6 marketing tools your business needs

For your business to succeed in the digital age, there are some core pieces of infrastructure you are going to need to navigate these digital waters. These components will allow your business to be found, build and nurture relationships, collect data on your audience and allow you to generate revenue.

Here are the six key pieces of marketing infrastructure and tools I believe every business should have:

1. Website

2. E-mail list

3. Analytics tools

4. Web push notifications

5. Google Business

6. Customer relationship manager (CRM)

Website:

Your website is your digital home, and does more than just show company info or display your products.

It collects data on your audience, allows you to sell your products or services and accept credit cards online.

The content you create and publish on your website will allow your brand to show up in popular search engines like Google or Bing.

You can create your own experience and allow people to experience your brand and learn from you.

Since online shopping is a major hit in the world and growing in the Caribbean, your business should have an e-commerce-ready website. This is typically the first place people go when looking to do business with you.

Amazon’s website in TT gets just under two million visits per month, so if you had any doubt whether Trinis were shopping online, they are. Join the party.

E-mail list:

Your e-mail list is an essential part of business today. When you create a social media page, you don’t own any of the data, nor do you own the relationship with your audience. With an e-mail list, you can have people sign up for your list, that data is yours and you are in full control of the relationship.

Social media displays our content to less than one per cent of the people who follow us, but sending out e-mails ensures that everybody who subscribes can get your content. You can nurture your relationships with subscribers, segment them so they get the exact content they are looking for and give them exclusive deals to shop with your brand.

Analytics tools:

You can instal some incredibly powerful tools on your websites like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, HotJar, Microsoft Clarity and much more.

These tools will allow you to get deep insights into your audience. You will learn about their demographics (age/gender), what they are searching for online and what words they are using to land on your platforms, behavioural data, what aspects of your website they are clicking on and what are they ignoring. You will also get monthly report cards on how your brand is doing online.

Web push notifications:

Push notifications have been the reason most businesses wanted to create an app for their business. Now you can install any of the web push notification services to your website and start building your notification list.

This will allow people to subscribe and you can send out notifications to their mobile devices, tablets and computers.

This is great for sending out content, exclusive shopping codes, updates, abandoned cart notifications, and announcements and they are great because you enjoy higher open rates than e-mails.

Google Business:

Google Business is a must-have for every single business, whether you have a physical location or you are a digital business. You can sign up for free and allow your business to be displayed on Google Search and Google maps. It will allow you to post pictures, videos, products, events, and updates, connect to a variety of booking services and it will allow your audience to give reviews of your business. The great thing about reviews left on Google, they help to build your rankings in local searches on Google.

CRM:

A customer relationship manager will allow your business to manage your relationships with your customers. You can store their data, send proposals, document sales, schedule meetings, and keep notes on your clients.

If you connect it to your website, it can track how your audience is finding you, what platforms are giving you the best traction with clients (Google, Bing, Facebook, IG), it will track the customer journey and show you what content is driving sales to your business. A great CRM that does a few of these things is HubSpot.

Every single business, from the biggest to the smallest, should have all of these components if it is looking to succeed in today’s digital age.

Keron Rose is a digital strategist who works with Caribbean entrepreneurs in building their digital presence. Visit KeronRose.com to learn more or check out the Digipreneur FM podcast available on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast.