By Adam Herbert – Co-Founder & CEO, Go Live Data

Digital marketing is an ever-changing and evolving channel and skill set that needs constant monitoring. Nearly every month algorithms will change, new audio will trend and another channel will be added into the mix.

So how do you keep on top of what will work for your business? And how do you decide which of the plethora of channels to focus on?

I’m Adam Herbert, CEO and co-founder of marketing and data agency, Go Live Data and here are my current top 6 must-have tools for effective digital marketing.

Pick a CRM

Hubspot has been around for a fair time now and is one which is used by many agencies. It’s a great tool for integrating all of your marketing efforts and keeping track of who does what, when and why.

Picking the right CRM for your business depends on a few things. The first is budget, and the second is how fast you plan on growing.

A complicated CRM system will without doubt be an investment, they certainly don’t come cheap. The question you need to ask yourself is do I invest now, or do I invest later? This will depend on how fast you plan on growing and how important the customer journey is to your business. If you plan on growing steadily, it could be wise to start with a less expensive CRM and then work up to one covering all of your channels. If you’re planning on growing at warp speed invest early, get your ducks in a row and know that the platform you pick will grow with you.

Track your website visitors

If you’re going to grow, you need to know who to target. Knowing who’s visiting your website, how long they’re spending on it and then of course, how you follow these visits up, is essential for your digital marketing to work effectively,

Tools like Go Track or Google Analytics will give you details of who’s on your website, where they’ve come from and how long they’re spending there. The next step is, what’s next? Will they receive a reminder via email or text if they’ve added things to the cart but have not yet checked out? Will you send them tailored offers to get that purchase over the line?

By having tracking set up and optimised, you can increase sales by keeping yourself front of mind for your customers.

The power of LinkedIn

If you’re working in B2B LinkedIn is hard to beat when it comes to building contacts, sharing content and making introductions. Tools like Sales Navigator make interactions, and those to the right people, potentially easy.

What isn’t easy is getting a response. We all receive messages almost daily that are auto-generated and soulless. How many of those do people reply to? And how many just delete and block?

The real power comes from using tools as a first step, then crafting a targeting and respectful message series that adds value to your newfound contact. It’s also imperative this is monitored well. You don’t want someone replying saying they’re off work because of a bereavement and the next message they receive is a follow-up great, let’s book a time to talk. This tool is great, it opens doors, but we must not remove the human element of digital marketing here, proceed with caution and a conscience.

TikTok generation

Not just for the latest dance trend, TikTok has evolved into a targeted marketing platform. The nitration of TikTok Shop has made sales easy. Get the right product at a reduced price, go live and get your influences to share through affiliate links and you could, be laughing.

Like any social-based tool, content is king. It requires constant management and measurement, a need to stay on top of the trends to stay relevant and bucketloads of content.

Your audience is your lifeblood. They’re the ones who share their unboxings live, tell their followers about the great deal they’ve found, and reap the rewards with affiliate sales.

B2B businesses and sectors like HR and legal are also finding a home on TikTok. Whether it’s offering dedicated legal advice, answering questions about interviews or showing you how to handle conflict situations in meetings, content and information are just a scroll away.

Any brand that’s looking to raise its profile needs to pay close attention to TikTok and use it as a valuable tool.

Video content

YouTube is a huge search engine all by itself. Having your videos aptly labelled as what you want your customers to search for will naturally increase the chances of your video and brand being seen.

Forget about coming up with clever names for your videos. The Ronseal approach of ‘ it does exactly what it says on the tin’ is always your best bet. Your video title acts as another way for your customers to find you.

With the introduction of shorts, scrolling has become a larger part of the YouTube experience. Having a mix of long and short videos or sneak previews of what’s to come builds on engagement. Working with influencers in your space on YouTube and again, offering affiliate offers, PR samples or the chance to review your product or service offers both the influencer great content and you the chance to reach a much wider audience.

You can share almost anything on YouTube and find an audience for it, from chiropractor visits to unboxing beauty boxes or reviews of restaurants. If you’re considering YouTube spend a sizable amount of time viewing videos linked to what you do. How’s their interaction, when do they post, and how long are their videos? Get a real feel for what you’re getting into then make the jump.

Get social

Whether it’s hanging on in there with X or raising your profile on Facebook or Instagram, there’s no discounting the power of social media.

From the ability to go viral with a great piece of content to the amazing availability of data through its inbuilt advertising platforms, finding the right people who could potentially be interested in your product is hard to beat.

Many businesses have forgotten about Google advertising and instead invest heavily in Facebook and Instagram advertising often offering better results at a fraction of the bid for search term pricing and in a far more targeting and precise fashion.

As with anything social, it’s a commitment, you need to be posting regularly, you need to engage with your followers and those who comment and you need to then give them more of what they want and add them to your other marketing tools.

There’s no shortage of digital marketing tools available, what’s important is finding the right tools which suit your audience and then optimising them to integrate to form a targeted and manageable campaign.