8 Must-Have Tools for Inbound Marketers

8 Must-Have Tools for Inbound Marketers

By Kuno CreativeFeb 16 /2016

tools-for-inbound-marketersSuccessful inbound marketing is all about generating qualified leads and converting them into customers. We use strategies such as content creation, social media marketing and search marketing. Real success, though, requires good data management, accurate analysis of return on investment and proper management of teams and projects. The good news is several tools can help make inbound marketers’ workload easier.

Here are eight must-have software solutions for inbound marketers.

1. Canva

canva

This captivating tool lets you create professional designs for your campaign even if you have little design ability. Your team can use it to generate custom designs, infographics, social media images, eBooks, presentations and social media profile headers—without having to bother a graphic designer. Canva comes with a wide range of free and paid images and templates.

2. Hotjar

hotjar

Keeping track of user experience on your website is critical to effective inbound marketing. The Hotjar tool lets you gain valuable feedback from your website visitors. This tool generates heat maps, feedback polls, conversion funnel analysis and data showing how visitors engage with your site. Hotjar comes with a free package, as well as a paid option with more features.

3. HubSpot Workflows

Hubspot_workflows

Email marketing is a common strategy for most inbound marketers. HubSpot Workflows helps you nurture leads until they become customers. With this tool, you can segment your leads based on their interests and behaviors. This makes it easy for you to send relevant offers, rather than just inundating leads with emails. You can even customize the content of your emails, as well as the times and days they are sent. Workflows also allows you to automatically update your contact information and trigger email notifications. This tool can significantly shorten your sales cycle, thus resulting in more conversions.

4. HubSpot CRM

Hubspot_CRM

HubSpot CRM is a free tool that makes it easy for inbound marketers to align with their sales team in tracking deals, tasks, email conversations and contacts. You can filter to find contacts, create custom fields, as well as customize your layouts. You can either get in touch with prospects and leads via your inbox or directly from their contact records. If you want more features, you can upgrade the HubSpot CRM with the Sidekick for Business add-on.

5. ClickToTweet

clicktotweet

Creating quality content sometimes isn’t enough in marketing—you need that content to reach as many people as possible. The free ClickToTweet helps you create Tweetable links that your Web visitors can then easily use to share your content. All you need to do is create attractive ClickToTweet boxes anywhere within your posts highlighting specific messages or quotes. Readers can then click on the call-to-action button to instantly share your message. Besides Web content, you can also use ClickToTweet to promote your blog posts, white papers, eBooks and emails.

6. Basecamp

basecamp

Managing teams and projects successfully requires proper systems, especially when done remotely. Basecamp makes it easy for you to keep your team on track. You can use it to create tasks and projects, set milestones and deadlines, manage discussions, store files and tag tasks. It allows you to keep track of client feedback and approvals. Basecamp comes with daily data backups as well as SSL encryption, maintaining the security of your data. You can choose from different packages depending on the number of projects you are handling.

7. Flow

flow

This is another great tool for task and project management. Flow allows you to list important tasks, prioritize them accordingly and delegate them to your team members. To schedule your tasks, all you need to do is drag and drop them into your calendar. You can also plan projects, discuss tasks and get feedback from your team—all in one place. Flow comes with a 15-day free trial period, after which you can choose from one of the paid plans.

8. BuzzSumo

buzzsumo

Success in content marketing campaigns requires targeting the right audiences with the right content. BuzzSumo helps research the kind of content that appeals to your audience. All you need to do is enter any domain or topic and the tool generates a comprehensive report on its performance. For instance, you can see how many times a link has been shared on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. BuzzSumo allows you to filter your results by date, as well as customize the language.

The number of software solutions available to inbound marketers continues to grow. Which tools are on your must-have list? Share with us in the comments section below.

Charles Mburugu is a HubSpot-certified content writer/marketer for B2B, B2C and SaaS companies. He has worked with brands such as GetResponse, Neil Patel, Shopify, 99 Designs, Oberlo, Salesforce and Condor. Check out his portfolio and connect on LinkedIn.

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Kuno Creative

Kuno Creative is more than an inbound marketing agency. We blend the best of inbound marketing with demand generation to achieve long-term growth with swift marketing results.
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