Throughout my career, I’ve tried numerous tools and found a few essentials that I can’t live without. These tools help me streamline my efforts, stay organized, and achieve better results in the competitive world of digital marketing.
Here are my top picks:
1. Storykit
Overview: Storykit is a text-to-video AI creation platform that enables me to create professional videos for SEO and for my social feed quickly and with no editing experience.
Key features:
- Converts text into engaging videos.
- Easy-to-use interface with AI-driven video creation.
- Customizable AI templates with automatic resizing for various social media platforms.
- Can create multiple videos at once.
Why I can't live without it: I don't have any video editing experience, but I know that if you want to stand out on social media or rank high for SEO, video is a must. Storykit makes video content creation incredibly simple, allowing me to produce high-quality content quickly. It's perfect for engaging our audience on social media and enhancing our articles.
2. Canva
Overview: Canva is a graphic design tool that allows me to create simple graphic design elements to use in our content.
Key features:
- User-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
- Thousands of customizable templates.
- Extensive library of stock photos, illustrations, and icons.
- Tools for resizing images and basic graphic design tasks.
Why I can't live without it: If you work with digital content marketing then chances are you have heard of Canva. Canva empowers me to produce professional-looking visuals without needing advanced design skills. It’s a go-to tool for all my graphic design needs, from social media posts to blog graphics.
3. Asana
Overview: Asana is a project management tool that helps me stay organized and track tasks efficiently.
Key features:
- Visual boards, lists, and cards for task management.
- Customizable workflows and checklists.
- Integration with other tools like Slack and Google Drive.
- Collaboration features for team projects.
Why I can't live without it: Working in marketing is a balancing act. With so many different projects coming up and releases being scheduled in, staying organized is so important for success. Asana keeps all of my tasks organized, ensuring I stay on track and meets deadlines. It’s crucial for managing tasks and collaborating with my colleagues.
4. Ahrefs
Overview: Ahrefs is a pretty straightforward SEO platform designed to help improve our search engine rankings.
Key features:
- Site explorer to analyze our website's backlinks.
- Keyword explorer for in-depth keyword research.
- Content explorer to find top-performing content in our niche.
- Rank tracker to monitor our keyword positions.
Why I can't live without it: There are a lot of different SEO tools out there that do similar things. However I have always found Ahrefs to be straightforward and easy to when it comes to getting comprehensive data and insights that enhance our SEO strategy, drive organic traffic, and help us stay ahead of the competition.
5. Google Analytics
Overview: Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics tool that provides detailed insights into our website traffic and user behavior.
Key features:
- Comprehensive data on user demographics, behavior, and acquisition.
- Real-time reporting to monitor ongoing campaigns.
- Customizable dashboards and reports.
- Integration with other Google tools like Google Ads.
Why I can't live without it: Google Analytics helps us understand what’s working and what’s not on our website, enabling us to make data-driven decisions to optimize our marketing strategies. However, I am sad to say that I am not a fan of the new GA4 (don't punish me for saying this Google).
6. HubSpot
Overview: HubSpot is an all-in-one inbound marketing, sales, and customer service software that helps our company grow.
Key features:
- Marketing automation to streamline email marketing, social media, and lead nurturing.
- CRM to manage customer relationships and track interactions.
- Analytics to measure the performance of our campaigns.
- Lead tracking and email marketing tools.
Why I can't live without it: HubSpot is a game-changer for our organization. It keeps our lists up-to-date automatically, gives us all the details we need about our leads, and makes sending email campaigns a breeze. It’s like having an extra team member who ensures everything runs smoothly and helps us stay connected and efficient.
7. Contrast
Overview: Contrast is our most recent addition, a webinar platform that enhances the experience of setting up and running regular webinars.
Key features:
- Easy setup and management of webinars.
- Better features and usability compared to Zoom.
- Video hosting capabilities.
- Integrated analytics to measure webinar performance.
Why I can't live without it: Contrast has transformed how approach webinar marketing. The whole platform is really intuitive, and it honestly just makes having a webinar strategy really fun and enjoyable.
Further reading: AI marketing automation: AI marketing tools we are using in 2024
Conclusion
By leveraging the capabilities of Storykit, Canva, Asana, Ahrefs, Google Analytics, HubSpot, and Contrast, my team and I can streamline our digital marketing efforts, gain valuable insights, and ultimately drive more success for our business.
While it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the plethora of tools available, focusing on these essentials has made a significant difference in our workflow and results.
