You’ve seen many articles online about top tools or software to use for digital marketing. Those lists can be helpful to get a wide array of ideas and options for general marketing tactics. But when it comes to real-world digital marketing and content management, sometimes it’s best to ask an individual working daily in the industry and is, in part, responsible for digital growth for their company.
In my work at a company that markets and sells gift baskets, both business to business and direct to consumer, there are certain tools I can’t live without. So, if you had to narrow down your options to a top three, here is what I recommend.
Photoshop
It may seem like a given, but there are quite a few different photo editing tools out there ranging in complexity and price. In my opinion, and in my work, there is no substitute for Photoshop. I use it daily for photo manipulation, text placements and layout. I work on a visual product and it must look good.
It seems to me that there are two schools of thought with Photoshop. One thought is that Photoshop is too complicated or expensive. Some might prefer free to freemium models that are more immediately user friendly. Those entry-level tools can work just fine to a certain degree. But when you need to make substantive designs and changes or implement complicated requests, the technical capabilities of Photoshop are key.
The other school of thought is that Photoshop isn’t enough. You need additional, more specialized tools for optimal image editing. Lightroom, for example, is better for developing photos. But, in my experience, Photoshop can do the job too.
Every professional will need to fine the right too for them, but in my world, Photoshop is ideal.
Python
When I’m managing and analyzing campaigns at Wine Country Gift Baskets, where I work, I need tools that help me dissect large datasets. Excel is obviously a powerful tool in this regard. But, overtime, Excel can only get you so far. Python, the programming language, can do the heavy lifting that Excel can’t handle. It’s perfect for large datasets, analysis, visualization and more. I find that I can manipulate my data to deliver answers in a way that I can’t do without it.
I strongly recommend other digital marketing professionals who are accountable for performance metrics, to learn and utilize Python. Learning programming as a marketer might seem counter intuitive to some. But the skill set will go a long way to improve your ability to manage successful campaigns and report on those campaigns to higher ups.
Customized Internal or Proprietary Tools
The last thing you might want to hear as a reader is that I depend on proprietary internal tools for my campaign management as well. That may not initially seem very helpful to you. But my response will be, depending on the size of your company and the scale of your campaigns, proprietary tools may be essential.
I’ve worked with our internal IT team to develop tools that display the exact information I need related to my work. Our tools have dashboards with timely and relevant data. Our tools help take our efforts to the next level when off-the-shelf products won’t work.
My recommendation would be for you to get with your team to discuss:
1. Whether the tools you have available are doing the job
2. Whether you have the resources to develop custom internal tools to move you further
What tools have you found work best for you?
