Whether you’re an advertising agency, marketing company or business trying to promote your product to the world, knowledge of the right kind of software to use will help you to market faster and better. Here are some popular software used in marketing: Adobe Creative Suite, AdTheorent’s AdMonitor, Microsoft’s BizTalk Server, Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms, IBM’s QM2.
A wide variety of applications are used by businesses to help marketing area. Such software programs as website designer, social media platforms, email marketing, direct mail etc. are used in order to effectively market a business and engage its customers. This article focuses on marketing software.
Marketo
Marketo is one of the biggest and most established marketing automation companies, which makes it easy to launch and manage marketing campaigns. Marketo offers everything marketers need including tools for automating inbound marketing, lead management, social media marketing, sales management dashboards as well as analytics. In 2012, the company generated revenue to the value of $58.4 million and was recently registered on NASDAQ.
Vocus
Vocus is a leading cloud-based marketing software which helps with customer acquisition and retention by making it easier for marketers to reach out via social media and other online media channels. Vocus offers a comprehensive suite of tools which integrate social media marketing, search marketing, email marketing as well as effective PR. Vocus reported 2012 revenue of $170.8 million, a 49% increase from the previous year.
HubSpot
HubSpot offers a powerful inbound marketing solution as a personalized and more effective alternative to traditional marketing strategies which can tend to harass consumers. It has developed a host of marketing apps which include tools for blogging, social media, lead management and even marketing analytics that people love and respond to. Founded in 2006, the company recently raised $35 million.
Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM)
With each phone call from a sales rep, every email from a marketer, your prospects (hopefully) inch closer to your ultimate goal: purchase. But, keeping track of them at every stage of the customer journey is no easy task.
When was the lead last contacted? Do they prefer email to phone? What’s the next step in follow-up?
Most times data like this ends up buried in a spreadsheet or lost on a company laptop. With a CRM, entire marketing and sales departments can track every interaction between customers and their business, and maintain relevant communication throughout the buyer’s journey.
What it’s used for: Monitoring and tracking customer relationships
Top marketers adoption rate vs. all others: 76% to 76%
Popular tools: Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, HubSpot CRM, Keap (formerly Infusionsoft), Zoho CRM
Video conferencing solution
Today, remote teams are more popular than ever, which means so are video conferencing tools that enable face-to-face meetings over the internet. Whether you use them to vet potential clients, interview freelancers, or collaborate with team members, they’re a powerful addition to any marketing stack.
Usage: Collaborating and meeting face-to-face virtually
Top marketers adoption rate vs. all others: 67% to 59%
Popular tools: Google Hangout, ClickMeeting, join.me, Skype, Adobe Connect
Email marketing software
After all these years and updated technologies, email is still marketers’ most valuable channel, producing $38 in ROI for every $1 spent. Service providers like MailChimp and Constant Contact allow teams to segment their leads and customers to send highly relevant messages used to nurture them to sale.
What it’s used for: Nurturing leads to conversion, transactional messaging
Top marketers adoption rate vs. all others: 64% to 61%
Popular tools: MailChimp, Constant Contact, Campaigner, Campaign Monitor, GetResponse, SendGrid, Mandrill
Hootsuite
Hootsuite’s social media marketing software allows teams to plan, schedule, approve (or disapprove), and boost content. The content curation tools let you build social posts directly from websites you browse, and a full featured content library lets individuals browse approved content to include in their posts. Hootsuite also comes with connections to over 250 applications to streamline your workflow.
Pricing is based on the number of social profiles you need to manage, and there’s a free option for up to three profiles.
Buffer
Buffer is a social media marketing software built for content teams looking to grow their social media presence. Set up user permissions in Buffer to decide who can share content immediately, and see the whole team’s social post schedule in a single calendar view. Buffer’s plans come in three flavors: Publish for posting to profiles, Reply for responding to customers, and Analyze for reporting on campaigns.
Sign up for any of Buffer’s service plans, or mix and match to get the right level of functionality for your business.
Oktopost
Oktopost is a B2B enterprise social media marketing software. It connects seamlessly with most of the marketing tools in the first 2 sections of this list, and gives teams the ability to schedule, share, and promote social media posts across their platforms. Employee advocacy features make employees into thought leaders and brand ambassadors. Use the social listening features to track conversations across the web, and manage your whole set of accounts from your phone with the mobile app.
As an enterprise tool, Oktopost’s pricing is available upon request.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a social media marketing software that scales from small business solutions to enterprise capabilities. With lots of features for social media scheduling, messaging, promotion, and analytics, the tool can support agencies and single entities alike. Companies can use the social listening tools to better understand their marketing environment, and extensive analytics give teams a full view of each post’s effectiveness.
Sprout Social is available in three major plans: Standard, Professional, and Advanced. Add-on features Listening and Advocacy can be added to any plan.
Zoho Social
The Zoho Social software works for brands and agencies of all sizes, and includes publishing, curating, social listening, and collaboration features. Assign team members different roles to match their posting needs, and drill down into analytics to understand where your team and content make the biggest impact. The smart scheduler will choose the best time for each of the posts in your queue to go out, or you can schedule each of your post individually. Build your own dashboard to monitor each of your channels for brand mentions, and interact directly with customers through the messaging feature.
Zoho Social has a free version that allows publishing on all networks. Sign up for the Standard, Professional, or Agency plans to increase the number of team members or brands you manage. Add additional brands or team members to any plan for a monthly fee.
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is email marketing software with advanced visual editing features and personalized segmentation. The visual editor allows for drag-and-drop email builds, or you can code custom templates with the HTML builder. Use Campaign Monitor’s library of templates or quickly build your own emails and turn them into branded templates for repeated use. Companies can also use the advanced segmentation tools to drill down into their data and find the best personalized message for each customer.
Pricing is based on the number of emails you send per month and what level of support you’ll need. The HQ edition manages email campaigns for several locations at a custom price.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is an email marketing software that’s backed by a whole platform of marketing tools. Set up automated email campaigns connected to your customer data, and choose from a variety of email templates or build your own with the visual editor. Mailchimp is designed for small businesses, ecommerce companies, and larger retailers who are growing their online connections.
Purchase Mailchimp in a monthly subscription or annual package, and choose from three levels of service based on the number of contacts. Mailchimp also provides a free version of their tools for companies with fewer than 2,000 contacts.
Act-On
Act-On is an enterprise marketing automation platform that combines email features with automated workflows and customer tracking. Build your email from scratch in a drag and drop editor, or choose a modern template to customize. Set up automated campaigns to follow up on leads and nurture contacts to conversion. Act-On’s tools include landing pages and social media tools to expand your marketing to all channels.
Act-On’s pricing is aimed at enterprise companies with more than 2,500 contacts in their database. Different levels of support and set up assistance are available at an additional cost.
GetResponse
GetResponse is a marketing automation tool with a focus on email marketing as the central hub for all your other marketing activities. Build matching emails and landing pages to increase your brand recognition throughout the conversion funnel. Use one of over 5,000 templates with a wide variety of Shutterstock images and customizable automation features for a cohesive customer experience. The dynamic content features you can access through GetResponse allow high personalization with less work.
GetResponse is available in 4 plan sizes that act as price ranges. Your exact pricing will depend on the number of contacts in your lists and the number of automation features you need.
Constant Contact
Constant Contact is the only application on this list that bills itself as an email marketing software with marketing automation features instead of the other way around. The Email plan includes strong templates, connections to ecommerce contacts, tracking and reporting, and integrations with other tools. Upgrade to Email Plus to add automatically triggered messages, A/B testing, and dynamic content, among other features.
Constant Contact’s pricing is based on your plan and the number of contacts in your lists. Non-profits receive a discount, and prepayment discounts are also available if you pay biannually or annually.
Conclusion
Marketing software is a collection of programs used for marketing. The term “marketing software” generally refers to a mailing list application, often referred to as MLM software or company mailing list management. In addition to the mailing list application, the term may also refer to such pro ducts as catalog production software, report-writing software and campaign management software.