Maybe you’re a solopreneur or small business marketing team looking to grow your retail business in 2022. Do you feel overwhelmed by the quantity of apps and platforms that exist today for marketing automation?

Don’t worry – we’ve got you covered – Tagr’s Director Marketing, Allison Beacham – shares her 5 favorite tools but most importantly the 3 criteria that can help you select your marketing platforms!

So, let’s start with what makes a great marketing tool for small business owners?

• Easy to use – the idea here is not for you to become an expert but to learn quickly how the platform works and choose the features that make most sense for your business
• Affordable & scalable – we love platforms that offer free trials and free versions for small audiences. This gives you a chance to test the tool, get up to speed and only start paying once you’re ready to scale and start seeing results!
• Highly automated – this is the key to giving you and your team some time back! Think scheduling and auto-responding capabilities.

With these criteria in mind, Allison shares her selection of 5 must-have marketing tools for small business owners in 2022. You’ll don’t have to use all five of these tools at once, but one or two (or three) in combination will make for a standout marketing tech stack!

1. Canva https://www.canva.com

Canva is a powerful, affordable online design software. I love Canva for its ease of use and thousands of template options. With Canva, I can easily create beautiful designs without the design learning curve of other platforms.

2. Hotjar Hotjar: Website Heatmaps & Behavior Analytics Tools

Hotjar helps me understand how our users interact with our website. For example, it helps me identify the exact page our potential buyers are not engaging with on our website so that I can improve the copy on that page. Hotjar also shows me where users are clicking and scrolling on our website thanks to heatmaps and sessions recordings.

3. Typeform Typeform: People-Friendly Forms and Surveys

Typeform is a platform I use to create anything from surveys to contact forms, all without needing to write a single line of code. I use Typeform for contact forms on our website, also for new client onboarding questionnaires or lead generation sign-up forms on landing pages.

4. Rebrandly Rebrandly | Custom URL Shortener, Branded Link Management, API

I use Rebrandly to make our links look both prettier and shorter. I love how easy it is to hide tracking parameters while still measuring performance. Unlike other URL shorteners, Rebrandly links are simple to pronounce, easy to remember, and they promote our brand.

Loomly Loomly

I love Loomly because it’s not just a scheduler tool for posting but it ensures the approval workflow among my team. It’s also super affordable for just $25 a month, I can link 10 of our social media accounts and invite two users from my team to manage the calendars with you.