Foot Traffic Conclusion

As a store owner, you’re in the unique position to start sending customers directly to your website to increase your digital sales.

You don’t need to rely on them finding you by chance, and you don’t have to take so much time building trust because these buyers already know you.

That gives you a perfect chance to start actively promoting your website to the foot traffic in and around your store.

There are plenty of strategies you can use to do this. For example, offering incentives to get consumers to sign up to your social channels, holding in-store promotions to highlight online-only products and give demonstrations, and advertising your store on your packaging materials and receipts.

Are you a store owner? How do you get your foot traffic to find you online?

Digital Experience Platforms: Overview, Resources, Examples

Experience is kind of the holy grail when it comes to customer interaction, from marketing and sales to customer service and brand loyalty. 

It’s something we all talk about, work toward, and set as a goal, but to some degree, it remains a concept we’re always trying to work for. 

When do we actually achieve a great customer experience in our brands? Is it something we just have to continually improve and build on as new opportunities roll out?

When a customer has a great experience with you, they are more likely to come back and buy again. 

Social media, mobile apps, in-app ads, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and more have promised to help us put experience at the forefront. 

As new options roll out, keeping customer experiences seamless and continuous across all digital platforms grows is highly important. This is where a digital experience platform (or DXP) comes in. 

What Is a Digital Experience Platform? 

Although the specifics vary by the product or vendor, a digital experience platform is a single digital hub that allows a brand to use data and AI to create and deploy custom content experiences for consumers and integrate them for consumption across an array of digital and other ecosystems.

In simpler terms, it’s a platform that lets you create custom experiences informed by your data and lets users experience them everywhere they look. 

Just as important as a definition of what a digital experience platform is what it’s not. A digital experience platform is not just a single experience provider, no matter how revolutionary or innovative. It’s also not just a series of omnichannel brand messages linked together by a series of integrations or pointing to or from a webpage. 

A digital experience platform is integrated and inclusive. It’s often an open-source platform that allows API integrations from various departments, such as sales, to deliver super personal experiences to users. Those features define this type of platform and differentiate it from others, which we will discuss later. 

What Is the Difference Between DXP, CMS, and WEM?

When it comes to content creation and management, the acronyms can start to feel like alphabet soup. DXM, CMS, and WEM have similar purposes but approach it from slightly different angles. 

Let’s look at the other two types of platforms first. 

CMS stands for a content management system. By definition, it’s software that allows you to create, manage, and share your brand’s content. In more everyday terms, it’s a platform that allows you to build your website (and its content, such as pages and blog posts) with a backend interface that doesn’t require writing the code from scratch. 

The interface is user-friendly and welcomes you to plug in your content and go. It also makes it easy for you to search through your content for reuse and resharing, create SEO-friendly content, and more. 

How is it different from WEM, or web engagement management? We can think of WEM as the next generation of content management. It’s about how we interact on the internet and how customers expect brands to interact with them. Differentiating features of web engagement management include customer engagement through conversations, community building, multichannel reach, and automation. 

Where does that leave us with a digital experience platform? It’s essentially a further evolution.

With the rise of AI and big data, we have more and more information for brands to use to deliver content that is more likely to convert. A DXP pulls information in but also delivers across multiple platforms. 

How to Know If You Need a Digital Experience Platform

If your brand has been around for a while, or if you’re used the internet for e-commerce for any amount of time, you have a website, which means you have experience with a content management system. Whether you’ve dipped your toes into WEM environments or are wondering if a DXP is right for you, let’s talk more about who needs one. 

A digital experience platform is about helping you reach people at many touchpoints and controlling the message they receive at those touchpoints. 

It’s also about receiving data from your company and letting it drive the message.

How do you know if a digital experience platform is right for you? Here are a few questions to consider:

  • Do I need more touchpoints with customers?
  • Do I need to bring data from sales, inventory, and other departments into my marketing platform?
  • Do I need to reach customers with custom and consistent messaging at every touchpoint?
  • Do I need a platform to do all these things simultaneously and from one location?
  • Are sales at a point where we can justify investing in and learning a new platform?
  • Do we have the technical support, in-house or contracted, to take on the learning curve of an emerging platform?

A digital experience platform may not be a necessary next step for every brand, but if you’re struggling to keep up with a wide range of integrations and just need a place to take everything to the next level, this may be the right way to go.

Examples of Digital Experience Platform Tools

There are many to consider, but here are a few of the best tools for digital experience.

Bloomreach

Bloomreach is a popular digital experience platform for online commerce, which serves 25 percent of the e-commerce experiences in the United States and the United Kingdom. Its Bloomreach Experience Platform or BrX, as it’s called, features a number of modules, including SEO and merchandising. 

Examples of Digital Experience Platform Tools - Bloomreach

Liferay

Liferay provides a digital experience platform that promises to be custom to your business needs, integrating with where you are today and growing with new features as your business grows. In other words, they boast you can get going with this platform quickly. 

Examples of Digital Experience Platform Tools - Liferay

Core dna

Core dna emphasizes that, with their platform, all your digital marketing components are finally under one roof. You can keep track of the data in one place and make global adjustments from one location as well, rather than keeping up with various integrations and platforms. 

Examples of Digital Experience Platform Tools - Core dna

FirstSpirit DXP

FirstSpirit DXP, from e-Spirit, highlights its ability to integrate with other platforms or tools you may already be using, along with its many features. It also makes sure to note the platform itself does not require deep development or coding knowledge on the user’s end but is approachable and easy to learn. 

Examples of Digital Experience Platform Tools - FirstSpirit

Digital Experience Platform Resources

A digital experience platform is a new concept in a lot of ways, so you may want to do a deeper dive and learn more before you decide whether it’s right for you. There are many resources available to help you get a handle on everything involved and learn how it can help your e-commerce shop. Here are a few to get you started.

An Intro to Digital Experience for Marketing Webinar

If you prefer an audio and visual overview of a digital experience platform, check out the Intro to Digital Experience webinar on YouTube from Progress. This 30-minute video covers all the basics, including what those custom touchpoints for customers look like and why they’re so important. 

The webinar also speaks to the customer journey and how to remain consistent throughout. You’ll learn about how a digital experience platform relates to your CMS and how to take it to the next level. 

Building Digital Experience Platforms Book

Written by Shailesh Kumar Shivakumar and Sourabhh Sethii and bearing the subtitle of “A Guide to Developing Next-Generation Enterprise Applications,” Building Digital Experience Platforms is for the person who is ready to get serious about a digital experience platform and geek out over the features and options available.

While the book goes into various open-source platforms available for creating a DXP, it also dives into the specifics about best practices and what you will want to consider as you design a digital experience platform. It also explores security issues and case studies. 

Operationalizing a Digital Experience (DXP) Platform to Put Customers First Webinar 

If you’re ready to really get into the weeds with what a digital experience platform is all about, this Operationalizing a Digital Experience (DXP) Platform webinar from Lytics has all the research and data you’re looking for. This webinar aims to discuss how companies are using customer data to drive custom experiences to convert. 

It’s presented by Connie Moore, Senior Vice President of Research for Digital Clarity Group, and it covers topics such as why customer data technology is so important, how to put data at the center of your digital experience strategy, and the reasons why all of these topics are exploding in popularity. 

The Rise of the Digital Experience Platform E-Book From Elastic Path

Are you wondering how a digital experience platform would fit in your business, or how it would impact your department and help you interact with other departments across the company? The Rise of the Digital Experience Platform e-book from Elastic Path seeks to help you answer those questions. 

Of course, this is one of those email opt-in methods Elastic Path is using to get you on their email list. Nonetheless, it could be a helpful resource as you seek to wrap your head around what a DXP is all about. It promises tips and strategies for Chief Information Officers and Chief Digital Officers looking to incorporate a digital experience platform.

How Digital Experience Platforms Nurture and Facilitate Lasting Customer Relationships On-Demand Webinar

If you’re still skeptical about how exactly digital experience platforms can help you connect meaningfully with your customers, Bloomreach created a webinar entitled “How Digital Experience Platforms Nurture and Facilitate Lasting Customer Relationships” with Mehmet Olmez, managing director for Accenture Interactive, and Arjé Cahn, CTO of Bloomreach Experience. 

They talk about how a DXP offers more than just multitouch or omnichannel and is the way of the future by seamlessly integrating those touchpoints and making them hyper-personalized. They also talk about how this supports e-commerce marketing and the benefits of having everything together under one digital hub.

Again, this is an email opt-in, so you can expect to get emails following up, but if you’re curious to learn about DXPs from the makers and marketers of digital experience platforms, this one may be worth your time. 

Digital Experience Platform FAQs

What is a Digital Experience Platform (DXP), and how is it different from a CMS?

A digital experience platform ties in data and AI learning technology to deliver seamless and multilayered touchpoints that are highly customized and relevant to each individual customer.

What does a digital experience platform do?

A digital experience platform or DXP serves as a single hub for e-commerce marketing, pulling in and learning from data from across the company’s ecosystem, including sales, inventory, and more, and then delivering highly customized experiences to shoppers. 

What is a DXP, and why does it matter?

DXP stands for digital experience platform. It’s the next evolution of content management, e-commerce experience solutions, and marketing technology and helps companies stand out as relevant in an increasingly noisy digital world.

What is a good digital experience?

As companies utilize digital experience platforms, good digital experiences for customers are pertinent and timely, meeting their needs and delivering content that ultimately leads to conversions.

Conclusion to Digital Experience Platforms

Customers want experiences with your brand. More importantly, they want really great experiences to keep them coming back for more. This includes everything from searching and coming across your website, to the sales, customer service, and follow-up process. 

As you scale, ensuring a great customer experience can become harder and harder, but building a solid e-commerce website can help. A digital experience platform, or DXP, can provide space to create and automate experiences that will keep them returning. 

Have you interacted with an engaging digital experience platform recently?

How to Open a Successful Business in the Digital Age

Are you looking to open a business but don’t know where to start? The digital age has changed the entire scope of doing business, from getting licenses, getting clients, and selling products or services, all of which happens online. Regardless of the type of business you wish to open, having a digital presence is the key to survival. Here are some tips on how to open a successful business in the digital age.

You Cannot Ignore Technology When Looking at How to Open a Successful Business

Even if you run a convenience store where people will find you no matter what, you still have to embrace the digital era. While opening a business may be a straightforward thing, not all are able to do it correctly. 

You may have all the relevant tools and software to help run the business at your disposal, but still fail to get it right. So how does one become successful in this digital era? This post will take you through all that you need to know on how to open a successful business.

Things to Know About How to Open a Successful Business Before You Start 

So, have you settled on starting a business? That’s great, but as you know, things have changed over the last couple of years. If you want a smooth entry, there are a few things that you ought to know beforehand about how to open a successful business. 

Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

Everything is Now on the InternetThe internet is much more important to how to open a successful business than it used to be. Approximately 53% of shoppers will research on Google to find more information regarding the product or services that they wish to purchase. This includes finding more about the vendor by looking for reviews online.

These numbers are a great eye-opener; hence, the need to have an online presence if you wish to be found by prospects

The best way around this is to invest in a good website, have an active social media presence, and a good PR strategy. 

There’s a crucial aspect you must consider when it comes to websites: Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is a way of making your website search engine-friendly, making it easier to be found online by ranking higher in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). There are many factors to consider when it comes to SEO, such as technical SEO, On-page SEO, and off-page SEO. In a nutshell, once you have a business website, you are not there yet.  You still need to optimize it for search engines. 

The other crucial thing to know is that almost everyone is now on social media, and you can leverage this platform to boost your business. Some of the ways to effectively utilize social media include: 

  • Create brand awareness
  • Engage with your audience
  • Respond much faster to customer inquiries and concerns
  • Promote your products or services
  • Instil trust about your brand in your target audience.

You need to choose social media platform that resonates best with your business and invest more resources to help grow your audience and engage the current ones.

Digital PR involves getting reviews from third-party websites, independent reviewers, and get featured on local listings. This is a great way to boost your online visibility, and people will gain more trust in your business.

Getting Funding

Any business needs starting capital, regardless of how big or small the venture is. You need to conduct extensive research on your business to identify how much you need to be operational. Apart the materials and equipment required, you also need to factor in the labor cost and any unforeseeable miscellaneous expenditure. 

Furthermore, depending on where you live, you may need certain licenses so as not to get into trouble with authorities. 

Furthermore, you need to factor in a marketing budget. While creating a website and social media pages might not seem expensive, it can be costly.  This is especially true when you get a professional to help you manage them. For instance, you may need to hire a web developer, an SEO specialist, and a social media manager who will increase your audience and engagement levels. 

One way to reduce these is to learn the trade yourself. You can easily register with some of the best online learning platforms to increase your knowledge.  

Once you know how much in total you may require for your project, the next step is to identify where to get the funding. 

Some of the most effective ways of funding your business are: 

Bootstrapping 

According to Investopedia, bootstrapping is the act of starting a business with nothing else other than your personal savings. Before you start, have some money in your savings account to get you started. For this to happen, you may plan and save for a while.

Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

Venture capitalists 

Venture capitalists are individuals that invest in businesses that have potential. You need to reach out to them with a proposal of your venture, indicating the scope of business, the predicted results, and what you need to get the business up and running. 

Crowdfunding 

Crowdfunding has grown as a popular funding method for upcoming businesses. One can get assistance in various ways, such as getting a loan to start the business, investors, grants, or other people would assure you to purchase your product once ready, to give you enough money to take it to the larger market.

Have Financial Discipline

Many businesses fail within their first few months due to mismanagement. This is often a result of financial indiscipline. Before you start making any money, you should have a system in place that will help you take control of your finances and identify business trends. Accounting and bookkeeping are some of the most crucial parts of running a business.  This shouldn’t be an afterthought. 

With these three tips in mind, you are ready to open up your business. But under the current circumstances with the digital age, you are still not there yet. What’s missing? Here are a few pointers to help you navigate the ever-competitive digital market.

How to Open a Successful Business in the Digital Age

  • Research Your Market

The first thing to do is conduct market research to determine whether your business would make any financial sense. Are the people you wish to sell ready for your product? Have they shown any signs of interest in that particular service? What is the competition like? Are there any businesses of the same type in your area? 

Before you settle on any business, you need to find out what other people have to say about it. Do not only rely on the responses of your friends and family.  Talk to others also.

  • Identify Your Target Audience

Never get into the market hoping to attract the right people into your business without having pinpointed who you wish to target. What is your product or service? What type of people are likely to purchase more from you? Which group are you likely to convince to buy from you? That is what we call a target audience. 

You need to point out the exact type of people you wish to target, as this will help you curate the right products or services.  Furthermore, when it comes to digital marketing, you will save yourself a lot of resources when you target a specific group of people rather than generalized marketing. You have better chances at an increased return on investment (ROI) when you take on this route. 

  • Conduct Competitor Analysis

Getting into the market without conducting an in-depth competitor analysis is simply gambling with your business. Find out what other companies like yours exist and how they are performing. If they’re doing well, identify their key strengths and see what you can bring to the market to outdo them. 

Moreover, if your competition is struggling, find out what you can do differently to ensure that people come to you. Are the people getting valuable services from the competition? Are you willing to offer discounts as you start in a bid to lure more customers? How is the competition handling their online marketing strategies? 

Always strive to be better.

Demolish your funding problems with 27 killer ways to get cash for your business.

  • Have a Business Plan

A business plan includes all the details necessary to help you run your business, incorporating every aspect of marketing, sales, and customer retention. You need to highlight what your objectives and goals are beforehand and work towards achieving them. 

You also need to set up key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you understand the trends and identify if your business is headed in the right direction. This will help you tweak and change the strategies and your approach towards the business.

  • Embrace Technology

We have already talked about getting a website and an active social media presence to increase your brand visibility online. Still, there are many other ways to embrace technology that will make your operations seamless. 

Business automation is the way to go in this digital era, and if you’re stuck handling most of your work manually, then you may sacrifice the revenue. Different businesses require different automation tools and software. Look for any manual tasks that could otherwise get automated to boost your work.

Final words

We hope that our complete guide on how to open a successful business in the digital age will help you get your venture on its feet. Remember that for you to succeed in the digital era, you need to be tech-savvy, understand who your audience is, know what your clients need, keep a close eye on the competition, and of course, have an online presence. 

how to open a successful business credit suite

 

Lidia S. Hovhan is a part of Content and Marketing team at OmnicoreAgency. She contributes articles about how to integrate digital marketing strategy with traditional marketing to help business owners to meet their online goals. You can find really professional insights in her writings.

 

The post How to Open a Successful Business in the Digital Age appeared first on Credit Suite.

5 Coding Bootcamps to Help You Snag a Job In Digital Marketing

When you think of coding, your next thought probably isn’t digital marketing. It’s more likely to be UX design or software development.

Coding skills can be instrumental in digital marketing, and coding bootcamps can help set you up for a successful career.

What Are Coding Bootcamps?

Coding bootcamps are designed to give students the programming skills employers look for. Generally, between 12 and 40 weeks long, these courses aim to get students into the tech field without spending years in undergraduate school.

With the internet and software playing such an essential part in our lives, more and more skilled programmers are needed to develop and maintain the tools we need to thrive.

For the past several years, many employers have said they’ve seen skills gaps in recent graduates—that is, students are often graduating with skills that are a bit out of date.

Coding bootcamps have moved to fill that gap, designing intensive courses designed to get people ready for the current workforce in a short amount of time. In true modern fashion, many of these courses are remote, but there are also options for in-person teaching.

How Much Do Coding Bootcamps Cost?

Coding bootcamps are significantly cheaper than most undergraduate educations.

When you commit to a four-year university degree, you can expect to pay about $10,000 per year at a public school in your state—approximately $40,000 total. If you attend a private or out-of-state college, the cost rises exponentially.

Meanwhile, the average tuition for a coding boot camp is just under $14,000 for the entire program.

Bootcamps may also allow you to pay your tuition over time, and some, like Flockjay, waive your tuition if you don’t land a well-paying job after completing the program.

How Can Coding Bootcamp Help You Get a Job in Digital Marketing?

When it comes to digital marketing, you don’t have to have incredible coding skills—but they can make a big difference. The more knowledge you have about how the technology your brand runs on works, the better.

Think of it like the “required” and “preferred” skills sections on job postings. Chances are, most applicants will have nearly all of the “required” skills, but having some of the more unique “preferred” skills could help you stand out.

If you have coding as one of your skills, a potential employer knows you should be able to speak the same language as the UX and development teams. This could make things smoother for everyone, as it means at least one member of the marketing team understands what’s possible given budgets, deadlines, and other restrictions and can create marketing campaigns accordingly.

Additionally, if you’re working at a small business or start-up, it may need someone to wear multiple hats.

Regardless of your company’s size, your coding skills could help you as a marketer in various ways.

Interacting with Websites

It’s become much easier to build and run websites in recent years. With platforms such as WordPress, Shopify, Wix, and SquareSpace, you don’t need coding skills to create a functional site.

But, if you’re reliant on the in-built tools of these platforms, you don’t have the same level of flexibility. When something doesn’t work, you need external support to fix it, and any downtime is money lost.

We talk a lot in marketing about owning the medium (one of the main reasons you should have a website). When you’ve got coding skills, it’s like you’ve got greater ownership of your assets.

Working With Data

Data is essential to digital marketing. We’re constantly learning about our audience and tweaking our strategies to improve performance, which isn’t possible without understanding how to use data.

Coding and data science go hand in hand, and bootcamps courses could teach you to detect patterns in large data sets using artificial intelligence and machine learning. This way of thinking is extremely useful in digital marketing, and we already see a shift towards these technologies in the industry.

Working with data is a vital part of digital marketing, and coding skills, particularly those offered in a data science course, can be valuable.

Decisions About the Future

Digital marketing advances closely align with advances in technology. If you’re not keeping up with the latest trends in marketing, you risk falling behind. This is why businesses need innovators in their marketing departments.

When you have high-level coding skills, it not only makes you more adaptable but also means you could help shape the future of digital marketing by designing your own application and bringing new ideas to life.

Looking at the impact marketing software has on the industry, it’s clear we need people who can understand these applications on a deep level and get the most out of them.

Managing Projects

If you find yourself managing an extensive digital marketing project, you need to bring lots of people together. Some of these folks will likely be developers.

A frequent challenge in these situations is that the marketing manager doesn’t know what the developers do, making both communication and hiring challenging. How do you know you’ve got the right person for the job if you don’t know what coding or web development entail?

A coding bootcamp can mean having informed, direct input on the project management and hiring processes, giving you greater control over what’s happening.

5 Coding Bootcamps for Digital Marketers

Online education has taken off in recent years, and there are lots of great programs that could help you find a job in digital marketing. With more than six million Americans studying online, online learning of all stripes is becoming more accepted by employers than ever before.

Here are some examples of coding bootcamps that could help you land a job or expand your skills in digital marketing.

Springboard

Springboard offers a variety of online courses in analytics, design, coding, and cybersecurity. Its Software Engineering Bootcamp says you’ll be able to “become a software engineer, guaranteed.”

This is an 800-hour program, so with 20 hours of study a week, it should take you around nine months to complete. Springboard offers flexible ways of paying, starting at $8,500 if you pay upfront. There are also options to pay monthly, defer payments (paying monthly once you land a software engineering job; if you don’t get a job in six months, you don’t pay), or obtain a low-interest loan.

While Springboard focuses on software engineering, these skills are transferable to digital marketing. A big part of this program is the opportunity to work one on one with a mentor and a career coach to help guide you through your career path.

Springboard doesn’t offer success rates, but their similar Data Science Bootcamp resulted in 97% of their graduates finding jobs in their field within six months. They also gained an average salary increase of $25,800.

Key Info

  • courses in analytics, design, coding, and cybersecurity
  • $8,500 for software engineering course
  • option to pay when you land a job (nothing to pay if you don’t find a job within six months)
  • 800-hour program (nine months studying 20 hours a week)
  • average salary increase for graduates of $25,800

Alchemy Code Lab

On average, graduates of the Alchemy Code Lab bootcamp found a related job in just 11 weeks, with a median salary of $80,000. Not bad for a 25-week program!

This full-time program is designed to get you ready for jobs in the real world. Teaching you skills in modern programming languages and development methods, Alchemy Code Lab takes six cohorts per year, with total program tuition costing $24,000.

Just as with Springboard, there are lots of different ways to pay. Choose from self-funding, Income Share Agreement (don’t pay until you get a job), and financing through partner lenders. There are also diversity-based tuition scholarships and GI Bill benefits available.

Alchemy Code Lab is based in Portland, but with a focus on the remote jobs of the future, it’s all accessible online. With solid results and 87 percent of graduates going on to work in tech, it’s been a good investment for many people.

Key Info

  • $24,000
  • flexible payment options including income share agreement
  • full-time study
  • 25-week course

Flatiron School

In Career Karma’s 2020 awards, Flatiron School was named the best coding bootcamp and best online bootcamp. The school claims to launch your career, and the stats back this up: 82% of grads land a job with an average starting salary of $69,000 a year.

Flatiron offers both in-person classes in New York City and an online program. They offer programs specializing in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity analytics, and cybersecurity engineering, each of which teaches you skills that can help in digital marketing.

The online software engineering course offers three different ways to study: full-time, part-time, and self-paced, giving students great flexibility with how they learn. The program costs $16,900 with options to pay upfront, in installments, or through a loan.

Courses begin every month, meaning you can quickly get started.

Key Info

  • courses in software engineering, data science, cybersecurity analytics, cybersecurity engineering
  • $16,900 for software engineering course
  • flexible payment options
  • full-time study, part-time study, and self-paced learning options available
  • 82% of grads land a job, the average starting salary of $69,000 per year

Thinkful

Thinkful is a platform that prides itself on allowing you to pay only when you land a job in your career. It offers a range of tech-related subjects, including a specialist digital marketing bootcamp.

Coding Bootcamps for Digital Marketers  - Thinkful

Each option has a slightly different timeframe (the full-time digital marketing course allows you to graduate in just six weeks), with the software engineering course offered as both full-time and part-time programs. The full-time option will require 50-60 hours a week and allow you to graduate in five months, with the part-time version requiring 25-30 hours a week over six months.

The courses vary in price, with the digital marketing one costing $7,500 while the software engineering bootcamp is $16,000. You also have lots of different payment options, some of which guarantee you don’t pay anything until you land a job.

Graduates have noted how Thinkful is focused on your career, which seems to translate into real-life results. Eighty-seven percent of software engineering students were offered a job within 180-days of graduating, with 27% reporting an annual base salary between $70,000 and $90,000 and 50% reporting a yearly base salary between $50,000 and $70,000.

Key Info:

  • courses in software engineering, data science, data analytics, UX/UI design, digital marketing, product management, technical project management
  • $16,000 for software engineering course
  • flexible payment options
  • full-time and part-time options
  • 87% of grads land jobs within 180-days

Flockjay

Flockjay isn’t strictly a coding bootcamp, but it teaches similar ideas as a tech sale program. It’s more focused on the sales aspect of technology, which could be a helpful combination in digital marketing.

Coding Bootcamps for Digital Marketers  - Flockjay

This ten-week program costs $6,000 for most US residents ($7,650 for California) and aims to give you “future proof” skills that are in demand now. Again, you have the option to pay zero tuition until you get a job paying at least $40,000, potentially making it an attractive investment for your career.

Flockjay provides instruction in the sales essentials and, importantly, has a strong emphasis on technology. While it’s not quite coding, it could satisfy many students interested in tech and equip them with important skills in digital marketing.

Key Info:

  • tech sales course
  • $6,000
  • flexible payment options
  • 10-week program
  • average full-time job offer of $75,000 a year

Conclusion

Coding bootcamps could be a great alternative to four-year college degrees for students interested in technology. With payment options that allow you to pay nothing until you secure a job and courses that can be completed in less than a year, they’re a great way to propel yourself into the tech workforce.

As digital marketing is closely aligned with technology, these courses can also be an excellent way to snag a job in digital marketing. These skills are in demand in so many industries, so the main point is that you’re opening all kinds of doors for yourself.

You may not go into a coding bootcamp to become a digital marketer, but you may find digital marketing is a career you’re perfectly suited for.

Have you tried a coding bootcamp?

15 Examples of Great Digital Food Advertisements

With over 660,000 restaurants operating in the U.S. alone, digital food advertisement is an incredibly competitive market.

To stand out, you need to combine humor, design, strategy, and user engagement, all while keeping your audience hungry.

What Makes Food Advertisements Unique?

Without creative marketing campaigns, the food industry could be pretty dull. Luckily, there are so many ways to bring food to life in digital food advertisements.

What makes food advertisements unique is their ability to turn the mundane into excitement.

A simple burger on a plate can become a narrative story about your favorite sports game.

In order to create unbeatable food advertisements, you need to focus on high-quality ingredients.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating a unique food advertisement:

  • Create visually stunning content
  • Use high-quality images
  • Keep the text on the ad short and sweet
  • Use video to capture your audience’s attention
  • Appeal to audience emotion with a story or nostalgia
  • Personify the food for a humorous touch
  • Get creative with your graphic designs
  • Stay on top of the latest trends

Great Food Advertisement Examples

Great food advertisements should make your mouth water, your belly growl, and your heart warm.

Paired with intelligent marketing strategies, these food advertisements will help you create high-converting PPC campaigns that bring your brand to the global stage.

Here are some of our top picks for digital food advertisements.

1. Jif Peanut Butter

Leveraging motion graphics in your digital food advertisement is a great way to catch the eye of your scrolling audience.

In this Jif Peanut Butter ad, a beating heart communicates the excitement and love that the world has come to feel for Jif. Branded in the signature Jif colors, it also delivers clear brand awareness and integrity. This is a big brand marketing lesson in a jar!

2. Goldfish

Staying up to date on trends, holidays, and seasons is a great way to deliver relevant food advertisements to your audience.

Also, adjusting your PPC campaigns seasonally will help you create important audience connections and let your followers know you’re paying attention.

In this Twitter ad, @GoldfishSmiles used narrative video to tell a classic St. Patrick’s Day tale of two little fish who drank a bit too much.

This food advertisement is funny, creative, quirky, and relatable. Plus, it’s short and sweet, which makes it perfect for your Twitter feed.

3. No Frills

No Frills is a Canadian supermarket chain that has made its name in recent years with humorous social media advertising.

No Frills is most known for its meme-worthy content, taking inspiration from the internet’s latest trends and delivering them in dead-pan content across their social channels.

In this No Frills Facebook ad, No Frills takes advantage of the popular “expectation versus reality” meme while also advertising their in-house pancake batter brand.

The result? A resounding audience laugh, hundreds of likes and comments, and a food advertisement win for this growing brand.

Food Advertisement Examples - No Frills

4. Clevr

Sometimes, all you need to create a high-quality food advertisement is a bit of color and simple movement.

In this Clevr food advertisement, the brand displays its Matcha Chai Latte and Chai Super Latte drinks.

Simple design, calming music, and pastel colors give the viewer a relaxing feel that evokes tranquility and calm.

Not only is the ad visually appealing, but it also offers diverse advertising usage. Clevr could easily use this food advertisement on a number of channels, from Twitter to Instagram and more.

5. Panera Bread

This Panera Bread Facebook ad leverages the thing we love most about food advertisements: the food!

Great Food Advertisement Examples - Panera Bread

With an immediate appeal to our most natural human emotion (hunger), this food advertisement sets the stage for our cravings. From there, high-quality, macaroni-and-cheese imagery delights the senses.

It’s so delectable, you can almost taste it.

Another great thing about this food advertisement is that it uses a call-to-action at the end of the ad. In this way, Panera guides its audience directly to its desired end goal of purchasing some of their delicious macaroni.

6. Five Guys

Five Guys is one of those brands that always keeps it real. They do a few things really well, namely burgers, fries, and milkshakes.

With this kind of established brand identity, Five Guys can lean on the quality of their products more often.

In this ad, they are showcasing one of their best-loved products: the burger bun. The ad shows an image of the bun warming up, just waiting to be ordered.

They also use a creative call-to-action at the bottom, urging viewers to find their nearest Five Guys shop. This is a great tactic for brands who have a widespread presence and are looking to make sales in multiple locations.

Using a bit of humor, an appeal to emotion, and a simple yet effective image, this Instagram ad reminds customers that Five Guys knows what they’re good at, and they deliver it every time.

Great Food Advertisement Examples - Five Guys

7. Burger King

Legacy fast-food chains have had to get creative in recent years in order to capture the hearts of millennial viewers.

Burger King knows millennials love nostalgia, and what better way to appeal to that emotion than by bringing back their legendary chicken fries.

In this Burger King Twitter ad, the brand relates its chicken fries to some of the most essential human traits. This appeal, although absurd, delivers the right dose of comedy to the ad.

In addition, the use of a custom graphic design is eye-catching and fun. The design ensures that any millennial scrolling down will stop and stare, remembering chicken fries from days past.

This campaign garnered features in HuffPost and Time magazine, alongside bringing 380 tweets per minute into the Burger King ecosystem. This is millennial marketing done right.

Great Food Advertisement Examples - Burger King

8. IHOP

There’s no doubt about it, IHOP is an American classic. When it was time for the brand to celebrate 60 years of successful business, they wanted to do it in style.

This IHOP Twitter ad uses music, design, and graphics to thank their loyal customers for 60 years of continued service.

The creative copy of the post offers comedic relief, stating that the brand has been operating “for 60 pancakin’ years.”

Also, they further entice viewers by hinting at a surprise announcement only available on a certain date. This use of a deadline to encourage conversions is a great way to maintain audience engagement over time.

This food advertisement immediately piqued the attention of IHOP’s viewers, bringing in more than 43,000 retweets.

What was the big reveal? We’ll let you visit the IHOP Twitter page to find out.

9. Taco Bell

Emojis are part of the modern lexicon. Every day, the online world is full of these fun, little pictures that help us communicate over text.

Although emoji are always evolving, users often complain their favorite images aren’t available in emoji.

Taco Bell decided to flip this idea on its head and in 2015, they began petitioning for a taco emoji to be included in the emoji dictionary.

Not only did Taco Bell create a legendary advertising campaign, but they started a petition to lobby emoji creators, Unicode Consortium, for their cause.

The result? We now have a taco emoji.

This food advertisement campaign was one part passion and two parts humor, resulting in one of the most memorable creative marketing campaigns of the decade.

10. HelloFresh

User-generated content is a great asset to your marketing strategy.

In this HelloFresh story ad, a human voice is heard listing off the benefits of the meal-delivery service in an honest and human way.

The quality of the video is less than what we would expect from a well-known company like HelloFresh, but it adds to the honest nature of the post.

By using social proof, HelloFresh manages to show its audience that its product is legitimate and trustworthy.

11. Publix

One of the easiest ways to appeal to audience emotion is to connect your product to a well-loved pastime.

Publix knows America loves football. They also know no football game is complete without friends, drinks, and food.

This Publix Facebook Ad ran in the Southern U.S. during football season. It targeted southern users who were known to enjoy football and were ages 21+.

If you were planning your weekend with a tailgate party and you saw this ad, it would immediately remind you to stock up on your favorite beer and snacks at your local Publix. This is emotional targeting at its finest.

Great Food Advertisement Examples - Publix

12. Wendy’s

Another great paid advertising tactic is to offer a deal or use a coupon strategy.

In this Wendy’s Instagram ad, the brand uses a creative flatlay to promote their 4 for $4 summer deal.

This ad is effective because it creates a story for the viewer. Once you see this image, you can immediately picture yourself sitting poolside with a cheap meal, enjoying your best summertime life.

Wendy’s manages to promote their sale, appeal to emotion, and create a narrative, all with a few pieces of cardstock paper and a chicken burger. That’s impressive!

Great Food Advertisement Examples - Wendy's

13. Dunkin’

When creating digital food advertisements, it’s important to leverage every tool available to you.

When you advertise using paid social, there are so many ways to get creative, encourage audience interaction, and show off your products at the same time.

Take this Dunkin’ food advertisement as an example. Dunkin’ is promoting their iconic donut fries.

To build hype around the release, they created an interactive Instagram story using the poll feature. This allowed their audience to vote on what they liked better: donuts or fries.

(Spoiler, the correct answer is donut fries).

While A/B testing these ads, Dunkin Donuts found that stories with a poll had a 20% lower cost per view than those without.

Not only was this a creative way to boost user engagement, but the brand gathered important data to inform their future campaigns.

Great Food Advertisement Examples - Dunkin'

14. Dr. Pepper

Beverages and food go hand in hand. There’s nothing like a cold Dr. Pepper alongside your favorite meal.

Dr. Pepper wanted to capitalize on the way their customers pair their drinks with other foods.

In this Diet Dr. Pepper advertisement, the brand uses fun motion graphics and design to show all of the different snack foods and meals that go well with the popular drink.

The use of music in the ad also adds a fun, youthful element to the viewing experience.

The end result? Viewers are both thirsty, hungry, and looking forward to cracking open their next Dr. Pepper.

15. Mochi Foods

Mochi Foods is a gluten-free, Hawaiian food maker that creates pancake mixes, breads, waffles, and more which use rice flour instead of wheat.

In this fun Mochi Foods social media ad, they show viewers what they can create with one pack of Mochi Food mix.

This ad is a great example of showcasing a product in action. Although a bag of Mochi Food mix might seem a bit boring, the product takes on new life once we see how it can be transformed into a delicious stack of fresh pancakes.

This ad can be used on a variety of platforms, which makes it diverse and multifaceted.

After watching it, you’re immediately hungry, which is the sign of an effective food advertisement.

Conclusion

To create successful digital food advertisements you need to come up with unique campaign ideas and maintain a cohesive brand image.

It’s also important to harness your social media marketing tactics across all channels, appeal to your audience’s emotions, leverage storytelling, and showcase your products in action are great ways to create food advertisements that stand out.

Because the food advertising marketing is so saturated, it may be hard to develop a paid ad strategy that actually gets you noticed. If you’re struggling to create or find success with your paid ads, our agency is here to help!

What tactics do you use when creating great food advertisements?

21 Digital Marketing Tools You Need When Starting a Business

Did you know there are more than 30 million small businesses in the United States alone?

With a number like this, small business owners need a competitive edge. If you are building a business, chances are you’re looking for ways to get your leg up on the competition. To accomplish this, you’ll need a good marketing strategy and access to the best digital marketing tools.

In this post, I’m going to outline 21 digital marketing tools you need when starting a business. You may be familiar with a marketing tool or two in here; others might be new to you.

From simplifying your social media marketing efforts and project management to finding freelancers, each of these tools will help you get the competitive edge you’re after.

Are you ready to grow your business with digital marketing?

Then let’s begin.

1. MailChimp

Get this: email marketing is used by eight out of ten marketers.

This isn’t something you should wait on. Instead, you should implement an email marketing strategy on day one.

With more than 12 million customers, MailChimp has claimed its spot as one of the top email marketing providers and digital marketing tools in the world.

While there are alternatives, this tool remains one of the best, for many reasons:

  • History dating back to 2001, well before most companies began using email marketing
  • Self-service support options, ensuring that you can quickly find answers to all of your questions
  • Free plan for those with less than 2,000 subscribers and those who don’t send more than 12,000 emails per month

When starting a business, it’s not likely that you will have more than 2,000 subscribers. For this reason, you can get started with MailChimp early using the tool for free as you get your feet wet with email marketing and then move to a paid plan as you scale.

mailchimp digital marketing tool

2. HubSpot

When it comes to marketing, sales, and CRM software, HubSpot has become one of the top players.

For the sake of this post, let’s focus on its marketing software solutions. The company has this to say about this digital marketing tool:

From attracting visitors to closing customers, HubSpot brings your entire marketing funnel together.

You know just how important it is for your marketing funnel to be in good working order. With this software, you have access to tools that help with:

  • blogging
  • SEO
  • social Media
  • website
  • lead management
  • landing pages
  • calls-to-action
  • marketing automation
  • email
  • analytics

There is no stone left unturned, when you rely on HubSpot’s all-in-one marketing software.That’s why it’s a top choice for those who are starting a business.

With everything you need in one place, you don’t have to pull yourself in many different directions. This will help you to find success in the early days and help you as you grow.

hubspot digital marketing tool

3. Trello

Trello is a digital marketing tool that helps you to manage projects and stay on the same page as your team–a sound digital marketing practice if you want to save time and frustration.

For example, you can share blog posts on Trello before you publish them. This gives others on your team the opportunity to review the post, weigh in with their thoughts and make changes that could strengthen the piece before it goes live.

In the past, before the days of Trello and similar programs, email was the best way to collaborate with your team. While this is still helpful, to a certain degree, it can lead to confusion, missed messages, and frustration.

trello digital marketing tools

With Trello, everything related to your online marketing strategy can be shared in the same place. It only takes a few minutes to set up a board. Even better, you can quickly invite your entire staff, all of whom can jump in on the action without delay.

Trello isn’t the only digital marketing tool of its kind, but it’s, by far, one of the best. When it comes to collaborating with others regarding marketing tasks, this tool is hard to beat.

4. Hootsuite

hootsuite digial marketing tools

Social media plays a big part in the success of any company, regardless of size, age, or industry. In fact, I’d argue that social media marketing is a must to thrive in this digital era.

Digital marketing tools like Hootsuite allow you to schedule social media posts in advance, thus saving you loads of time.

Hootsuite offers tons of features to help you grow your business. For example, you can:

  • Identify influencers for your marketing team and leads for your sales team
  • Reply to comments and mentions through the dashboard–there’s no reason to visit each individual platform
  • Take advantage of pre-written responses
  • Schedule posts when your audience is most active (even if you’re asleep!)

Social media marketing is not as difficult as it sounds, especially when you rely on tools like Hootsuite. With this particular tool, you can schedule and manage social media profiles for more than 30 platforms.

Imagine doing this by hand, without a central dashboard to guide you. It would be enough to frustrate even the most experienced entrepreneur, let alone a new business owner. Let Hootsuite take over like the social media marketing manager it is.

5. Google Analytics

As one of the top free tools from Google, Analytics should be part of your digital marketing strategy from the very start. In fact, I’d argue it’s one of the most powerful digital marketing tools out there.

It only takes a couple of minutes to add the Analytics code to your website, giving you the ability to track every action by every visitor.

This is considered by many to be nothing more than a traffic tool, but it can actually have a big impact on your marketing strategy, if you know what you’re doing.

Take, for example, the ability to see where your traffic comes from:

google analytics digital marketing tools

Maybe you realize that a particular social media campaign is driving tons of traffic to your website. With this data, you can adjust your future strategy, in an attempt to capture the same results.

Or, maybe you find that a particular set of keywords is doing wonders for your organic traffic. Again, you can turn your attention to these keywords, ensuring that you keep these in mind as you create content down the road.

Google Analytics isn’t one of those digital marketing tools you can ignore. Installing this early on is a key decision, in regards to your digital marketing strategy. The data you can collect is extremely valuable.

6. KISSmetrics

The tagline of this digital marketing tool says it all:

Track, analyze and optimize your digital marketing performance. See what’s working and what’s not, across all campaigns, mobile and web.

It’s good that you want to spend so much time on digital marketing in the early days of your business. But, do you really want to make decisions that aren’t having an impact?

You need to track and analyze every move that you make, as this is the only way to focus on the tactics that are providing the best return on investment (ROI).

With KISSmetrics, you can easily see what’s working and what’s not, across all of your campaigns.

Take, for example, its Analytics products. With a funnel report, you can see if there are any “leaks” in your business. Here’s a screenshot of what to expect:

kissmetrics digital marketing tool

Starting at $120/month, KISSmetrics isn’t the cheapest digital marketing tool on this list. Even so, it’s one that you’ll want to think about, as your business gets up and running.

With a variety of products at your fingertips, the insights you receive will be invaluable to your company’s growth.

7. Followerwonk

digital marketing tool follower wonk

Do you plan on spending a lot of time on social media marketing?

While this is a great way to engage your audience and send traffic to your website, it’ll only work in your favor if you have a solid plan in place.

Tools, such as Followerwonk, are designed to help you improve your social media marketing strategy, such as by digging into your Twitter analytics data.

I included this digital marketing tool on the list for two reasons: it’s easy to use and it’s extremely effective.

Followerwonk breaks down its service into three distinct categories:

  • Find: Use the tool to search Twitter bios and compare accounts.
  • Analyze: Breakdown your follower list by bio, location, who they follow, and many other criteria.
  • Optimize: match your strategy to follower gains and losses, to understand what type of content performs best.

The only downside of Followerwonk is that it can’t be used with other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. However, if you have big plans for Twitter, this is a digital marketing tool you should use often.

Even though you may not use it on a daily basis, it can come in handy from time to time. After all, it’s imperative that you understand your audience.

follower wonk digital marketing tools

8. All in One SEO Pack

If WordPress is your content management system (CMS) of choice, you shouldn’t hesitate to install the All in One SEO Pack plugin.

A big part of your digital marketing strategy should be based around search engine optimization (SEO) and this digital marketing tool will ensure that you always make good decisions regarding your content and its appeal to search engines.

Some of the top features of the plugin include:

  • XML Sitemap support
  • Advanced Canonical URLs
  • Automatic generation of META tags
  • Compatible with most other plugins
  • Automatically notifies major search engines, including Google and Bing, of any site changes

Even though all of these features are exciting, it’s something else that has made it one of the most popular WordPress plugins of all time: its ease of use.

Here’s a screenshot, showing a small portion of the tool’s back end:

digital marketing tool AIOSEO

You don’t have to make many decisions in order to get started. And, if you’re ever confused as to what you should be doing, there is help to be had. All you have to do is click the “?” symbol and you’re provided with more information and advice.

The All in One SEO Pack plugin has more than a million active installs. You won’t have to look far to find competitors, but there’s a reason why so many people use this digital marketing tool.

Not only is it free and simple, but it’s results can’t be denied. It will definitely help your website from an SEO perspective, which is something all new businesses need.

9. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a big deal for people who need to learn more about their market.

When you start a business, it’s safe to say you know a thing or two about your industry and primary competitors. But, once you dig around more, you’ll find that there is tons of data you can use to your advantage.

If you want to better understand your competition or if you want to learn what type of content performs best with search engines and your audience, you don’t need any other digital marketing tool by your side.

A BuzzSumo search results page looks something like this:

digital marketing tools buzzsumo

Additionally, there is high level data associated with each result:

digital marketing tools buzzsumo

This information can come in handy at many times, such as when you are creating content for your blog.

Why guess as to what is performing best in your niche? You can use BuzzSumo to answer this question with 100 percent accuracy.

With this search, you see that the top result has approximately 20k social shares. You now know what to strive for, if you want to achieve the same level of success.

As a big fan of BuzzSumo, this is a ditial marketing tool that I use on a regular basis. Even if you don’t do much with the data at first, each search will help you to better understand your competition and target audience.

10. Crazy Egg

crazy egg digital marketing tool

Do you ever find yourself asking this question: what’s working and what’s not about my website?

This is where Crazy Egg can step in and provide assistance.

There are two keys here:

  • You can use Crazy Egg to make website changes that generate better results.
  • You don’t need much, if any, IT help to get started.

When you’re new to your business, you don’t want to spend countless hours dealing with IT issues. Unfortunately, this often happens when it comes to split testing. Unless you use Crazy Egg, of course.

The tool is packed with features, such as:

  • heatmaps and mouse recording
  • analysis and reporting
  • platforms and integrations
  • targeting and personalization
  • research and user feedback

A tool that helps you understand what your website visitors like and don’t like, so you can maximize your sales and leads, means that you have to give Crazy Egg a try. It’s one of those digital marketing tools that you don’t know you need, until you use it one time.

11. UberSuggest

ubersuggest marketing tool for starting a business

Not only is keyword research a challenging task, but it can also get expensive with the price of premium keyword research tools. Your typical free software won’t offer you much but UberSuggest isn’t your typical free software. 

Digital Marketing Tools You Need When Starting a Business ubersuggest screen shot

As a whole, this digital marketing tool is easy for beginners because the dashboard is simple to navigate so you can quickly find the data you want. You’ll start by entering a root keyword or domain that you want to research. You get up to three free searches per day on the free version and you can upgrade to a paid software as well. 

UberSuggest provides useful keyword information such as total search volume, difficulty, and paid difficulty if you’re thinking of running an ad campaign around that keyword. 

digital marketing tools for starting a business ubersuggest keyword ideas

As you work your way down you’ll see historical data that will show you how that keyword has trended over time. This is helpful for determining seasonal keywords or ones that are popular now but may die off over time. 

You also get keyword ideas and suggestions that are relevant to the one you’re searching for so you can update older content or develop a content marketing plan.

Overall, UberSuggest is an amazing free keyword research tool that is a great choice for beginners and has enough value as a paid tool for those who are scaling as well.

12. CoFoundersLab

digital marketing tools for starting a business cofounders lab

CoFoundersLab is a great digital marketing tool for small businesses that are growing but need a little help to take things to the next level. It uses AI to help you find a cofounder, additional member, or advisor based on a certain set of criteria.

The best digital marketing tools make life easier. CoFoundersLab intends on helping to create a large ecosystem of business owners, entrepreneurs, consultants, and advisors so it’s that much easier to find whatever you need at the current stage in your business. 

For example, you can search for someone with a specific skill and find them instantly without having to post on job boards, conduct interviews, and do onboarding. If you’re looking for an SEO content creator, you’ll simply fill out that set of criteria and be instantly connected to someone who can fill that role. 

It’s similar to other freelancing platforms out there, but what separates CoFoundersLab is you can find someone who is on the same level. If you’re looking for someone to financially back your business or simply support you equally in your venture, this might be the place to do it. 

13. Adobe Sign

adobe sign digital marketing tools for starting a business

When it comes to must-have digital marketing tools, Adobe Sign more than makes the cut. It’s a cloud-based e-signature service that helps you use less paper, save time, and get signatures using an automated signature system. You can send documents, sign, and manage the whole process via desktop or mobile device. 

There are also integrations to keep records of all the signatures you’ve received so you can reference back if you lose something important. 

This simple but useful tool solves a major problem that a lot of businesses have. More and more people are working remotely and may not have access to printers and scanners. This creates delays in your workflow and can frustrate customers if you’re unable to get them what they want because you’re waiting on signatures and approvals. 

Adobe Sign is also usable from anywhere on any device. Someone can be on their way to a meeting in the car and sign on their mobile device using their fingertip. No need to print anything, scan, fax, anything. It’s completely digital, safe, and secure. 

14. DropBox

DropBox is an essential piece of the modern digital business. It allows all the working pieces of your business to come together in one place to eliminate clutter and save time looking for things. 

Organization is the key to a successful business, and downloading and sharing files simply doesn’t cut it anymore. With people working from home, you can’t have everyone downloading personal company files onto their computers, misplacing them, or potentially abusing them. 

DropBox prevents this from happening by being a totally cloud-based document sharing platform that allows you to set permission levels so certain people can only see what they need to. 

You can also connect other tools like Slack and Zoom to DropBox so you have everything in one place. All company data stays in one place so it’s organized, safe, and accounted for. 

If you’re still manually downloading files to your computer, attaching them to emails, and sending them off into space, you’ll find DropBox is a much more efficient and safer way to keep track of documents and document sharing in your business. 

15. Full Access to Suite of Gmail Products

digital marketing tools to start a business google products

I don’t know where I would be without the full line of Gmail products. There used to be a time when we’d create pieces of content in Word platform, download it, and then attach it to an email and send it off. 

The next person would mark it up with notes and adjustments, send it back, and the process would start over.

Thankfully, those days are long gone.

With Google Docs and Sheets, you can share documents in real-time and actually mark them up with the writer looking at them so you can see what they’re doing. There’s a chat feature and a suggestion area, too where you can ask questions and provide responses as to why a certain adjustment was made. 

There’s a level of security and protection here, as well. Different permission levels ranging from “view” to “edit” give you complete control over your documents. If you’re sending a document off as a reference to something, you might not want that person to make any changes to it without making a copy for themselves, the Gmail Suite of products can do that. 

Plus, everything syncs with your Google Calendar. If you’re talking in an email about setting up a call in three days, you can instantly set that appointment on your calendar and you’ll receive reminders across all your devices. 

16. ODeskWork

odesk work digital marketing tools

oDeskWork is a freelancer platform that connects you with the right virtual assistant or freelancer to support your business. At some point, every business needs to start hiring. No matter what business you’re in, to grow and scale, you need a support system because you can’t do everything.

This is where digital marketing tools like oDeskWork come into play. You can upload current projects that you need completed, browse profiles, and start communicating with potential candidates.

The platform also offers payment protection, so you ensure you get the services you anticipated. Payments are only released to the freelancer when you’re satisfied with the work they completed. 

oDeskWork has experts and freelancers in all different kinds of niches including digital marketing, virtual assisting, transcribing, proofreading, writing, editing, SEO, WordPress, and more.

17. Upwork

upwork digital marketing tools

Upwork is a freelancer platform that connects you with qualified candidates who can help your business grow, making it a must-have digital marketing tool. What I like most about Upwork is the transparency you get and the fact that you can see all types of work that the freelancers have completed.

For example, if you’re browsing for someone to build you a WordPress website, you wouldn’t hire someone without first seeing what type of work they do, right? 

The platform will show you examples of their work, their job success rating, a description of their skills, their rate per hour, as well as any badges they’ve earned for continuous performance. 

When you’re searching for tools for digital marketing agencies, the last thing you need is to waste time with people who can’t deliver. Upwork ensures that doesn’t happen with their escrow protection as well. None of the money you pay for a job will be released until you are happy with it. 

I also find that Upwork is a great place to find long-term working relationships with freelancers that you can use on an ongoing basis versus a one-off job. 

18. Fiverr

fivver digital marketing tools

I like to think of Fiverr as Upwork’s little brother. When you’re looking to create long-term working relationships and hire someone who can really provide you with a premium service, you should turn to Upwork. 

Sometimes though, you’re just looking for a quick job that someone can turn around fast for an affordable price. For example, if you need someone to do up a quick logo for an affiliate site for five dollars, Fiverr is the way to go. 

One thing I really like about Fiverr is you can quickly sift through freelancers using the search feature. Type in the service you’re interested in, and you’ll find information such as overall rating and average starting cost. 

Fiverr also provides certain freelancers with titles like “top-rated seller” and “level 2 seller.” These will help you determine what level of experience you’re looking for in the job you need to be completed. The best digital marketing tools offer this kind of trust.  

This tool is best for one-off jobs that are lower budget and not as difficult, but I wouldn’t recommend hiring off Fiverr for anything too involved such as link building or content creation. 

19. OmniFocus

omnifocus digital marketing tool

Need to stay on task? This digital marketing tool can help.

OmniFocus is a task management tool that helps you manage all your operations in one place. You can keep track of everything that’s going on all from your browser or mobile device. 

You can tag certain projects, assign them to the individual you want to complete them, and set due dates so you can lay out your week in the most productive way possible. As work comes in, you can assign support workers to handle the task and close it out when it’s complete. 

One of my favorite things about OmniFocus is the forecast feature where you can get an overall snapshot of what you have coming up in the future including recurring tasks that might only happen once per quarter, bi-annually, or even every few years. This ensures that no one forgets anything. 

The main downside is that this tool is only available for Apple users at this point. For all the Windows and Android people out there, you’ll have to go with something else like Trello or ClickUp for now.  

20. Zoom

zoom digital marketing tool

We all know Zoom as the video conferencing software used to bring people together no matter where they are on the planet. We’re all facing our own unique remote working situation but we still need to connect sometimes and Zoom allows that to happen. The best digital marketing tools help bring businesses together. 

You can share your screen, draw on the screen, record meetings, and invite others to join in as well. Zoom offers free video conferencing for up to 100 participants for up to 40 minutes.

If you’re holding a one-on-one meeting that runs longer than 40 minutes, I’ve found in the past that Zoom will often extend the meeting for free with no time limit. 

21. Toggl 

toggle digital marketing tool

Toggl helps bring this list of digital marketing tools together. For all the work you’re doing, freelancers you’re managing, and documents you’re sharing; you need to have an idea of how long everything takes.

This tool does that with time tracking, reporting, and project planning. You can use Toggl to get an accurate representation of how long a task or project will take so you can know how many resources you need to allot for next time. 

Toggl offers a few different tools for time tracking, project planning, and candidate-screening so it’s an all-inclusive tool for businesses that manage a remote team.

Conclusion

Starting or growing a business isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming, either.

The first step is to create a strong digital marketing strategy–one that incorporates social media marketing, search engine optimization, email marketing, and consistent, valuable content that truly speaks to your audience.

Ensuring your business succeeds means using the right digital marketing tools at the right time. It’s my hope that this list will help you in your digital marketing efforts and bring you the success you seek.

Would you add any other tools to this list? Did you use any of these as you launched your small business? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.