2017 December 19 Archive - EXEIdeas

Increasing your marketing department’s performance isn’t always easy. There are a lot of different areas that you can work on, but where do you begin? An even better question is how do you begin? One good place to start is with the tools these employees are using. They may not be using any tools at all, or they may have outdated or the wrong tools. Let’s take a look at some of the areas in which your marketing team’s performance can be increased and how they can become more efficient and productive by using the right tools.The Budget:Keeping track of your marketing budget is a necessity, but it’s not always easy. Your marketing director likely has multiple spreadsheets, stacks of receipts, and various emails all outlining expenses. It can be easy to miss something, plus at the end of the year, there’s always an expense or two that no one can remember making. Even if your marketing team is using a budget management program, it may still be difficult to keep track of everything because it’s not specifically designed for marketing expenses.However, there are budget management programs out there that are made for marketing. These tools are designed to assist in preparing marketing budgets and keeping track of every expenditure, no matter how large or small it may be.Analyzing Data:Other departments are always asking for data about the company’s customers. The marketing department is often the keeper of this data, but it’s just that: data. In fact, it’s probably a massive amount of information that will overwhelm most other employees. That’s because it’s much more information than they need. In order for anyone to make the most of the data you’ve collected, it has to be analyzed, organized, and collected into various groups. Case studies, testimonials, and data points are vital to a company’s growth, but they’re not useful if they’re not analyzed correctly.Fortunately, there are a number of different solutions, many of which automate the entire process. This allows departments to pull the information they need and get an idea of the bottom line on marketing and sales without spending a lot of time working through huge amounts of data.Generating Lead Data:Most marketing departments have subscriptions to several databases that provide new customer leads. Making use of this information does have its challenges, though. First, you have to make sure the information is accurate. It does no good to send information to customers who no longer live at the indicated address. Second, you have to make sure the contacts are relevant. There’s no need to waste money marketing to people who have no need of your product. If the database you’re using doesn’t update regularly, you may be buying outdated information.There are several tools that you can use to verify this data. These tools often scan various databases to verify information. Some even connect to social networks to double-check information.Organizing Sales Content:Organizing all of your content for brochures, sales decks, case studies, ads, and other content takes a lot of time. Often, you’re not even sure exactly what content someone is going to need, so you simply share everything you have to a server drive, Dropbox, or other system. But this means anyone who is looking for a specific piece of content is going to have to sort through everything there in order to find what they’re looking for. If you have a crazy file naming system, they may have to literally open and check every document until they find what it is they’re looking for.Instead of going through all of that, why not make use of a tool designed specifically to manage your sales content for you? These tools let people search content quickly, filter it as needed, and even create reports that show you what content is used most often.Top Marketing Tools And Their Benefits:There are many different marketing tools out there that can provide solutions for the above challenges and many other roadblocks your marketing team may face. Here are some of the top marketing tools available today.Allocadia:If your marketing budget is out of control or completely unorganized, Allocadia is the solution. This tool will assist you with planning your budgets, keeping track of expenditures, and analyzing your expenses to make sure you’re getting a nice return on your investment.Uberconference:Need to get everyone who is working on a marketing project together? With Uberconference, it doesn’t matter where your team members are. Anyone with a mobile device or computer can join your online conference, share files, and even show others what’s on their screen.Techvalidate:This tool automates your customer advocacy process. Your sales and marketing departments will be able to generate customer data reports on demand, finding exactly the right information they need whenever they need it.LeadSpace:When you need to verify your lead data, LeadSpace is your go-to tool. It will check databases, web searches, and social media information to make certain the contact information you have is accurate.SAVO:Tired of spending time sifting through files looking for the content you want? SAVO organizes everything so you can quickly search and filter files as needed to find what you need.Eloqua:Made by Oracle, Eloqua is a great tool for automating many of your processes. It integrates data from many difference source, including email, social media, and your CRM, in order to create highly detailed and customizable reports.Pentaho:Need to sort through huge amounts of data and create actionable reports that offer insight into customer needs? Pentaho is the tool for you.Curalate:For your social media needs, Curalate is here to assist you with monitoring and measuring your campaigns. It connects with many of the most popular social media sites, including Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest.Simplymeasured:This tool is another option for analyzing your social media campaigns to make certain you’re getting the best return on your investment.Marin Software:Marin Software is a management cloud designed specifically for digital advertising. It makes it quick and easy to build revenue via a number of channels, create custom reports, and maximize your ROI.These are just a few of the best marketing tools out there today. Some of these tools are very competitively priced for small businesses, while others offer the complexity and flexibility that large corporations need. Research each tool to determine if it will provide the solution to your needs.About the Author:Elianna Hyde has been a freelance writer since 2009. She has attended the University of California and graduated with masters in mass communication. She loves watching TV shows, movies and has a keen interest in sharing her views on business and upcoming technologies. You can follow her on Twitter and Google+.Find Me On GooglePlus | Twitter