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9 AI Tools for Successful Marketing Funnels – Tools That Solve Real Problems (Not Just Hype)

You’ve read the headlines: “AI is revolutionizing marketing!”

Yet here’s what nobody admits… most teams drown in flashy marketing funnels that promise the moon but deliver chaos.

The real problem?

Traditional funnels treat leads like numbers, not people.

But what if AI could humanize your marketing more than your current efforts?

Let me show you how, without losing your brand’s soul.

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

The AI Marketing Crossroads: Why “Business as Usual” Fails

We’ve all been there—staring at a spreadsheet of “qualified” leads that ghost, or pouring budget into campaigns that fizzle. Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

• 61% of marketers say lead generation is their #1 headache (HubSpot)
• 50% of prospects are mismatched from the start (Sales Insights Lab)
• Manual lead nurturing burns 22% of sales teams’ time (Forrester)

But here’s the contrarian take: AI isn’t here to replace your creativity—it’s here to amplify it. The winners won’t be those with the most data, but those who use AI to forge real human connections at scale.

Your AI Marketing Toolbox: 9 Precision Instruments

Let’s cut through the noise. Below, I’ll break down exactly what each tool does, when to use it, and how it aligns with your goals.

No fluff. No hype. Just tools that solve specific problems.

1. Systeme.io: The Swiss Army Knife for Bootstrappers

What It Does: Systeme.io consolidates your entire marketing stack—funnels, email, courses, affiliates—into a single platform.
Why It Matters: If you’re tired of paying for 5+ tools just to launch a campaign, this eliminates app fatigue.

→ Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop funnel builder (landing pages, sales pipelines)
• Built-in email marketing with segmentation
• Host online courses and manage affiliates in one dashboard

Use When: You need simplicity without sacrificing functionality.

From creating a landing page to teaching an online course to manage your affiliates, the Systeme.io platform provides an array of tools.

The free plan only allows up to 1,000 contacts, so you’ll need to upgrade if you need more.

Systeme also offers three paid plans, including:

• Startup $27/month: Up to 5,000 contacts
• Webinar $47/month: Up to 10,000 contacts
• Enterprise $97/month: Up to 15,000 contacts

If you need more than 15,000 contacts, custom plans start at $147 per month.

→ Pricing Reality Check: Start free (up to 1K contacts), then scale to 27+/mo.

If you are just starting out, you will be happy to know that all plans include:

• unlimited emails
• unlimited file storage space
• unlimited membership site members
• no transaction fees (Stripe and PayPal platform fees may apply)
• affiliate programs
• online support

For a truly all-in-one platform, Systeme stands out as both robust and affordable.

Who Should Use Systeme?

Marketers looking to consolidate their suite of marketing tools and processes and rely on one tool.

Use When: You need simplicity without sacrificing functionality.

 

2. Exceed.ai: Your Lead Qualification Robot (That Feels Human)

According to data from Sales Insights Lab, 50 percent of prospects aren’t a good fit for what you sell.

Instead of using your salespeople to weed out the duds, Exceed’s personalization and lead qualification automation can do it for you in less time.

What It Does: Exceed.ai automates lead nurturing using AI chatbots that mimic real sales reps.

Why It Matters: Stop wasting hours on unqualified leads. Exceed filters out tire-kickers while booking meetings for hot prospects.

→ Key Features:

• Two-way email/SMS conversations with leads
• CRM integration (HubSpot, Salesforce)
• Meeting scheduling without human intervention

→ Data Don’t Lie: Clients report 40% faster lead-to-meeting velocity.

→ Pro Tip: Use its “lead scoring” to prioritize follow-ups—saved my agency 15 hrs/week.

With Exceed’s top-notch AI technology, engage your leads in human-like conversation.

The platform can even schedule meetings for your reps and bring you that much closer to the sale.

You’ll need to request a quote from Exceed.ai to learn more about the package that fits your budget.

Who Should Use Exceed.ai?

Businesses and organizations that need the greatest help in their sales funnel’s lead nurturing and conversion stages.

Use When: Your sales team is drowning in unresponsive leads.

3. Saleswhale: The Cold Lead Resurrection Machine

Saleswhale is a SaaS product that uses AI to identify, engage, and convert neglected leads.

Using automated follow-ups, referral handling, and interest qualification, Saleswhale’s AI assistants offer a best-in-class experience for you and your leads.

With the free plan, you can begin to nurture and convert up to 200 leads per month.

What It Does: Saleswhale re-engages stale leads with hyper-personalized email sequences.

Why It Matters: 80% of leads go cold—this tool revives them without manual outreach.

For additional leads and active email campaigns, paid plans include:

• Starter $495/month: Up to 500 leads/month, one active campaign
• Plus $1,495/month: Up to 2,500 leads/month, three active campaigns
• Professional $2,495/month: Up to 5,000 leads/month, 10 active campaigns

→ Key Features:

• AI-generated follow-ups based on lead behavior
• Multi-channel nurturing (email, LinkedIn, SMS)
• Free plan for up to 200 leads/mo
  → Case Study: A B2B client recovered $120k in lost revenue from “dead” leads in 90 days.
  → Script Hack: Upload your best sales emails—it’ll replicate your tone.

Who Should Use Saleswhale?

Companies strong in lead generation, but who need assistance in lead nurturing and conversion.

Use When: Your pipeline has more ghosts than a haunted house.

4. Appier: The Cross-Channel Einstein

Similar to Systeme, Appier is an all-in-one sales tool with a full suite of AI services.

This SaaS can help with prospecting to transactions with its robust data science platform.

Using AI, Appier can effectively segment your audience to drive maximum lead conversions.

You no longer need to create campaign after campaign hoping to hit the mark, as Appier will do the dirty work for you.

What It Does: Appier uses AI to unify ad campaigns across Google, Meta, TikTok, and more.

Why It Matters: If your ads feel scattered, Appier finds patterns in chaos.

→ Key Features:

• Predictive audience segmentation
• Real-time bid optimization
• Creative A/B testing at scale
  → Niche Edge: Dominates e-commerce—clients see 30%+ ROAS lifts.
  → Contrarian Take: Skip this if you’re a solopreneur. It’s for teams spending $10k+/mo on ads.

Appier’s pricing is not available on their website, so you’ll need to reach out to learn more about their tools and their potential fit with your business.

Who Should Use Appier?

Companies looking for a comprehensive suite of AI-powered marketing tools.

Use When: Your ad strategy needs a central brain.

 

5. ClickFunnels

If you are looking for an end-to-end sales funnel solution, then consider ClickFunnels.

Utilizing AI sales models and neural sales data, ClickFunnels aims to improve the marketing experience for businesses of all sizes.

ClickFunnels enables you to easily create funnels, build websites, and manage affiliates.

This means you can collect, nurture, and convert leads using just one platform.

With more than 100,000 entrepreneurs using or having used the platform, it has undoubtedly made a name for itself in the industry.

What It Does: ClickFunnels builds high-converting sales pipelines with pre-built templates.

Why It Matters: Even non-techies can launch a funnel in 2 hours.

→ Love/Hate Stats:

• Pro: 22% higher AOV with one-click upsells
• Con: $297/mo hurts if you’re not monetizing aggressively
  → My Verdict: Perfect for info products, overkill for local businesses.
  → Template Steal: Their “Perfect Webinar” funnel converts at 18% (industry avg: 5%).

These include:

• Basic $97/month: 20 funnels, 100 pages, three payment gateways, and three domains
• Platinum $297/month: Unlimited funnels, unlimited pages, nine payment gateways, and nine domains
• Two Comma Club $2,497/month: Unlimited funnels, unlimited pages, 27 payment gateways, and 27 domains

All plans come with chat support and video training.

Who Should Use ClickFunnels?

Companies who want an all-in-one solution that offers hand-holding and easy-to-use templates.

Use When: You need speed over customization.

6. Data Studio

Previously known as BrightFunnel, Data Studio by Terminus is a funnel reporting tool that connects marketing platforms to deliver beautiful, insightful analytics.

With Data Studio, you can create custom reports for marketers, executives, and stakeholders.

What It Does: Terminus aggregates data from every funnel stage into actionable dashboards.

Why It Matters: Fix leaks in your pipeline by seeing exactly where prospects bail.

→ Key Features:

• Multi-touch attribution modeling
• Custom reports for execs vs. marketers
• Slack/Teams alerts for KPIs
  → Aha Moment: A client discovered their “hero” landing page had a 92% drop-off—fixed it in a week.

Pricing is not readily available on the website, but you can schedule a demo to learn more about the platform.

Who Should Use Data Studio?

Marketing teams need a cohesive analytics and insights platform to bring their sales to funnel data to life.

Use When: Your analytics feel like a puzzle missing half its pieces.

7. Akkio: The Lead Whisperer

According to HubSpot, the top priority for marketers is generating leads.

However, as any marketer can tell you, not all leads are created equal.

You can spend your time manually poring over the data to determine your best path forward, or you can let Akkio take the reins.

Akkio is an AI marketing platform with tools to support every stage of the funnel.

Where it excels, however, is in its lead scoring capabilities and churn reduction technology.

Using data-driven insights, Akkio aims to narrow in on the leads with the greatest chance of a conversion.

What It Does: Akkio predicts which leads will convert (and which will churn) using AI.

Why It Matters: Stop guessing. Let data decide where to focus your energy.

→ Key Features:

• Automated lead scoring
• Churn risk alerts
• $50/mo entry point (cheaper than a bad hire)
  → Case Study: A fintech startup boosted conversions by 37% by focusing on Akkio’s “high intent” leads.
  → Pro Move: Feed it your CRM data—it learns your unique patterns in 48 hours.

For as low as $50 per month, billed annually, you can give Akkio a try with very little risk.

The features included in all plans are:

• unlimited users
• unlimited data
• unlimited flows and deployments
• integrations and API
• model reports

Who Should Use Akkio?

Companies looking for a scalable, data-driven solution.

Use When: Your sales team argues over lead priority.

 

8. Bant.io: The Modular Lead Gen Army

If you are hurting for qualified leads, you should know you’re not alone.

According to HubSpot, 61 percent of marketers consider a lead generation to be their top challenge.

The good news is there are marketing AI tools, like Bant.io, that can help.

What It Does: Bant.io offers à la carte lead gen services (email, ads, chatbots).

These run the gamut, including:

• email
• social outreach
• pay per click ads
• retargeting ads
• sales chatbot

Unlike many one-size-fits-all options, Bant.io plans are customizable to meet your business’s needs. Just add the modules you need and leave the rest.

The modules include:

• Email Outreach: $795/month
• Social Outreach: $495/month
• Retargeting Ads: $395/month
• PPC Ads: $395/month
• Sales Chatbot: $95/month

Why It Matters: Only pay for what you need—no bloated suites.

→ Modules That Work:

• Email Outreach ($795/mo): Gets 15-20% reply rates (my agency’s track record)
• Retargeting Ads ($395/mo): 7x ROAS on abandoned carts
• Chatbots ($95/mo): Cuts support tickets by 50%
  → Client Truth: A consulting firm landed 8 clients in 30 days using their LinkedIn outreach module.

Who Should Use Bant.io?

Marketers who favor a piecemeal approach to lead generation.

Use When: You need flexibility, not a one-size-fits-all solution.

 

9. Funnel.io: The Data Unifier

It’s not enough to have a marketing funnel in place.

You must evaluate every step of your funnel on a regular basis.

While most funnel tools will have their own reporting, they may not always present you with the big picture.

That’s where a reporting tool like Funnel.io comes in.

With 500+ data connections available, Funnel.io makes it easy to build reports that touch on all areas of your business.

Can’t find the data source you need?

The team at Funnel.io will work with you to get it added to their platform.

There are a variety of plans available, including:

• Essentials $399/month: Connects to 260 platforms, five seats, email support
• Plus $999/month: Connects to 500+ platforms, unlimited seats, email and chat support
• Enterprise $1,999/month: Connects to 500+ platforms, unlimited seats, priority email and chat support and a Customer Success Partner

All plans are billed annually.

What It Does: Funnel.io connects 500+ data sources into a single reporting hub.

Why It Matters: End spreadsheet hell. See your entire funnel in one dashboard.

→ Key Features:

• Automated data cleaning
• Custom metrics (e.g., “Cost per Warm Lead”)
• Team collaboration tools
  → Brutal Honesty: At $399+/mo, it’s pricey—but worth it if you’re drowning in GA4, Meta, and HubSpot data.
  → Pro Hack: Use their “Funnel Health Score” to diagnose weaknesses in 10 minutes.

Who Should Use Funnel.io?

Marketers or agencies looking for a comprehensive and collaborative reporting platform.

Use When: Your reports are a Frankenstein of mismatched numbers.

Your Next Step (No Fluff):

1. Audit Your Funnel’s Pain Point
   • Lead gen? → Bant.io or Exceed.ai
   • Nurturing? → Saleswhale or Akkio
   • Analytics? → Terminus or Funnel.io
2. Run a 14-Day Sprint
   • Test one tool with a clear metric (e.g., “Reduce lead response time to 2 hrs”)
3. Debrief With Your Team
   • Ask: “Did this make us more human or just busier?”

Final Truth: AI tools aren’t magic. But when wielded with strategy, they turn “overwhelmed” into “unstoppable.” Now go fix that funnel.

Everything You Should Know to Create a Useful Competitor Report

Analyzing and monitoring your competition is fundamental to any business’s success.

So what should a good competitive report include and how to take it from research to action?

 

Why Does My Business Need a Competitive Report?

There are many reasons why a business may need a competitive report, and all of these are valid:

• To better understand your target audience by researching how they find and engage with your more established competitor
• For market research: Understand what is currently available on the market and where your business fits inTo get an estimate of your future marketing budget
• To identify effective marketing tactics, etc.

Business owners that claim they don’t need a competitive report because they already know everything are clearly missing out. Competitive research is much more than copying your more successful competitor’s marketing tactics.

Actually, it is not at all about that because copying would never bring you ahead.

Competitive research is about understanding your target market and distinguishing your unique value proposition and consequently your unique marketing strategy to conquer it.

So what should a solid competitive report include?

 

Competitive Benchmarking

Competitive benchmarking means collecting the performance data of your competitors and comparing it to your business. It is used to measure and monitor your business’s performance against its competitors.

You can choose your own performance indicators to track and compare. These may include:

• Public traffic data (from tools like Ahrefs, Alexa, and Similar Web)
• Organic rankings
• Brand awareness and sentiment (based on brand mentions), etc.

This section in your report is going to always evolve but it is also fundamental because your whole competitive analysis will evolve based on KPIs you will identify as the most important for you.

 

Basic Overview of Competition

There are fundamental KPIs you are going to focus on and there are secondary metrics that will help you identify competitors to keep an eye on.

This section is about the latter. This basic section helps you look at your competitors’ secondary metrics at a glance to identify if there’s a definitive pattern to look deeper into:

• Backlinks
• Organic traffic
• Social media followers
• Social media engagement, etc.
• Tools like Ahrefs, Keyhole, and Similarweb will help you collect all the necessary data.

 

Detailed Dive into Organic Search Engine Optimization Tactics

Look at some key search engine optimization tactics your competitors are using:

• Which keywords are they focusing on?
• How are they optimizing their title tags and meta descriptions?
• Are they optimizing their old content and how often?
• What does their site architecture look like?
• How are they organizing their main navigation?
• What’s their internal linking strategy?
• What are their most successful pages (i.e. those that rank for the most competitive search queries)?
• What’s their semantic optimization strategy?

Try running a few of the most important pages through a tool called Text Optimizer to determine whether your competitors are doing a good job optimizing for search intent:

One of the most actionable steps here is to look at Content Gaps, i.e. researching which keywords your competitors are ranking but your site is not. This is a great way to expand your content strategy to include new keywords. Ahrefs provides this analysis, so it is both easy and effective:

Competitors’ Backlink Research

Backlink research is important for many reasons but doesn’t just use it in an effort to “steal” some of those tactics or claim some of those links. Look at a bigger picture:

• Who are your competitors’ promoters (i.e. people who link to them) and how did your competitors win their hearts?
• Which PR tactics seemed to work best for your competitors and why?
• How are they utilizing content to generate backlinks?

The purpose of competitive backlink research is to understand what works for niche publishers and how you can build your own long-term relationships with them to outmatch your competitors in the long run.

There are quite a few backlink checking tools that would help you create this report.

 

Social Media Growth and Engagement

The first part of this section is, again, an overview giving you an idea on who to research further. Create a quick chart summarizing your competitors’ active social media channels, number of followers and friends, and their overall activity.

Keyhole can help you with that section:

Social Media Tactics to Take a Note of

Here I suggest highlighting some creative tactics your competitors are using on social media. Forget about numbers: Highlight what you found ingenious even if that didn’t yield obvious great results. Make lots of screenshots!

• Did your competitor use humor when replying to a customer?
• Did you like the video they uploaded for a holiday?
• Was their sponsored update particularly creative and attention-grabbing?
• Did they manage to get attention from a niche influencer?
• Did you like the idea behind their social media contest or poll?

This section is supposed to inspire your social media team. Discourage them from copying anything your competitor did on social media (this could quickly turn into a reputation crisis). Instead, let this section be a conversation starter for your team to come up with their own ideas.

 

Conclusion

There are very few business ideas or models that have no competition. If you have found one: Good for you! For the rest of us, a competitive report is a key to marketing success, especially if you make it actionable and use it as a starting point for your own brainstorming meetings.

Distinguish tactics to discuss and use unified communications to come up with the ideas to improve and expand those tactics, as well as find unique angles and maintain your brand identity. Good luck!

The post Everything You Should Know to Create a Useful Competitor Report appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

Source: digitalmarketer.com

‘Tis the Season to Double Down on Social Customer Care (and Protect Your Community Managers)

Just when we thought we, as social media strategists and community managers, could rest up from the twists and turns of the last 18 months, the holiday season is upon us.

It feels like it could be a doozy.

• Global supply chain challenges are causing significant inventory gaps for some.
• A tight labor market causes other delays, shortages, or increased prices.
• Some families are gathering for the first holiday season in two years, and the expectations are HIGH.

Heightened customer expectations and consumer demands equate to a potential increase in the velocity of service inquiries. Sprout Social predicts a rise of 44% more messages on Instagram if last year’s trends continue and a 14% increase in Twitter messages.

 

Avoid Social Customer Care Burnout

With this challenge, of course, comes new opportunities to provide trust-building service to your potential and current customers.

Before we move into how to mobilize your company to provide extraordinary social customer care, this is a great time to remind everyone reading that social media community managers are grappling with burnout:

• The faucet never stops. You can set hours, scale teams, and establish processes, but this work never turns off.
• Daily jobs can consist of wading through endless hateful comments, especially on platforms like Twitter which is full of a polarized political scene.
• It’s harder and harder to break through and get a significant creative win, especially when expected to wear the hats of designer, video editor, copywriter, strategist, and customer service representative.

That takes us to the first recommendations for activating an excellent customer experience on social media this holiday season:

 

Train Your Social Care Team

If your social media manager is the only one serving as your organization’s social media customer service center, you need to rethink your approach.

As the demands ramp up, ensure you meet as a team and determine the resources you need to deliver the experience you want. Ideally, integrate your customer service team directly into your social listening inboxes.

Train anyone involved in responding to consumers on social media, so they understand the context of where they are playing, how it’s different from traditional customer service, and the brand’s social media voice and tone.

 

Establish Guidelines That Encourage Maximum Transparency (and Yes, Even Disappointment!)

During this season, you may not have good news for all. But all complaints or questions need a response.

Decide now how you can be the MOST transparent as possible in your response strategy, understanding that you don’t always (and can’t always) SOLVE the issue, but you can ALWAYS hear the issue.

Edison Research discovered that not answering a complaint results in a 50% decrease in advocacy. However, responding to a complaint results in a 25% increase in advocacy. NOTE: that did not say SOLVING a customer’s issue. Responding alone increases advocacy.

Consider the following:

• What will you not respond to?
• How will you respond to positive comments?
• When do you respond with a full response vs. a simple acknowledgment?
• When will you move conversations “off-stage” and into a more private channel like a DM?

 

Ensure Your Community Management Team Has The Right Software

If you don’t have a social listening tool in place, now may be the season to invest in a tool. Setting up your tools to make it easy to identify, respond to, and catalog customer inquiries will save huge amounts of time.

Today, many tools like Sprout Social or Hootsuite that you may already be using for posting have add-ons for listening. There are also stand-alone tools like Meltwater that can provide an extra layer of support.

 

Make Contacting Customer Service Easy and Accessible

In your social media bios, add other places where customers can receive service along with the hours and contact information.

 

Use Integrated Social Tools To Respond To and Organize Responses

Each social channel has a set of tools that can help you provide information and organize your response.

Program automatic/quick replies for frequently asked questions. On Instagram, set up an FAQ Highlight that answers all frequently asked questions, so people don’t have to leave the app when looking for an answer.

If you aren’t using a social media monitoring system, utilize the message status capabilities within your social media inboxes, so you can filter based on messages that need a response.

 

May Your Social Care be Merry and Prepared

The best thing leaders can do is equip their teams with the necessary resources to scale social media services smoothly. In the best-case scenario, you won’t need them. But realistically, there will be a point in time where this preparation will ensure a better customer AND employee experience.

The post ‘Tis the Season to Double Down on Social Customer Care (and Protect Your Community Managers) appeared first on Content Marketing Consulting and Social Media Strategy.

Source: convinceandconvert.com

10 Sales Tools for Boosting Results, Efficiency, and More

Without customers, you wouldn’t have much of a company. For this reason, spending time and money on sales and marketing-related tasks is never time wasted.

In this post, I’m going to examine some of the top sales tools for boosting results, improving efficiency and organization and helping you generate more revenue.

Let’s get started!

 

10 Sales Tools for Boosting Results, Efficiency, and More

1. HubSpot

Are you seeking a sales platform to handle all the needs of your sales process?

If so, HubSpot fits the bill. When it comes to sales and marketing tools, HubSpot is considered the cream of the crop.

From a sales perspective, there are three distinct solutions:

• HubSpot Sales Free
• HubSpot CRM
• HubSpot Sales Professional
• HubSpot Sales Hub Enterprise

With the free solution, which is a great place for everyone to start, you gain access to tools that boost every aspect of your inbound sales strategy.

For example, there are a variety of email tools, such as access to email templates and sales content.

For those who want to learn more about their prospects, locate the decision-maker, HubSpot once again has you covered.

You can collect data related to visitors, broken down by company, as well as the pages that they are viewing. This gives you a better idea of who’s interested in your product or service, thus allowing you to target the right type of prospects who are the decision-maker in the sales process.

HubSpot has a tool for every type of sales team, sales manager and sales professionals. With the ability to poke around for free, there’s no reason to put off dabbling with this tool.

 

2. LinkedIn Sales Solutions

Did you know that LinkedIn has more than 450 million registered users, scattered all over the world?

As the largest professional network, by far, it only makes sense that it’d be full of sales opportunities in digital marketing.

While you can mine for prospects on your own, you’re better off considering the many sales professional tools provided by LinkedIn Sales Solutions.

Comparing available products will open your eyes to which approach is best for you in social media and digital marketing.

For example, Sales Navigator is a popular choice. With this tool, LinkedIn hopes to make sales prospecting easier than ever before and that’s exactly what you’re looking for.

This tool helps in many ways, including:

• Receive custom lead recommendations.
• Access to an advanced search to find the right leads for your business.
• The use of InMail to contact any LinkedIn member.
• A dashboard for measuring and tracking your social selling results.
• Real-time sales updates for customers and prospects.

With a free trial, you should give the Professional Edition of Sales Navigator a try. Even if you’ve never used LinkedIn for a sales process in the past, this could be the push that you need to take full advantage in the future.

3. InsideSales.com

When it comes to sales lead management, there aren’t many companies that do it better than InsideSales.

There’s more to this company than meets the eye, thanks to its large list of features within its Playbooks offering.

The product manages leads, automates admin tasks, and uses data from 27 billion sales interactions to predict who, when, and how to engage with prospective customers to get the best outcome.

If you’re anything like me, you dig through mounds of data, in an attempt to learn more about your prospects. With this tool, you can better understand how leads are interacting with your business and empower your sales team to say the right thing at the right time.

4. Marketo Sales Connect

Are you interested in turning more sales prospects into customers?

Of course, you are. With the help of Marketo Sales Connect, you can equip yourself with the sales tools that you need to reach all of your sales team goals.

One of my favorite features is the ability to create a “pipeline playbook,” complete with all of the data that you and your team need to stay in touch with a contact throughout the sales process.

This feature provides several ways to improve your pipeline, such as:

1. Integrated email and phone activities. With email and phone system integrations, it’s easier than ever for sales professionals to schedule meetings and communicate with other team members.
2. Sales campaigns. Do you have trouble remaining consistent with your approach to prospecting? Marketo allows you to stay in touch with sales campaigns that include email, social media and phone, ensuring that everything and everybody is on the same page.

Also, Marketo offers email, website and document tracking tools. This allows you to track engagement, based on every type of communication including social media platforms.

Not only is this done in real-time, but it provides you with actionable data that will help you make more informed sales decisions.

Last, but certainly not least, this is one of the top tools for sales team collaboration. If you have more than one person working on sales and marketing, you need a tool that keeps everyone on the same page. Marketo makes it simple to share updates with others in real-time.

At first, you may not use all of the tools provided by Marketo. However, as it becomes a bigger part of your sales strategy, you and your sales reps will turn to it more often.

 

5. Yesware

Have you set the goal of selling smarter? Do you even know what this means?

There are tools that are meant to save you time and money. Yesware is one of them.

There are several reasons why I recommend Yesware to entrepreneurs who want to sell smarter, but it all begins with its analytics tools.

You probably have what it takes to collect data, in regards to your prospects, the decision-maker, and the sales cycle, but, do you know what to do next?

This is where Yesware steps in, to make your life easier.

With access to high-level, actionable insights, you’ll never again wonder what you’re supposed to do with the data that you’ve collected. Instead, you can share it with the appropriate team members, to ensure that everyone’s making the right moves.

The only downside of Yesware is that it can be difficult to fully understand its power and functionality until you have first-hand experience. Fortunately, once you get started, there’s no looking back with this sales process tool.

6. Calendly

What process are you using to schedule meetings with prospects?

In the past, the preferred option was email or a phone call. While there are still times when this works, you don’t want to overlook the power of an appointment scheduling tool, such as Calendly.

The nice thing about this tool is that it can be used to schedule anything and everything. From sales calls to sales meetings, from interviews to demos, it has all of the features that you require.

Calendly has several high-level competitors, but this solution remains my favorite, because of its ease of use for a variety of sales reps.

It all starts with setting your availability preferences. This shows others when you’re available to meet.

From there, all that you have to do is to share your personal link with your contacts or the prospective decision-maker.

For example, if you want to give somebody a sales demo, you can send them your link and ask that they select a time that works for them. This goes a long way in avoiding the traditional “back and forth,” often associated with scheduling a meeting.

One last thing worth noting is the team scheduling feature. With this, your team’s availability can be viewed from one page.

In addition to a free 14-day trial, there is a no-cost package that provides basic features.

With no money out of your pocket and a variety of high-level features, you should look into using Calendly. It will save you and your sales reps time in the sales process.

 

7. Zoom

Do you remember the days of meeting with prospects in person to conduct demos?

If you want to leave this experience in the past, at least to a certain degree, you should become familiar with Zoom.

There are many video and web conferencing services to compare, but through my experience Zoom is one of the best digital marketing sales tools.

With more than 461,000+ customers, you know you’ll be in good hands if you rely on Zoom for your remote conferencing needs.

If that’s not enough to convince you, let’s examine some of its many features:

• Ability to host a meeting with or without video, or with screen share only.
• Mobile screen sharing for iPhone and iPad, making it easy to conduct meetings on the go.
• Webinar capabilities.
• Easy to share a meeting with one or more contact.
• Group collaboration.

On this page, Zoom lays out its many cloud video conferencing features, all of which you’ll enjoy. Some of my favorites include:

• HD video and voice
• dynamic voice detection
• full screen and gallery view

Another key feature is the ease with which the other party can join a meeting. Once you create a meeting, it’s as simple as inviting the other person. He or she can then access the event by entering the Meeting ID or Personal Link Name.

The process is simple and the technology is advanced. That’s what makes Zoom a top dog in the video and web conferencing space.

 

8. ClinchPad

Do you find yourself struggling to use your CRM software? Have you turned to a more simplified solution, such as a spreadsheet?

When the sales process is on your mind, the last thing that you need is trouble with your CRM solution.

ClinchPad is an online CRM, built for small teams that crave big results.

Not only is it easier to use than a traditional CRM, but it’s more advanced than a spreadsheet. Lying somewhere in between, many sales professionals find that it has all of the features they need, without overdoing it.

It’s hard to pinpoint one feature as being my favorite, but the Sales Dashboard is on par with the best that the CRM industry has to offer for sales professionals.

With all of the necessary data in one place, you’ll find that the Sales Dashboard feature saves you tons of time, while also helping you to stay up to speed with the sales cycle.

From prospects at the beginning of the cycle to deals that are about to close, everything that you need is right in front of you. And, best yet, you don’t have to jump from screen to screen to stay informed.

You can create a free account to get started. From there, if you like what you see, paid accounts start at $9/month.

 

9. Proposify

What is your current process for creating sales proposals?

Believe it or not, many companies are still using Microsoft Word, or a similar solution, to create proposals.

Even if this has worked for you in the past, you should consider a change. A switch to Proposify, or a similar solution, could do wonders for your close rate.

With this software, you can share beautifully created proposals with prospects in the cloud. In turn, you hope to close more deals in a more time-efficient manner.

Here are some of the many features that I like:

• Access to a variety of professionally designed templates.
• Drag and drop library for ease of management.
• Access to an online preview tool.
• Use of electronic signatures.
• The ability to track everything, knowing exactly where things stand in the sales pipeline.

The last feature is one of my favorites, as I always like to know what’s going on with a proposal.

You’ll gain access to metrics, such as how many proposals you’ve created, how many you’ve closed, and your overall close rate.

If the lack of proposal software is holding your business back, let Proposify step in and be your guide. With a free trial and pricing starting at $25/month, it’s an affordable solution that can help boost your bottom line.

 

10. SalesLoft

Much the same as HubSpot, SalesLoft offers many tools to sales professionals and business owners.

In an overall sense, this tool is built to help you “increase qualified demos & appointments.”

While this sounds good, you need to learn more about its many options, to see what best fits your business.

Some of the features include:

• sales conversations
• deal forecasting
• analytics and reporting
• dialer and messenger
• cadence and automation

Thanks to a large selection of features, SalesLoft is one of the more advanced tools for a sales team on this list. However, even if you’re only going to use one of its products, there’s a good chance that it can do wonders for your sales strategy.

 

Sales Tools FAQ

 

Conclusion

Just as there are many marketing tools that can help you reach your goals, the 10 sales solutions in this blog post will have you on a better path in the months to come.

As you know, the sales process is full of challenges. If you want to achieve more success than your competitors, take advantage of every tool and solution that is available to you.

Do you have experience with any of these sales tools? Would you add any others to the list?

Source: neilpatel.com

DataOps Solutions: Software, Tools, and Alternatives

Data is changing the way we do business. The amount of information available to us as business owners and that we should be processing and using to our advantage is staggering.

The amount of digital data, made and distributed, is 79 zettabytes. A zettabyte is one sextillion bytes. It’s a lot. By 2025, that number may skyrocket to 181 zettabytes.

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

We call it big data, but even small data is coming at us faster and faster.

It’s what they do with data that matters. It doesn’t mean much unless it’s leveraged.

Data can provide invaluable insights into everything from demographics to customer behavior, even future sales forecasting and more.

It can be an unparalleled resource for you as you make decisions moving forward with your business.

Furthermore, data can come in real-time, allowing you to make on-the-fly decisions and pivots to respond to the market and capture live opportunities.

Again, none of this matters if your data is out of data or too hard to access. That’s where DataOps comes in.

 

What Is DataOps?

DataOps is a relatively new term that encompasses a wide range of tools to solve the problems of what to do with data coming in and how to make it pertinent to those who need it.

When you’re working with a batch of data, there are a few things that need to happen to make it relevant:

• It needs to be organized in ways that make sense: This means pulling in the relevant data and weeding out unnecessary information.
• It needs to be analyzed: How does it compare to the past data or concurrent data?
• It needs to be interpreted: What do all those numbers mean for your brand? What should you do in reaction? How can you be proactive knowing this data?

All those things need to happen quickly. Then it needs to continue happening as more data comes in. The cycle needs to continue at speed.

DataOps are the architectures and software developed to do all of this at scale, in an agile, responsive manner.

 

How to Implement DataOps

Whether you go with a DataOps tool or build something in-house to address your needs, there are a few steps you should take to ensure smooth and effective processes.

1. Use Automated Testing

To rely on your data and the DataOps that are delivering and activating processes, you need to know you can trust the information.Run automated tests through the programs to look for bugs and ensure that data is coming through as you expect it to. This step is about making sure the actual tools are working properly.

 

2. Perform Data Monitoring

In addition to automated testing, you’re going to want to conduct data monitoring. Here you will be checking in on the quality of the data being processed.

This goes back to your goals. What are you trying to measure? Use your standards for what qualifies as “good data” and check in regularly.

Ensure your processes gather and analyze “good data” and not be tainted by irrelevant or inaccurate information. These regular check-ins improve confidence in the system.

 

3. Work in Multiple Environments

Just as in DevOps, DataOps should occur in various environments or spaces.

Think of these as levels where you can experiment and test your DataOps.

You’ll want environments for developing DataOps, for testing and analyzing, and for going live.

Keeping these separate gives you the freedom to develop new workflows or ideas in a staging environment before moving to a live one.

This prevents your data from becoming skewed by bad development or bugs. You can work them out in an earlier environment.

This also allows your team to work concurrently in the early stages of development and idea testing through bug testing, all before you go live.

Your team can also work on various ideas concurrently without crossing streams or backtracking, potentially messing up one another’s projects.

 

4. Containerize Code

A fundamental purpose of DataOps is to stay agile. Containerizing your code keeps it streamlined and simple.

Containerizing means packaging is simple, reusable bits of code so that it can be used across platforms or languages.

It also means that it can be repurposed or tweaked slightly and rerun for another project. This keeps the whole operation agile, allowing you to act quickly with updates and new launches as you continue to hone your data operations.

 

5. Perform Regression Testing

As you’re moving forward with DataOps, regression testing is critical.

With each new update and new operation you are utilizing, you’ll want to ensure new problems aren’t introduced and old problems aren’t reintroduced.

Regression testing runs a program through its spaces to ensure that it’s still working properly with the new changes.

If any bugs do crop up, you can step back to the previous version, ensure that it’s running properly, and then take the update back to development before introducing it again.

 

5 DataOps Tool Examples

As DataOps evolves, many programs and tools are being developed to support this approach to data analytics and processing.

The software you pursue will depend on your goals, the amount of data you are dealing with, and other tasks or tools you need to integrate. Some of the options listed here may be bulkier than you need.

Before purchasing, read up on the features offered and how it works with tools you are already using to determine whether this is the right option for you.

You should know that while all of these promise a certain level of ease and approachability, they do start from a place of general knowledge and confidence with data software and API integration.

You may want to turn to your web development team for support here. Some software developers listed here also offer in-house support and consultations that can help get your DataOps off the ground.

 

1. Fraxses

Fraxses promises to help brands who have access to lots of data but need help with integrating that data in ways that actually work for them.

In a video example on their homepage, a retail brand was getting lots of great data but didn’t have a way to access and integrate data directly from their customers that they could integrate in real-time on a single platform or dashboard.

Fraxses offers these kinds of solutions in the agile formatting required by DataOps. For example, the tool:

doesn’t rely on a single language but can be written in whatever you need is decentralized is low code or no code can be democratized

Fraxses describes itself as a mesh or fabric you can lay over your existing data structures and platforms to pull together and interconnect the information you need.

 

2. RightData

RightData describes DataOps as DevOps plus analytics. They offer brands DevOps level of support for their analytics and data management, with the constraints of DataOps, which includes:

an agile approach continuous delivery of data quick-release times or sprints

RightData is a DevOps integration to support data and analytics management in your brand. Their promise is that they can keep up with the testing and monitoring part of the cycle after you’ve developed a system.

This keeps your DataOps rolling forward and working seamlessly and quickly.

RightData also focuses on customer privacy and security, which is a key component of DataOps.

Data breaches can cause an instant stop to your DataOps continuous processing and clog up the whole system. Maintaining security is key to moving forward in confidence.

Companies who want to learn more about working with the RightData DataOps tool can contact them directly for a demo and quote.

 

3. MLflow

MLflow stands for Machine Learning flow and it is a cloud-based platform on which you can run DataOps.It’s an open-source platform, that can work on any language or with any coding.

MLflow can be used by a single user or an entire company with many users.

It was created to solve the problem of too many data analytics tools making it too hard to move through a DataOps cycle with agility and continuity.

DataOps relies on seamless reproduction to move ahead in quick sprints, not marathons of time waiting for data to be crunched while it grows irrelevant.

MLflow brings a solution to the community that brands are welcome to try, develop, and work together to make better.

If you’re into this kind of tinkering, you may want to explore MLflow.

 

4. K2View

K2View brings all the DataOps solutions that a brand needs under one roof so you don’t have to think about integrating this and that or whether your DIY DataOps fabric is covering all the bases.

Its premise is simple. They promise an all-in-one DataOps solution that brings you all the benefits including:

• a single dashboard to monitor and digest all the information you need, whenever you need it
• full, in-depth information on any product, customer, location or area, demographic, and more data that is up-to-the-minute and relevant, rather than lagging or growing old
• continuous delivery of data
• an adaptable and flexible framework that reacts to the data coming insecurity support

The various integrations also ensure that anyone at your company who needs access to the data gets the interpolated and real-time information they need, from marketing to point of sales, from management to the floor.

You can contact K2View for a quote and can also check out a Proof of Concept for free for two weeks.

 

5. Tengu

Tengu is another DataOps platform available to you as a brand owner. Also low or no code, Tengu promises to be an approachable, off-the-shelf option for someone looking to start working with a DataOps solution.

It can be used in the cloud for remote or spread out teams or directly at a single physical location if you want something more secure.

Not wanting a lack of knowledge to be a limiting factor, Tengu is built around self-service so users can get access to the features you need, and you can set it up with little technical experience.

They also boast that they are more than just the technology they deliver. They support their customers with consulting on how they can be better using their data and what kinds of systems will help them do that.

Those interested in Tengu can contact them directly to learn more about Tengu’s pricing levels and various consulting services.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About DataOps

 

Guide to DataOps: Conclusion

Data is critical to our sales and marketing cycles. While there are plenty of great data analysis software options, sometimes you need that information coming in faster.

With speed comes the need for efficiency, accuracy, and security.

DataOps is the answer, in flexible and agile environments, constantly dripping in reliable data your brand can use to build better sales processes, respond to customer needs and wants, and hit your goals with more efficiency.

Which DataOps tool are you going to try first?

Source: feedproxy.google.com

6 MarTech Trends in 2021 and Beyond

Are you hoping to identify MarTech trends that can help your campaigns be more effective and run more smoothly?

As our marketing capabilities evolve, so do the tools we use to measure our successes and how we achieve that success.

In this blog, we unpack the six biggest MarTech trends looming over the marketing industry and how you can use them to your advantage.

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

 

What Is MarTech?

Marketing technology, or MarTech, as it is more commonly known, refers to software and platforms that help individuals or organizations achieve marketing goals.

This term is very inclusive, covering everything from email templates to data analytics.

While every individual, agency, or company has unique MarTech needs, the constantly-growing field is making great leaps to fill any open niche.

Over the past twenty years, the field has seen truly exponential growth.

Today, being a marketer doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be incredibly tech-savvy, but it does mean that you need to understand the benefits of tools that can improve your strategy and help you reach your goals.

Your competitors are likely using MarTech to help their campaigns succeed.

If you’re not looking toward how you can automate, optimize, and ideate your campaigns through MarTech, it’s time to start.

 

Examples of MarTech

As we mentioned above, MarTech is a very wide umbrella.

However, some forms of MarTech are more common than others.

These include:

Email Marketing

With more than 50 percent of survey respondents copping to checking their email in excess of ten times a day, it’s no wonder that email marketing is an easy way to try to reach your target audience.

While the operative word in that sentence was try, marketing automation tools can get you that much closer to your goals.

To reach them, you need tools and platforms that not only disseminate your emails but provide in-depth analytics that gives you a real-time view of reader practices and interactions.

As email marketing continues to grow and evolve, the demand for personalization in this medium will also continue to grow.

Marketers should use automation and AI to deploy targeted emails engineered to attract a particular audience segment.

To achieve successful personalization, use data to assess customer habits and preferences for each audience segment and then craft corresponding templates.

Then your MarTech tool can do the rest.

 

Content Management

While managing your website content used to be a time-consuming, exhaustive process that took hours of coding, new marketing technology has automated cumbersome processes, allowing marketers to dedicate time to other important pursuits.

Content management systems (CMS) have evolved over the years, now equipped with the capabilities to develop the following kinds of websites (along with many others):

• social networking
• blogging platform
• static website
• news
• online store

Predicted to achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.7 percent, as CMS capabilities grow, so will collaboration and planning tools that unite workflows to allow complete management of content from creative to back-end development.

 

Data Analytics

Today, marketers can harness the power of data analytics to gain an understanding of customer preferences and behaviors—including how they shop, where they spend their time, and how they discover new offerings—as well as market trends.

MarTech tools that allow marketers to dive deep into these data sets are invaluable, as they provide never-before-seen maps of how consumers operate online.

By tracking online behaviors, marketers gain a deeper understanding of their customers.

As MarTech data tools become even more intuitive, marketers will have even more visibility of customer journeys, following them from initial interest to final purchase.

These insights will be captured through cookies and CTR, among other trackers.

As the tools become more refined, so will understanding of consumer behavior, allowing marketers to readjust their strategies.

 

6 MarTech Trends

To help you decide which MarTech offerings you want to add to your stack, we broke down the six biggest trends that are likely to impact both the MarTech world and the marketing world well beyond this year.

1. Increased Spending on Analytics

If you’re tempted to bypass adding an intuitive analytics tool to your MarTech stack, don’t.

These tools can help you gain a better understanding of nearly every aspect of your marketing campaigns, from buyer behaviors to conversion rates.

In fact, researchers expect marketing analytics budgets to grow by 61 percent over the next three years.

That’s huge.

You don’t want to miss out on getting in early on a tool that can quite literally change the way you see your business.

Some of the many benefits of marketing analytics tools include:

• viewing real-time, comprehensive outcomes of marketing efforts across channels
• improving lead generation through actionable insights
• gaining insights into customer behavior and preferences
• using predictive analytics to enable your business to be proactive rather than reactive

 

2. Higher Emphasis on Personalization

We nodded a bit toward the importance and growing prevalence of personalization in marketing campaigns.

In short, this strategy means delivering individualized content to audience members.

This personalized route builds a connection with consumers, treating them as individuals rather than a mass market.

Some common (and growing) opportunities for personalization include:

• targeted emails
• custom video messages
• product recommendations
• social media

In the coming years, this prevalence will only grow, and marketers who don’t use tools to aid them in personalization will fall behind.

In fact, 99 percent of marketers claim personalization helps advance customer relationships, and 44 percent of consumers say they would be willing to switch to a brand that better personalized its marketing material.

If you’re not taking advantage of learning more about your would-be customers through tools and data, you’re missing out—not only on reaching customers more strategically but also on building relationships.

 

3. Transition Away From Third-Party Cookies

If you’re an advertiser or marketer who has relied heavily on third-party cookies, you may be in for a bit of a shock.

In 2020, Google announced its plan to phase out third-party cookies within two years.

With Google Chrome composing almost 65 percent of the web browsing market according to StatCounter’s data below, this move will have a dramatic impact on how marketers gather data.

If in the past, you relied on information from cookies to gain an understanding of consumer behavior and identity, you’re going to need to recalibrate your strategy.

Recently, Adobe found two in five brands are not prepared to transition away from cookies, indicating businesses do not have a strategy for gathering consumer data post-cookie.

After the transition is final, marketers will no longer be able to capture individual consumer data.

To prepare for this future, digital marketers must align with the trend of personalization to reach and understand their intended consumers.

 

4. Higher Need for Data Privacy and Security

If you’ve been keeping an eye on the news, you know that data breaches are on the rise.

The United States alone has seen data breaches grow from 660 annually to over a thousand within the past decade, according to Statista.

If you think this number doesn’t apply to you, think again.

Your website and consumer data are among your business’ most valuable assets.

You need to protect them from malicious attacks at all costs.

 

5. Increased Importance of Campaign Automation Tools

Marketing automation can make every aspect of your marketing campaign easy.

By using these tools, you reduce time spent, error, and unnecessary cost.

We’re not the only ones who think this way: The marketing automation market is primed to grow 8.55 percent annually, with 51 percent of companies already taking advantage of these tools.

• Time-saving: With tools that automate time-consuming processes like project management, all members of your team will rejoice in the sheer amount of time they can reclaim after implementing these tools.
• More effective spend: By pinpointing processes that devour valuable time and treating them with automation software, you can use your budget much more effectively, saving both time and money.
• Scalability: MarTech automation tools scale with you.

If you’ve got a big vision for your organization, these tools fit your business needs for today and tomorrow.

• Concrete measures of success: We’ve talked about the importance of data and metrics a lot in this article.

All MarTech automation tools come with data insights that allow you to track everything from productivity to campaign spend.

As you assess your organization’s needs, look at how marketing automation tools simplify your processes and streamline campaign creation.

The benefits of marketing analytics tools include:

 

6. Growing Importance of Direct Mail

Thought direct mail was dead?

Think again: Forty-two percent of direct mail recipients engage with your send either through reading or scanning.

Further, 73 percent of Americans prefer direct mail marketing, as it allows them to read the piece at their leisure rather than forcing immediate consumption.

This year and beyond, you should reassess your organization’s direct mail strategy to see if there are new (or overlooked) avenues for you to contact your prospects directly through their physical mailbox, according to Who’s Mailing What:

Outside of the above statistics, benefits of direct mail include:

• opportunities for personalization
• builds familiarity and trust
• easy to track
• complements your digital campaign
• cost-effective

 

MarTech Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

 

 

MarTech 2021 Trends: Conclusion

As marketing needs and customer predilections continue to change, so will the tools we use to meet them.

However, the six marketing trends outlined in this post are here to stay.

To help your organization grow with these MarTech trends, be sure to invest in software that can help you achieve all of your marketing goals.

Tools are meant to be used—be sure you’re taking advantage of them to outmaneuver your competitors.

What’s your prediction for the biggest marketing trend in 2021 and beyond?

Source: feedproxy.google.com

9 AI Tools For Media Creation

 

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools for media let you create content at scale in a previously impossible way and you don’t even need design experience to create something impressive.

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

AI isn’t new.

The film and gaming industries both use it regularly, for instance.

But, these sectors have only scratched the surface of AI capabilities.

On a seemingly daily basis, new AI tools emerge to help people create articles, video scripts, logos, and more.

Naturally, these tools have investors excited.

However, they’ve plenty to offer to content creators, marketers, and digital agencies too.

Let’s look at how some of these AI tools for media can transform the way you work.

 

1. Podcastle

Podcastle, which has raised more than $1 million, is an extension for the Google Chrome browser. This free tool lets you create custom podcasts with just a few clicks.

With Podcastle, you can:

• quickly transcribe your podcasts
• create and edit content with the text editors
• turn text into podcasts
• revoice content
• record live interviews
• make autosave
• access unlimited content publishing and projects

 

Getting Started with Podcastle

Set up a Podcastle account by clicking on the green “create” link in the top right-hand corner.

Depending on what you want to do next, visit the tutorials page for step-by-step instructions.

 

Podcastle Cost

Podcastle’s free service gives you access to:

• 45 minutes of one-time audio recordings
• four hours of monthly audio recordings
• capacity for one host and two interviewees
• magic audio processing

 

And more.

There’s also a “storyteller” package for $11.99 a month. The storyteller has all the above features, plus:

• additional recordings and interviewing capacity10 hours of transcription every month
• high-quality downloads and revoicing
• unlimited magic audio processing

 

2. Let’s Enhance

Let’s Enhance takes any photo you upload and analyzes the photo quality, color, contrast, etc. Then, if the picture needs enhancement, it automatically color corrects and retouches the image with minimum input.

Other features include:

• batch processing
• custom sizing
• resolution increasing
• resizing and upscaling

 

This program isn’t just for personal use.

Let’s Enhance is also recommended for real estate and e-commerce, where you need clear, high-quality images.

 

Getting Started With Let’s Enhance

Upload an image to Let’s Enhance, and the algorithm enhances it as much as possible without compromising quality.

The algorithm provides a slider for tweaking parameters like contrast, hue, brightness, and saturation.

You can also apply additional filters.

 

Let’s Enhance Cost

Let’s Enhance has a subscription, business, and pay-as-you-go options.

Subscriptions for personal use run from $0 for a one-time, five-credit trial to $34 for 500 image credits per month.

Businesses can pay from $72 for 1,000 credits per month to $290 for 5,000 credits per month, plus get API access.

Pay as you go options range from $9 to $39 and let you use the program only when you need it.

 

3. QuillBot

QuillBot is one of the few quality paraphrasing tools on the market.

This comes in handy when you want to avoid being repetitive when writing long pieces.

It may also help you rework product descriptions.

The program has two main modes: one with synonyms and one without.

The first preserves the original sentence’s meaning while only changing certain words.

The second mode alters the word order so the sentence sounds more natural.

Other features include:

• grammar checker
• summarized
• citation generator

 

Getting Started With QuillBot

Upload or paste a document into QuillBot, then hit the “Paraphrase” button.

There’s nothing more to it! (However, be sure to proofread, just to be safe.)

 

QuillBot Cost

The free version gives users a 700 character paraphraser and a 5,000 character summarization limit. Free users also get:

• three synonym options
• three writing modes
• Chrome and doc extensions

 

Premium gives a 25,000 Summarizer and 10,000 Paraphraser character limit and processes 15 sentences simultaneously, as well as:

• four synonym options
• seven writing modes
• a wider range of tones
• sentence shortener and expander

Premium costs $14.95 for month-to-month use, $9.95 a month if paid semi-annually, or $6.67 per month for the annual option.

 

4. KinetiX

Investors believe in Europe-based KinetiX, which recently secured $608k in capital funding.

It turns your videos into 3D animations with quick editing options and filters.

Other features include:

• customization and collaboration
• prototyping
• 3D visualization
• access to characters and animations
• automated workflow

 

Getting Started With KinetiX

KinetiX uses a drag-and-drop interface available on the front page.

Just drop in any .fbx file or paste in a YouTube URL and click the “generate” button underneath.

You can upload a selection of video content, like your own recordings, MP4, and YouTube content.

The tool then creates an animated character in seconds.

 

KinetiX Cost

The KinetiX tech AI tool is free for personal use.

However, if you want to use it for commercial purposes, fees begin at 15€ per month.

 

5. Articoolo

Articoolo is an AI writing assistant that generates content in a fraction of the time it would take to write it yourself.

Additionally, it has a

• quote and image finder
• title generator
• article summarizer
• writer’s helper

 

Most marketers and business owners need content in a hurry at some point, or you may spend time looking for that perfect quote or image.

This AI app can do that quickly.

It’s also great for anyone that wants a starting point with title ideas or to rewrite large volumes of content for repurposing.

 

Getting Started With Articoolo

To start using the tool, enter your topic and then wait for Articoolo to get to work.

That’s all you need to do!

 

Articoolo Cost

Pay per use ranges from $19 for ten articles or $99 for 100 articles.

Subscribers pay $29 a month for 30 pieces and up to $99 a month for 250 articles.

 

6. Word.ai

Word.ai helps copywriters rework content with a natural-sounding voice.

It creates up to 1,000 rewrites of an article, giving users plenty of variety if they want to use the same piece of content in multiple ways.

It can also work as an editing tool.

Other features include:

• sentence restructuring
• split sentences
• quality enhancement
• clarity enhancement

 

Getting Started With Word.ai

1. Click the green button in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
2. The button will take you to the subscription deals.
3. Click the “start my free trial” button for your preferred option.
4. Then Word.ai asks you to sign up and create a password.

 

Word.ai Cost

New users get a free three-day trial. After that, you can pay $57 per month or an annual fee that breaks down to $27 per month (quite the deal in comparison!).

For heavy use, they offer an enterprise-level at various prices.

 

7. Synthesia

If you need to create video content in a hurry, Synthesia could be the tool.

Each video can be up to thirty minutes long, and you can upload any custom backgrounds and your own avatar.

Features include:

• 50 available languages
• PowerPoint capabilities
• synthetic or authentic voices
• background music

 

Aside from marketing videos or product demos, you could use it for:

• training
• personal videos
• video chatbots

 

Getting Started With Synthesia

Click “create account” in the top right-hand corner to create a free demo video and understand Synthesia better.

To start creating your content, enter your text into the browser.

Your video will be ready in minutes.

 

Synthesia Cost

Personal pricing is $30 a month for video credits.

Custom pricing is available too, but you must speak to the sales team.

 

8. Rephrase.ai

Rephrase.ai is a powerful video creation tool that enables people to quickly create and share quality videos in a matter of minutes.

You can add text, images, animations, and video clips within the easy-to-use interface.

It has wide use of applications, including educational and explainer videos, personalized customer touchpoints, digital marketing, and outreach.

To understand how the video creator works, they offer a handy tutorial.

 

Getting Started With Rephrase.ai

1. Begin by signing up and selecting the category you’re interested in.
2. Answer a series of questions about how and why you plan to use the program.
3. Watch a short instructional video, then accept terms and conditions.

 

Rephrase.ai Cost

Plans begin at $25 for ten banner credits a month.

Each credit equals one minute of video. Rephrase.ai also has an enterprise option—contact them for details.

 

9.Designs.ai

Designs.ai incorporates several AI tools for media creation, including a logo and banner maker and a mock-up generator.

You create designs by dragging shapes on the canvas, which you then adjust with your mouse or keyboard input.

You also have the option of changing variables for fonts, colors, and backgrounds.

Features include:

• cloud storage
• massive image library
• speechmaker
• assistive tools
• unlimited usage and projects
• branding kit

 

Getting Started With Designs.ai

Click “Try for free” in the upper right-hand corner, choose which project you want to try out, and follow the prompts to get started.

 

Designs.ai Cost

Design.ai’s basic tier is $29 per month, and its pro-level is currently $69 per month.

If you pay annually, you save 34 percent.

For large-scale work, contact them about an enterprise contract.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About AI Tools for Media Creation

 

 

 

 

AI Tools for Media Creation Conclusion

For a long time, artificial intelligence has helped us perform everyday tasks more quickly and efficiently.

Now, AI became more intelligent, creating media like articles and videos.

With these tools, a marketer can create quality content with ease, even if they don’t have expertise in making videos, creating podcasts, or graphic design.

Even for the experienced, AI tools for media have multiple advantages, saving people time and freeing up their resources for other tasks.

Tools like Rephrase.Ai, Word.AI, and KinetiX are changing how we create content and make it

Source: neilpatel.com

Best Employee Scheduling Software

It’s no fun being shorthanded or overstaffed.

For a small business, a single absence can turn a morning upside down.

For large businesses with multiple locations, staying organized is even harder.

Employee scheduling software makes it so much easier for managers to staff appropriately.

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

They can create a schedule in minutes, update it on the fly, and switch people around as need be.

Plus, your team will appreciate a schedule that’s always up-to-date and accessible from any device.

Cut down on miscommunications with everyone looking at the same schedule no matter where they are.

 

Which employee scheduling software is the best?

You’ll find in-depth reviews of each of my top picks below, followed by a short guide to help you find the best tool for your workplace.

#1 – Homebase Review — The Best Employee Scheduling Software For Small Businesses

Homebase is an employee scheduling tool designed with small businesses in mind.

It’s versatile enough to accommodate scheduling needs across a wide range of industries, including retail, health and beauty, service businesses, and restaurants.

More than 100,000 businesses rely on Homebase, and not all of them pay for it.

I’m serious. Homebase has a freemium business model.

If you need advanced features, you can look at one of the paid plans.

But if all you need just need a scheduling system,

Homebase more than has you covered.

You get a beautiful interface that employees and managers can access 24/7.

The calendar updates in real-time, so everyone is on the same page.

With Homebase, you’ll benefit from top features and functionality like:

• Simple scheduling templates that can be edited on the fly
• Easy schedule sharing with your entire team
• Ability to forecast your labor costs
• Employees can access real-time schedule updates from the mobile app
• Track employee availability, time-off requests, and approvals
• Automatically remind your staff about upcoming shifts
• Manage shift trading from anywhere
• Calculate overtime and get alerts about scheduling conflicts

In addition to these robust scheduling features, Homebase is an all-in-one solution for time clocks, hiring, onboarding, team communication, HR, and compliance.

You can also improve your labor forecasts by integrating your sales data from POS systems like Square, Clover, Shopify, Upserve, Revel, Lightspeed, and more.

Popular payroll software, like Paychex and Gusto, is also integrated with Homebase.

For hourly workers, having a schedule tied into payroll is going to save a ton of time.

The free version of Homebase works for an unlimited number of employees.

You don’t get every feature, but you do get scheduling, time tracking, team messaging, and the payroll & POS integrations.

To get the most out of the software, you can upgrade to a paid plan, starting at $14 per month per location. Learn more and sign up now.

 

#2 – Sage HR Review — The Best All-in-One HR Solution

Sage HR (formerly CakeHR) is a complete HR software.

Within this all-in-one HR solution, you’ll find robust tools for shift scheduling.

Overall, Sage HR is a great choice for any business that wants to automate its human resources tasks, in addition to improving its scheduling process.

Other noteworthy standouts of the employee scheduling features include:

• Interactive shift planning with an easy-to-use interface
• Compatible for single sites and multiple locations
• Easy to split up schedules into groups and departments with multiple shift managers
• Employee-self service tools with the ability to add preferred times and unavailable times
• Drag-and-drop shift management
• Daily, weekly, and monthly reportsComplete data exports

Aside from the scheduling tools, you’ll also benefit from features related to leaving management, timesheets, recruitment, performance management, employee records, and other HR essentials.

Sage HR starts at $8.50 per month for core HR and shift scheduling.

Additional modules cost extra.

The software is easy to set up, and you can try it free for 14 days.

 

#3 – Deputy Review — The Best For Time and Attendance Management

Deputy is one of the most popular employee scheduling tools on the market today.

It’s trusted by 200,000+ brands across the globe, including big names like Nike, Amazon, HubSpot, and Peloton.

I like Deputy because it’s feature-rich, but also has simple and straightforward pricing.

You can bundle employee scheduling with time tracking software for just $4 per user per month.

Alternatively, each of these functions can be purchased separately for $2.50 per user.

Here’s a quick look at some of the other top features and benefits that you’ll get from this software:

• Easy to fill open shifts based on staff availability, qualifications, and costInstantly share schedules with your team Real-time labor costing data
• Auto-scheduling capabilities using AIBreak planning and rest compliance
• Manage schedules from anywhere with the iOS and Android apps
• Request, approve and track PTOAutomate wage calculations
• Collect timesheets and export them to payroll with a single click
• View who’s currently on shift, taking or a break, or late in real-time

Any business that wants a simple way to manage employee scheduling and time tracking from a single solution will definitely benefit from Deputy.

Try it free for 31 days; no credit card required.

 

#4 – ShiftNote Review — The The Simplest Employee Scheduling Software

ShiftNote is one of the most straightforward employee scheduling tools on the market today.

It’s trusted by 75,000+ users across a wide range of different industries.

I like ShiftNote because they have industry-specific solutions for categories like restaurants, hotels, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and breweries.

Here are some of the top reasons why ShiftNote ranks so high on my list:

• The free mobile app, free team messaging, and free customer support
• Employees can update their availability and swap shifts
• Scheduling templates so managers don’t have to build from scratch
• Free setups and one-on-one training
• Multi-location dashboard
• Time off request management
• Sales and labor forecasting tools
• Daily log reports

Overall, ShiftNote drastically improves the speed of your scheduling process while optimizing the efficiency of your schedules.

It’s a reliable way for your management team and staff to communicate from anywhere as well.

It’s worth noting that ShiftNote lacks some of the HR and time-tracking features offered by other tools on the market today.

But if you’re just looking for a straightforward scheduling solution, this should definitely be a top consideration.

You can try ShiftNote for free with a 30-day trial.

 

#5 – Shiftboard Review — The Best For Labor Cost Management

Shiftboard is another excellent workforce management solution designed for scheduling hourly employees.

It’s a feature-rich software with lots of different options to solve common business challenges associated with scheduling.

This includes things like labor cost management, employee retention, fatigue management, compliance, and more.

Shiftboard actually has two different scheduling tools—SchedulePro and ScheduleFlex.

The Pro version is designed for high compliance industries like corrections, oil and gas, and petrochemical.

The Flex version is built for organizations with changing scheduling needs, like healthcare, staffing, call centers, warehouse and distribution, public safety, and manufacturing.

Other noteworthy highlights of the Shiftboard software include:

• Real-time communication about schedule updates and newly available shifts
• Auto-fill shifts with call outs and no-shows
• Employees can confirm last-minute shift requests directly from the mobile app
• Employees can pick up extra shifts and trade shifts (with approval)
• Tailored fit schedules based on departments and locations
• Smart team groupings based on staff qualifications, certifications, and moreAccurate labor forecasting based on demand
• Avoid over/understaffingScheduling automation tools

60,000+ teams rely on Shiftboard for employee scheduling.

They even have additional features for applicant tracking and time clocks with geofencing.

Request a free demo today to get started.

 

#6 – HotSchedules by Fourth — Best Labor Management System For Restaurants and Hospitality

HotSchedules (now part of Fourth) is a complete workforce management solution built specifically for businesses in the restaurant and hospitality industries.

In addition to employee scheduling, HotSchedules has tools for applicant tracking, onboarding, time and attendance management, manager logbooks, and more.

They even have solutions for inventory management, HR, and payroll.

In terms of the employee scheduling features, here’s a closer look at the top benefits provided by HotSchedules:

• Simple drag-and-drop scheduling tool
• Ready-made scheduling templates
• Reduce scheduling errors, understaffing, and overages
• Limit unplanned overtime
• PTO management and employee availability
• Approve or deny shift requests from any device
• Quick access to your daily roster reports
• Compliance tools for meals, breaks, fair work weeks, and more

Depending on your needs, HotSchedules can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.

You can take advantage of just the employee scheduling tools, or build a robust and custom solution with lots of features and add-ons for your business.

Whichever option you choose, HotSchedules is definitely my top pick for restaurants and hospitality businesses.

Request your free demo to get started.

 

What I Looked at to Find the Best Employee Scheduling Software

Two restaurants in the same city might have completely different employee scheduling needs based on how they operate.

In other words, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution that’s going to work for every business or even business within the same industry.

Keep your daily operations at the front of your mind, and continually assess how each employee scheduling tool maps on to your actual needs.

Here are the key criteria you should use to evaluate the solutions available.

Number of Employees and Locations

A small coffee shop with six employees at a single location won’t have the same needs as a restaurant chain with 500 workers across a dozen sites.

Some software is built to scale, while others are intended for smaller businesses and single sites.

Think about the future of your business as you’re evaluating options as well. While you might only have 50 employees today, how many will you have in six months? 12 months? If you’re scaling rapidly, make sure the software you choose can accommodate your growth.

 

Time Tracking Functionality

Scheduling and time tracking go hand-in-hand for some businesses. Employees need to clock in, clock out, and record their time.

For other companies, time-tracking is less important. Employees are either present for their shift, or not. A simple attendance feature will be all you need.

If time tracking is a key part of how your employees show their work and get paid, I highly recommend getting employee scheduling software with that functionality built-in.

First of all, you don’t have to get a separate time tracking software that may have trouble integrating with your schedule.

This simplifies everything.

It’s even better if your employee scheduling software ties directly into your payroll service, as this will eliminate the process of entering times manually.

With time tracking, scheduling, and payroll all working together, there are going to be fewer mistakes that annoy employees and frustrate managers.

 

Flexible Access

The best employee scheduling software is usually offered as a web-based solution.

You want to make it easy for your staff to access their schedules from anywhere.

This isn’t possible with desktop software.

I also recommend looking for an employee scheduling solution that comes standard with a free mobile app.

Then your staff can essentially carry a schedule with real-time updates on them 24/7.

These apps are great for things like team communication features and push notifications with schedule changes or shift reminders.

Mobile and browser-based access to the schedule is a must if you have employees working remotely or in the field.

And even if everyone is in a single office or restaurant, chances are employees will appreciate the ability to check the schedule or send a message no matter where they are.

 

Industry-Specific Solutions

There are plenty of general-purpose employee scheduling tools on the market today.

But if you fall into certain categories, look for an industry-specific tool.

Restaurants and hospitality industries are two that come to mind.

Lots of software is geared towards these types of businesses because the scheduling needs are more involved in these cases.

If you have the opportunity to use software that’s designed specifically for your particular industry, I tend to lean in that direction as you’re making a final decision.

 

Additional Features and Extras

As I said before, lots of employee scheduling software does much more than just allow managers to post weekly schedules.

The best tools will also have shift swapping, employee self-service tools, HR features, labor cost management, leave management, attendance tracking, team messaging, overtime control, time clocks, etc.

Some extras are definitely more important to consider than others, depending on your business type and needs.

So keep a close on these various options as you’re shopping around.

 

Summary

What’s the best employee scheduling software?

The answer really depends on what you’re looking for.

But regardless of your needs, you can find the right option for your business based on my recommendations in this guide:

Best Employee Scheduling Software

1. Homebase – Best employee scheduling software for small businesses
2. Sage HR (formerly CakeHR) – Best all-in-one HR solution
3. Deputy – Best for time and attendance management
4. ShiftNote – The simplest employee scheduling software
5. Shiftboard – Best for labor cost management
6. HotSchedules by Fourth – Best labor management system for restaurants and hospitality

 

Just refer back to the methodology I described earlier to simplify the buying process. This will make it much easier to narrow down your options.

Source: feedproxy.google.com

25 Tools for Bootstrapped Companies

The good news is there’s plenty of free, freemium, or affordable digital tools you can use instead. These tools are often just as powerful as enterprise-level tools while helping you remain cash flow positive and maximize your runway.

You’ve heard the phrase to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, right? But what do we mean when we talk about bootstrapped tools?

Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps refers to succeed through your own efforts without relying on investments or help from anyone else. (Though the phrase’s meaning has shifted over time.)

Bootstrapped companies are those that grow through the dedication of their founders, rather than relying on cash flow from investors. Basecamp is a bootstrapped company, for instance. Apple isn’t.

Bootstrapped companies must focus relentlessly on sales, cash flow, and profit because they don’t have the luxury of VC investments to fall back on. They need to remain lean and keep costs to a minimum.

As a result, there’s no room in the budget for expensive enterprise tools. Luckily, there are a variety of bootstrapped tools that can help. Today I’m going to share with you some of my favorites.

What Are Bootstrapping Tools?

Before we dive into the tool suggestions, let’s talk about what bootstrapped tools are — and why the distinction matters.

Starting a business, even a bootstrapped one, is expensive. But you can’t build a great SaaS or e-Commerce company without the help of digital tools. Unfortunately, the best tools are often prohibitively expensive for companies on a tight budget.

The good news is there’s plenty of free, freemium, or affordable digital tools you can use instead. These tools are often just as powerful as enterprise-level tools while helping you remain cash flow positive and maximize your runway.

Planning and Project Management Bootstrapping Tools

If you’re serious about growing your startup, you’ll eventually need to put down the pen and paper to-do list and upgrade to a SaaS solution.

Wrike for Bootstrapped Companies

Wrike is a versatile and comprehensive project management tool, perfect for startups and businesses of all sizes. It has all of the features you’d expect from a SaaS project management tool, including Gantt charts, Kanban boards, briefs, and request forms.

Wrike also makes collaboration seamless with shared calendars, file sharing, and team reports time tracking.

Wrike is used by some of the world’s biggest companies, including Google, Airbnb, and Dell. It also integrates with over 400 other SaaS tools and software platforms like Salesforce, WordPress, Hubspot.

You won’t have to worry about the security of your data — enterprise-level security comes standard and everything syncs instantly to the cloud.

Wrike is free forever for up to five users. The professional version costs $9.80 per user per month for up to 15 users. If you need it, the business version costs $24.80 per user per month.

Other Bootstrap Project Management Tools:

Asana offers a robust project management package with features that vary by account level. Their free version includes unlimited tasks per team, projects in the board or list view, unlimited file storage, an activity log, and more.

Trello is a popular project management tool that offers a free basic version. Their free version offers 10 “boards” (project views) per team, unlimited “cards” (tasks), and 10MB per file attachment.

Paymo offers their lowest-cost plan for  $9.95 per user per month. With this plan, you can access features like task views, time tracking, project templates, and recurring tasks.

Microsoft Projects starts from $10 per user per month. It offers grid, board, and timeline view; co-authoring and communication on tasks; and project planning and scheduling.

Bootstrapping Tools to Create a Website

You can’t have a digital business without a website.

Even running an offline, local business can be challenging without a strong web presence. However, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on an expensive web design agency. It’s possible to build a website from scratch using an intuitive website builder.

Webflow for Bootstrapped Companies

One option is Webflow, which was labeled “the development platform of the future” by Smashing Magazine. It is a hugely capable website builder that lets anyone create visually stunning websites without a developer or designer’s help.

It comes with CMS and e-commerce capabilities, meaning you can turn the platform to any task or goal and integrates with tons of leading SaaS and web apps. Hosting is also built into the platform, so there’s no need to mess around with a separate hosting company.

It’s not just a platform for startups and solopreneurs, either. Webflow has built some pretty major websites, including Zendesk, Hellosign, and Dell.

You can use Webflow free forever, but you’ll want to play for a plan to get the most out of the platform. The basic plan costs $12 per month, and a CMS version costs $16 per month.

Other Bootstrap Website Builders

• Contact Contact is more well-known for email marketing, they also have a website builder that’s great for bootstrappers. You don’t need any SEO or developer experience to use it. Features include mobile responsive design, logo design, creating easy e-commerce websites so you can sell your products with minimal effort, and more. The Constant Contact website service is $10 per month.
• Squarespace helps customers create sleek and professional website design. You can also integrate some of your favorite SEO tools, have access to data analytics, and get help with your company blog. The cost of your account varies by which services you use. Squarespace offers monthly payments or a lump sum.
• HostGator costs only $3.84 per month for their cheapest package. For this plan, you have access to the website builder, a website hosting service, and 12 months of ownership of your domain name.
• WordPress is one of the most popular website builders. Their cheapest plan is $4 per month and includes free domain hosting for a year, no WordPress ads, and free email support.

SEO Tools for Bootstrappers

You need a strong SEO game, especially if you are a bootstrapped business that can’t afford to spend a lot on Facebook ads or other online advertising forms. But, you don’t need to pay a fortune for the right tools or even hire an SEO agency.

Ubersuggest for Bootstrapped Companies

My SEO tool, Ubersuggest, is perfect for anyone running a bootstrapped company because it’s free. Even better, it gives you all of the insight and advice you need to optimize the heck out of your pages.

You’ll get an overview of your domain and its strengths and weaknesses, a report of the top pages ranking in your niche and how to beat them, keyword suggestions with accurate search volumes, backlink data, content ideas, and so much more.

Even the tool’s premium version is cost-effective, starting from as little as $29 per month.

Other SEO Tools for Bootstrappers

• Moz: The free version of Moz has robust services such as keyword research, a link explorer, and domain analysis. It offers a pro version and a local version.
• Screaming Frog: Screaming frog’s free website crawler alerts you to technical SEO problems like broken links, metadata issues, and discovering exact duplicate content on pages.
• AnswerthePublic: AnswerthePublic is a tool that identifies content topic opportunities based on what people are searching for.

Each tool provides similar data and insight, but you’ll find these slightly more expensive than Ubersuggest. Moz, Ahrefs, and Semrush all start from $99 per month, for instance.

Bootstrapping Tools for Design, Stock Images, and Prototyping

Whether it’s a beautiful header image for your blog, great looking stock photos, or a banner for your new Facebook ad, having access to a designer is invaluable. It is also prohibitively expensive for most bootstrapped companies.

The good news is, you don’t need to outsource design to an agency or hire a full-time designer. Instead, use the following tools to create the designs you need.

ZeBrand for Bootstrapped Companies

While there are many free or cheap design tools out there, very few bring everything you need together in one place like ZeBrand. With ZeBrand, you can create logos, fonts, color palettes, inspiration boards, and whatever else you need.

There’s a massive library of high-quality photographs to use for free, too. The platform even provides Brand Coaches, on-hand experts who will help you create and execute your brand strategy.

The starter version of ZeBrand is available for free. The premium version is significantly more expensive at $399 per quarter, including brand coaching sessions.

Other Design Tools for Bootstrappers

• Canva: Canva is known for its design prowess. The free version has a robust collection of templates for users to choose from. With the paid version, you have access to designers, premium custom templates, premium fonts, and a background remover.
• Dribbble: Cribble’s primary goal is to connect users with graphic designers or creatives. Users are able to hire freelancers directly from their website.
• Crowdspring: In addition to designing logos and web pages, Crowdspring also offers a service that helps users find unique business names.
• Design Pickle: Design Pickle provides graphic design services on demand. Their work quality is great, but you’ll pay for it. Design Pickle is a pricey $499 per month.

Automated Email Software Tools for Bootstrappers

Are you still sending out email campaigns manually? Are new subscribers automatically added to your welcome email flow? Automating your email marketing can save a lot of time, but it can also make your business a heck of a lot more profitable.

Squeezing as much value as possible from your email list is essential if you’re bootstrapping. You don’t need to waste your money on expensive enterprise platforms, however.

HubSpot for Bootstrapped Companies

HubSpot is a freemium marketing automation platform perfect for every business, from a one-person startup to a 300-employee company.

Creating and optimizing automated email campaigns is easy once you get the platform set up — and you’ll be able to do it all by yourself. Personalization is included to easily create specific email marketing waterfalls for different types of users.

You can also A/B test your campaigns to improve open and conversion rates.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the HubSpot platform, however. You can also build landing pages to capture more email addresses, gate content that already exists on your site, and get a full picture of how every lead came into your CRM.

HubSpot costs just $45 per month for up to 100 contacts.

Other Automated Email Software for Bootstrappers

If you’re not a fan of HubSpot, consider:

• Marketo: Marketo has a wide range of marketing services, one of which is email automation. Marketo’s email solutions include creating campaigns quickly and easily, creating personalized emails, ensuring you’re targeting the right audience and tracking KPIs.
• Salesforce: Salesforce boasts they are the number one email marketing solution. Their product offerings include tailoring your emails for every step of the sales funnel, delivering engaging content to your email subscribers, and using AI tools to improve upon the process.
• Blueshift: One of Blueshift’s product offerings is an email marketing service. They intend to generate emails quickly, send emails that are triggered by user behavior and the sales funnel, and offer predictive segmentation.

Team Communication Tools for Bootstrapped Small Businesses

As your bootstrapped team grows, communication will become more critical. Emails, texts, and phone calls will only take you so far.

It doesn’t matter if your team sits in the same office or works across the globe; you need a SaaS communication tool to ensure you’re all singing from the same hymn sheet.

Here are some of my favorite bootstrapped communication solutions.

Slack for Bootstrapped Companies

It will probably come as no surprise that I highly recommend Slack as a bootstrapped team communication tool. Slack is the perfect combination of email, instant messaging, and voice calls, and it’s all available for just $6.67.

A limited version of the platform is available for small teams to use for free. What’s better than that?

Other Team Communication Tools for Small Businesses

If video conferencing is a more pressing need for your business, you may want to consider:

• Zoom became a household name during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since Zoom is free, friends and families use it to stay connected during the pandemic. Zoom is also useful for businesses. You can use Zoom for team meetings, chats, webinars, conference meetings, a phone system, and a marketplace.
• Microsoft Teams is another popular tool for communications. Its services include chat channels, video meetings, screen sharing, and more. Teams is a good choice if you’re already using Microsoft products.
• Skype was one of the first iterations of communication software. You can use it to chat to your friends via messenger or video chats, as well as make direct calls. Skype has not changed much since the early days, so it might be a great fit if you’re looking for something that’s budget-friendly with basic features.

 

Conclusion

So there you have it, that’s my list of the top bootstrapped tools for your startup.

Whether you want to get on top of your projects, improve your SEO, assess your competitors, or automate your email, there’s a tool that can help.

Which bootstrapped tool will you try first?

The post 25 Tools for Bootstrapped Companies appeared first on Neil Patel.

Source: feedproxy.google.com

12 Marketing Tools We Are Thankful for This Year

At Convince & Convert, we are thankful to have so many awesome marketing tools at our disposal. Let’s dive in now to our list of 12 marketing tools we are thankful for this year.

Back in the early-ish days of marketing technology in 2011, there were about 150 martech solutions available.

But now, there are a seemingly endless number of marketing tools. In fact, according to Scott Brinker’s most recent Marketing Technology Supergraphic, there are around 8,000 martech solutions, up from about 7,000 in 2019. Incredible!

Image courtesy of ChiefMarTech.com

 

At Convince & Convert, we are thankful to have so many awesome marketing tools at our disposal and to work with so many amazing marketing technology companies (check out our content marketing creation services when you have a sec).

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we asked our team to share some of their favorite marketing tools this year. This list is in no way conclusive — if it were, we would be writing a book and not a blog post. A few of the tools are from C&C clients (accessiBe and SharpSpring), most are tools we use daily, and all are tools we love!

Let’s dive in now to our list of 12 marketing tools we are thankful for this year, plus a few additional shoutouts for marketing solutions we love but just didn’t have the bandwidth to cover in this blog post.

 

List of 12 Marketing Tools We Are Thankful for This Year

#1: SparkToro

Audience intelligence platform

“This is a relatively new tool from Rand Fishkin and his associates that is an easy and illuminating way to find circles of influence online. I use it to find possible collaborators, websites to sponsors, podcasts to sponsor, and even search terms and hashtags of interest. It’s a flexible tool that should be part of every project and program.”

 

Jay Baer, Founder, Convince & Convert

#2: Miro

Visual collaboration software

“Miro is my favorite new tool for visualizing content like org charts, content workflows, brainstorming, user stories, whatever. It’s basically an online whiteboard for collaborating visually, which is so helpful now that the entire world is remote.”

Fun Fact: The Miro template library has hundreds of layouts just waiting for you to try them out!

Jenny Magic, Strategist

….and Anna Hrach loves Miro too!

“I’m with Jenny on this, and she was the one that brought it to my attention. I love Miro for visualizing information and content and remote/virtual collaboration. Plus, they have a ton of existing templates (over 150+) to work from that are all easily customizable.

The free version of Miro is also fantastic, so it’s easy to try out and see if the tool is a good fit for any organization. Miro also has over 70+ integrations, including Slack and Google Drive, so it fits into a lot of existing virtual workflows.”

Anna Hrach, Strategist

#3: accessiBe

Automated web accessibility

“Over my twenty-year career in digital, I have learned A LOT from web development teams and website requirement documents. What I love about the approach accessiBe has developed is there is virtually ZERO code changes needed to ensure your site is not only ADA compliant but also a positive experience for visitors.

The dashboard is simple to configure, allows for your branding to be matched, and adjusts to the needs of each site visitor without sweeping code changes. At an affordable price, this tool is a win for site visitors, a win for site developers, and a win for marketers. The legal team will likely find it a win as well!”

Fun Fact: accessiBe estimates that “the disabled population in almost every society is about 20% of the residents.” This has a huge impact on the function and services your website can (and should) be offering the entirety of your audience.

In addition, check out our recent technology tour of accessiBe, with special guest Rafi Glantz.

Kelly Santina, Director of Operations

#4: RivalIQ

Social media analytics

“It’s vital to be able to monitor your social media performance and compare it to your peers or competitors, so you can continue to learn, iterate, and improve performance. RivalIQ is one of our go-to tools to benchmark our clients’ competitors on social media.

Not only can we monitor growth rate, breakout posts, and look for boosted posts, we can also use RivalIQ’s ability to tag content to analyze the best performing types of content by medium and content.

RivalIQ also makes it easy to bring data from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other platforms into one place to create attractive, easy to use dashboards to share with clients and internal teams.”

Fun Fact: Highly data-driven organizations are 3X more likely to report significant improvements in decision-making, according to PwC research.

Side note: Our founder Jay Baer is an investor in RivalIQ, but our team would still use the solution, even if he weren’t.

Zontee Hou, Director of Strategy

#5: ScreamingFrog

SEO spider tool and crawler software

“Despite the odd name, this SEO spider is a powerful and flexible site crawler, able to crawl both small and very large websites efficiently while allowing the user to analyze the results in real-time. It gathers key onsite data to allow SEOs to make informed assessments, both on your own internal site or a competitors’ site.

This is primarily used to identify SEO best-practices and shortcomings (there are always more than one would think), but also helps in content identification that may be difficult to find via main navigation options.

They offer a free version (limited to 500 URLs) and a paid license option.”

Anthony Helmstetter, Strategist

#6: Airtable

Cloud collaboration

‘” As the resident Airtable queen at C&C, I have both convinced and converted the consulting team of the power of Airtable. A cloud-based DIY software solution uses tools we’re familiar with, like databases, spreadsheet grids, and calendars, to create unique ways to get work done.

Airtable offers flexibility and an ecosystem for pulling together any project. In the past year, Airtable has super-powered the product with pro-level automation, apps, collaboration, and integrations.

At C&C, we use Airtable for a range of client and internal tasks and project management. My favorite use cases bring together audience journey maps, content gap analysis, and content marketing production into a single (massive) tool, as we did for clients like Oregon State Ecampus.

Tracking the team submissions for our ‘People We Love’ series is emotionally rewarding and brings our team closer together.

To get started, check out the numerous base templates Airtable gives away for free. Then go deeper into the Universe to see how others use this powerful tool to manage their professional and personal lives.”

Fun Fact: Over 15 million bases have been created on Airtable. And their content is also awesome.

Lauren Teague, Strategist

#7: SharpSpring

Marketing automation and CRM

“When I joined Convince & Convert, we were using a simple email solution to deploy blast-style emails. No lead scoring. No drip campaigns. No automation. No A/B testing.

As we ramped up our efforts, we quickly reached the limits of our previous solution (we were actually A/B testing emails by uploading our email list to Google Sheets and random sorting—not good!), we evaluated a few marketing automation solutions and finally selected SharpSpring.

Like all marketing technology transitions, there were a few bumps along the way, but within a few months, we got into a good rhythm and really ramped up our efforts.

The automation is really easy to set up, and unlike most of the solutions we evaluated, SharpSpring has a built-in CRM, which was key for us. We are a lean sales & marketing team, so we don’t have the resources to manage a standalone CRM.

We’re now 18 months into our initial setup, and we continue to grow and optimize our efforts. Plus, the support team is only an email, phone call, or chat away. Big fans!”

Megan Leap, Director of Content

#8: SEMrush

SEO and content marketing

“The other tool I love geeking out in is SEMrush. There’s nothing more exciting than seeing our rankings improve for key terms! The Keyword Magic Tool is ridiculously useful — especially the ‘Questions’ tab. I get a ton of inspiration for our content in SEMrush, and it’s helped us achieve big gains in our SEO.”

– Megan Leap

#9: Litmus

Email testing & analysis

“I first was introduced to Litmus over 12 years ago when the web developer I worked with used it to test and check the rendering of HTML on emails. Since then, I’ve signed up for it in every single digital marketing position I’ve had.

It’s easy to sell a solution to your boss when it makes your job easier, your marketing more effective and keeps your brand on-point. I even used it for browser testing, but Litmus has since retired that feature in order to focus on email. If you’re sending emails, you need to make sure they render correctly on all browsers and in all email clients.”

– Megan Leap

#10: AgoraPulse

Social media management

“AgoraPulse is our go-to tool for social listening and engagement. We use this tool daily to monitor brand/name mentions and to engage with our community. We use the browser-based dashboard during normal business hours and the mobile app when on the go.

Three standout features of AgoraPulse are its ability to gather comments and activity on Facebook and Instagram ads, its ability to monitor YouTube comments, and its insights on Instagram Stories.”

Christin Kardos, Community Manager

#11: CoSchedule

Content marketing management

“I probably use CoSchedule more than anyone on our team. We use it for planning social media content, sponsored content, podcasts, and more. There’s no better way to manage and plan multiple types of content across business units and virtual teams (both internal and external). I love it. It keeps me sane.”

Side note: Our founder, Jay Baer, is an investor in CoSchedule, but we’d still use it regardless.

– Christin Kardos, Community Manager

#12: BuzzSumo

“BuzzSumo offers a great place to start when thinking about content planning. It offers effective ways to stay on the pulse of what is trending in traditional media and in social. It also provides a great place to identify influencers and get new ideas for different topics within your planned content pillars.”

Mary Nice, Strategist

Notable Mentions

This wouldn’t be a “marketing tools we are thankful for” post without a few other shout outs. In no particular order, here are a few more martech solutions we love that you should check out too:

• Ceralytics (content intelligence platform)
• NetLine (B2B content syndication)
• Oracle Marketing Cloud (integrated digital marketing solutions)
• Cisco WebEx (video conferencing and online meetings)
• Podium (messaging tools for local business)
• Calabrio (workforce optimization)
• Cision (cloud-based communications/PR)

The post 12 Marketing Tools We Are Thankful for This Year appeared first on Content Marketing Consulting and Social Media Strategy.

Source: convinceandconvert.com