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Tactical Tools

These are tools I use in my tactical toolbox that you might want to consider for your marketing mix. All are products I have personally used and would recommend regardless of financial incentive.

The best tools for your marketing system

The most successful marketing systems make use of the best tools. They’ll save you time and money, and be efficient and easy for you to use. Here are my personal favorites that I believe every business owner and marketer should have in their back pocket.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Shutterstock

I’ve been a fan of Shutterstock since 2006. They’re the best library for stock images – quality, pricing, variety, license terms… Checks all the boxes.

While you should never overuse stock photos in your projects, it can be a great way to fill gaps, add interesting elements, or find the perfect background for your design. Give Shutterstock a try and get 20% off a subscription plan with the link below.

Sign up for 20% off ⟶
NEWS

Flipboard

One of the best ways I’ve found to stay on top of what’s trending in the world of small businesses and marketing is to stay on top of specific news categories. Flipboard is the best tool I’ve found to aggregate and deliver me relevant news without a lot of extra work on my part (and it’s free).

There’s a desktop version if you want to access it on your computer, but the easiest way is to install it on iOS or Android. It’ll bring you a personalized magazine every day from the sources you select, and help you find new and relevant ones you can subscribe to.

Install Flipboard (iOS) ⟶
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP & SALES TRACKING

Hubspot

Hubspot’s Free Sales Hub CRM is seriously powerful. Whether your business relies on a longer sales cycle or you’d just like to centralize info about your prospects and customers, Hubspot can help. And it integrates with almost everything.

I use it for maintaining my contacts and my to-do lists, and to get daily email reminders about sales and relationship activity.

We also use it at one of my companies as a literal hub of all information throughout the lifecycle of our contacts’ accounts.

Try Hubspot Free ⟶
DOCS & EMAIL

Google Workspace

If you’re wondering how you can get an email address that has your domain in it, this is how. Now you can stop using your @gmail.com address for work and gain immediate credibility.

Beyond that, I love Google Workspace for collaboration on docs and spreadsheets, and although it’s not quite as good as Zoom for quality, the inclusion of Google Meet is a plus too.

The $6/user/mo plan is great for most small businesses to get started. You can always scale up if you need more cloud storage, or use something like Dropbox for a more efficient price point, depending on your team size.

Try Google Workspace ⟶

More Tools to Consider

The most successful marketing systems make use of the best tools. They’ll save you time and money, and be efficient and easy for you to use. Here are my personal favorites that I believe every business owner and marketer should have in their back pocket.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Canva

Not a designer? No problem. Check out the best free design app for non-designers and get things designed fast.

If you’re looking to use the best-of-the-best and have design skills, then Adobe CC and Photoshop are the premium option.

Otherwise, it’s hard to go wrong with Canva. The free plan is easily going to suit the needs of most small or early stage business owners and marketers.

Try Canva Free ⟶
DATA & INSIGHTS

Google Analytics

Bare minimum, Google Analytics is a must add to your website. Along with tools like Hotjar and Google Search Console, it will give you a complete picture of your traffic and audience behavior on your website.

We only improve that which we measure – so start with Analytics to start measuring and learning from what your traffic is telling you.

Set up Analytics Free ⟶
WEBSITE

WordPress

Budget solutions like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace are good starting points. When you’re ready for the next step forward, WordPress is the best way to build and manage a growing small business’s web presence and blog.

It’s open-source, extremely customizable, and powers more than 35% of all websites. The only catch? You’ll probably need a developer to set everything up for you. After that, it should serve well as your primary content marketing and lead generation source for years.

Check out WordPress ⟶

Find the right mix for your systems and strategy

Not all marketing systems will need all of these tools. It’s best to start by developing a roadmap for how your customer will find their way to working with you, and then plugging these tools in as part of the system where it makes the most sense.

If you’re not sure where to start in building out your own system, that’s OK! I made a video to help you get started.

5-Day Brand Checkup

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(Coming Soon) ⟶

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