There are lots of digital marketing software options available today. What’s most important when choosing one for your business? Find out here!
Marketers have been changing their approach to promoting products and services over the last few years.
Ultimately, the ultimate purpose of any business is to provide products and services, capture new clients, interact with existing ones, and keep them coming back for more.
To succeed in business, you must adapt to these new trends. Those who don’t will be left behind by their competitors.
Today’s competitive market requires marketers to keep up with new technology, techniques, and patterns to succeed.
What Is Digital Marketing Software?
With the advent of digital marketing, traditional marketing techniques are no longer effective.
That’s true, but things are changing so rapidly now that we need to adapt our business models quickly.
Nowadays, everybody knows digital marketing and how it affects businesses to promote their products and services online. Digital Marketing means promoting products and services through any digital or electronic medium.
Can we use digital media for marketing our products and services without reducing our effort in traditional marketing?
The answer would be no. They’re both very different from each other. You could have a big problem if you don’t know them well enough.
That’s why we need digital marketing software to help us automate most marketing activities to spend more time focusing on what we enjoy doing most. Software that helps us target audiences, generate reports, and conduct various promotional tasks can be considered adequate digital marketing software.
Some of the Best Digital Marketing Software
Here are some of the best digital marketing software available today. You can choose any software that suits your needs.
- SEMrush
- HubSpot
- Marketo
- Constant Contact
- Sprout Social
- Hootsuite
- Keap
- Podium
- SocialBee
- ActiveCampaign
- MailChimp
1. SEMrush
SEMrush is a digital marketing platform specializing in SEO (search engine optimization). It provides comprehensive services for various aspects of SEO, such as keyword discovery, on-site SEO, link building, ranking monitoring, local SEO, and competitive SEO analysis. It will help you to spot new growth opportunities.
Features:
- Competitive Analysis
- Direct Publishing
- Social Media Calendar
- Analytics/Reporting
- Teams/Collaboration
Pricing:
The above image shows the monthly pricing for each plan. Annual plans are also available:
- Pro ($99.95/m)
- Guru ($191.62/m)
- Business ($374.95/m)
Pros and Cons:
Pros
- Best for Businesses of all sizes
- Easy to use for both clients and managers
- Constantly updating features
- Excellent keyword research tool
- Comprehensive historical trends research
Cons
- Some discrepancies between Semrush and Google Search Console
- Limited student access
- Poor user management
2. HubSpot
HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM platform that offers a variety of tools for various types of business needs. It has a comprehensive set of tools for lead generation and customer relationship management (CRM).
It also lets you set up workflows to create automated processes that help you send emails at the correct times. These allow you to send emails when certain events occur, which helps you reach out to prospects at the right time.
Features:
- Automated CRM database
- List segmentation
- Landing pages, web pages, and blogs
- Automated workflows
- E-mail analytics
- A/B testing
- Social media integration and management
- Paid ad tracking
Pricing:
The above image shows the Marketing Hub pricing plan. Sales, Customer Service, CMS, and Operations pricing plans are available.
HubSpot offers three types of different pricing plans:
- Starter ($45/m)
- Professional ($800/m)
- Enterprise ($3,600/m)
You can also get HubSpot marketing tools for free.
Pros and Cons:
Pros
- Integration of other outreach software
- Easy and user-friendly landing page and functionality design
- Customer service and training
Cons
- Some glitches where something isn’t saved the first time around
- Some integrations may not be able to work the best
3. Marketo
Marketo is the best-in-class automation software to help you automate your sales process and increase conversions. Intelligent segmenting capabilities enable you to target specific audiences and nurture them accordingly. You can set up automated workflows triggered by various events such as lead scoring, open email rates, website visits, social media interactions, and more. It also provides scorecards to identify who should get priority attention quickly.
Marketo provides AI-powered content recommendations to deliver the right content through the proper channels to the correct prospects and customers. This personalized marketing helps companies improve the individual experience for each prospective buyer or client by delivering offers most relevant to their specific needs.
Features:
- Additional screens in the Next-Generation experience
- Self-service flow steps
- Dynamic chat
- Microsoft Dynamic integration
- Email connection throttling
- Salesforce activity detail customization
- Filtering email bot activity
- Priority override for trigger campaigns
- New form validation rules
Pricing:
Pricing Based on Database Size.
Marketo offers different marketing services, including lead management, email marketing, consumer-based marketing, account-based marketing, and mobile marketing. They don’t reveal their price on the website, but you can get more info from their sales team.
Pros and Cons:
Pros
- Easy editor
- Good analytics
- Easy to download analytics
Cons
- needs better interface
- needs a better way to find what you need
- it is too hard to find what you need
4. Constant Contact
Constant Contact allows small businesses to manage customer relationships through various channels, including emails, phone calls, text messages, and social media posts. They offer customizable templates which allow you to create professional-looking emails without needing to know HTML code.
You can use the platform to segment your email list and send automated messages to people who meet specific criteria. This enables you to automatically send welcome messages to new subscribers or a reminder message after x number of days. You can even track your progress in real-time to continually improve and enhance your performance!
Features:
- Hundreds of pre-designed templates for creating social ads, email campaigns, and landing pages.
- A/B Testing
- Tools to build a contact list
- Track campaign performance in real-time
- Integrate with several powerful third-party applications.
Pricing:
You can get a free month of Core or Plus plans.
Constant Contact offers two types of different pricing plans:
- Core ($9.99/m)
- Plus ($45/m)
Pros And Cons:
Pros
- Tracks contacts who were sent, clicks, and opens each email.
- Allows our teams to create lists and tags to keep constituents organized.
- Provides colorful and attractive email templates.
Cons
- It’d be nice if we have more customizable email options – like moving around pictures and text boxes, rather than a set spot for everything to go.
- We would like it if multiple people could work on a document simultaneously. So if we’re in charge of graphics, I can get those updated while someone else is entering content, etc.
5. Sprout Social
Sprout Social is one of the market’s most powerful social media marketing (SMM) and management platforms. It provides comprehensive features to manage every aspect of your social media marketing (SMM) efforts–from listening to publishing to engagement to analytics.
The listening tool allows you to listen in on conversations about specific topics and brands so you can uncover trends and better understand your audience.
The publishing tool has a visual calendar you can easily manage and edit by dragging and dropping cards between dates and time slots. You can schedule your blog posts to be published at specific times, especially by utilizing the optimal post timing suggestion. Sprout Social also has a universal inbox where you can monitor and respond to messages and comments across all your social media accounts.
Features:
- Analytics
- Automated Publishing
- Contact Management
- Content Management
- Conversion Tracking
Pricing:
You can use Sprout Social for free with a 30-days trial. No credit card is required to start a trial.
Sprout Social offers three types of different pricing plans:
- Standard ($89/m)
- Professional ($149/m)
- Advanced ($249/m)
Pros And Cons:
Pros
- Easy to navigate interface
- User-friendly publishing calendar
- Robust reporting
- Competitive analysis features
Cons
- Expensive price tag
- Support can be slow
- Lack of native support for some social networks
6. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is another comprehensive social media marketing (SMM) and management platform. It lets you manage all your social networks in one place, from messaging platforms like WhatsApp and SMS to social networks like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and others. It is also integrated into all major social networks, such as TikTok and Twitter.
The platform has a visual calendar to plan your publishing schedule easily. It also automatically lets you schedule your posts to go out at specific times. Hootsuite’s monitoring features allow you to keep up with trending topics, whereas the engagement tool allows you to address all incoming messages instantly. The platform allows you to manage your paid ads from one place easily.
Features:
- Analytics
- Automated Publishing
- Contact Management
- Content Management
- Conversion Tracking
Pricing:
You can use Hootsuite Professional & Team pricing plans for free with a 30-day trial.
Hootsuite offers four types of different pricing plans:
- Professional ($49/m)
- Team ($179/m)
- Business ($739/m)
- Enterprise (custom price)
Pros And Cons:
Pros
- You get customized newsfeed updates from Facebook to Instagram to Twitter to Pinterest.
- A highly flexible content management system (CMS) and scheduling tool, with a bulk option for uploading large amounts of content at once, make the most challenging aspect of the job easier.
- Every message, comment, and the post was automatically organized into one thread so you could easily follow conversations.
Cons
- Demo or psychographic data – not available.
7. Keap
Keap is a digital marketing software that automates all crucial tasks related to sales and marketing. It allows marketers to save a lot of their valuable time by automatizing repetitive processes like lead capture. Keap also excels at automatizing email and text marketing campaigns for better results.
Furthermore, the platform automatically follows up with leads who’ve filled out a form on your social networks or websites, increasing your chances of making a sale. Keap also includes the Advanced Automation Builder tool, which allows you to customize all processes related to sales and marketing.
Features:
- Full-Featured Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
- An analytics tool helps you visualize sales, marketing, and customer relationship management (CRM) data.
- Drag and Drop sales pipeline management.
- A/B Testing
- Email and text marketing templates are easy to set up.
Pricing:
You can use Keap for free with a 14-day trial. No credit card is required to start a trial.
Keap offers two types of different pricing plans:
- Pro ($129/m) – the plan includes 1500 contacts and two users
- Max ($199/m) – the plan includes 2500 contacts and three users
Pros And Cons:
Pros
- Email automation
- Lead database
- Application Integration
Cons
- Email formatting
- Instructions/training
8. Podium
Podium is best for text-based marketing and reviews capturing. Podium takes a unique approach when using digital marketing to attract customers. Get the standard templates to launch targeted custom campaigns. However, you can use other intuitive software to do the work more efficiently.
For starters, this platform lets you capture positive reviews floating online about your business. This tool allows you to share positive reviews and feedback about your company across Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and other social media platforms. You can utilize its online chat feature to start conversations and convert website traffic into leads.
Features:
- Text-based chatting
- Review capturing
- Message organization
- Monitor customer activity
Pricing:
You can use Podium for free with a 14-days trial.
Podium offers three types of different pricing plans:
- Essentials ($289/m) – the plan includes 1,000 contacts & up to 3 team members
- Standard ($449/m) – the plan includes unlimited contacts & unlimited team members
- Professional ($649/m) – the plan includes unlimited contacts & unlimited team members
Pros And Cons:
Pros
- Text campaigns
- Automated text
Cons
- Platform performance and Editability
- Troubleshooting and Customer service
- Feedback reciprocity and funding for the improvement of the platform
9. SocialBee
SocialBee is the best for managing your social media accounts. With SocialBee, you can easily manage your profiles across all major social networks, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also track your performance metrics like likes, shares, comments, followers, and more.
With SocialBee, you can organize your posts into a content plan, view your schedule, and tweak your campaign if needed with just one click. It also helps you analyze the success of your launch campaigns by providing insights from its analytics tool.
Features:
- Category Based Post Organization
- Canva, Unsplash, or GIPHY Integration
- Bulk Post Editor
- Re-Queue Posts
- Comprehensive Performance Analytics
Pricing:
You can use SocialBee for free with a 14-day trial. No credit card is required to start a trial.
SocialBee offers three types of different pricing plans:
- Bootstrap ($19/m) – Best for Solopreneurs
- Accelerate ($39/m) – Best For Startups And Small Businesses
- Pro ($79/m) – Best For Freelancers And Agencies
Pros And Cons:
Pros
- You can use any social platform.
- You can organize posts by category, per project, or company.
- Hashtag organizer.
Cons
- The UI/UX can be further enhanced by making it more excellent and neater. Especially on the category pages.
- I would love it if the scheduler could expand into a two-week or monthly schedule. So we can post categories on a 2x a month and 1x a month frequency.
10. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign best suits marketing professionals, digital agencies, e-commerce stores, and small businesses.
ActiveCampaign has been a leading marketing automation solution for B2B, B2C, and E-commerce businesses since its introduction. It provides its user’s with a suite of tools, including email, CRM, and online advertising solutions, intending to streamline digital business processes.
It makes it easy for you to personalize and target your marketing messages so they’re more likely to be attractive to your prospects. And it allows you to automate your workflow by creating automated emails and follow-up campaigns.
Features:
- Create and launch personalized email marketing campaigns
- Automate your email campaigns and workflow processes easily using our drag-and-dropper tool.
- Use performance reports, tags, and other tools to identify highly engaged prospects.
- Generate, score and nurture leads.
- Connect with third-party apps like WordPress, Shopify, Zapier, Stripe, & Paypal.
Pricing:
You can use ActiveCampaign for a 14-day free trial. No credit card is required to start a trial.
ActiveCampaign offers four types of different pricing plans:
- Lite ($29/m)
- Plus ($49/m)
- Professional ($149/m)
- Enterprise (custom price)
Pros And Cons:
Pros
-
Setting up automated systems
-
Tracking data
-
Integrations
Cons
-
More formatting options for landing pages
-
More intuitive user interface
11. MailChimp
MailChimp best suits newbies, freelancers, and small to mid-size businesses.
MailChimp was created specifically for small businesses that couldn’t afford expensive software and high-end service providers. These businesses use MailChimp for increased productivity.
It was initially developed only as an e-mail marketing system, but now it is considered an “all-in-one” marketing system for all kinds of businesses. Furthermore, it has a very interactive and user-friendly UI that lets newbies start quickly.
Features:
- A single tool for everything from campaign management to audience targeting to insight generation.
- MailChimp makes it easy to understand your customer’s interests, likes, and preferences to target and improve your sales.
- MailChimp can easily set up, manage, send, and track email campaigns.
- It has advanced features for automating tasks, analyzing data, running experiments, and performing multi-variate tests.
- You can use its pre-designed templates and even create custom ones.
Pricing:
You can use MailChimp for a 30-days free trial.
MailChimp offers four types of different pricing plans:
- Essentials ($11/m)
- Standard ($17/m)
- Premium ($299/m)
Pros And Cons:
Pros
- It has an excellent user interface.
- Easy to use.
- It has a very affordable price range. Even its free version is quite generous and would be sufficient for most small businesses.
Cons
- Sometimes importing content from Microsoft Word can ruin the formatting.
- It has good capabilities for creating templates by drag and drop, but you’d still need some image editing skills to get the best results.
The bottom line:
Your digital marketing strategy is only as good as its software. Choosing the suitable software can open up your brand for a whole new level of efficiency, results, and success.
Get Started Today with Appledew UK:
If you’re looking for digital marketers to help you improve your business’s online presence, we’d be happy to discuss our services with you. Contact us now for digital marketing consultation and to see how you can get started.