11 apps that make marketers' lives easier: The small business edition

If you work in a small business, we don't have to tell you twice about the common pain points in marketing... but we're going to anyway.

Limited resources, tight budgets and complex workflows leave you feeling pretty overwhelmed when you're supposed to be juggling multiple tasks at once, creating compelling and engaging content, and tracking performance... all at the same time. 

These kind of pain points are exactly why the martech industry is growing, growing, and growing. Here are just a few marketing apps that should be included in your martech stack to: 

• Streamline marketing processes
• Boost productivity 
• Help teams work smarter, not harder

1) Optimizely: The all-in-one marketing powerhouse

What is Optimizely? Optimizely is a comprehensive digital experience platform designed specifically for modern marketers who need flexibility, efficiency, and data-driven insights.

Why Optimizely? Optimizely One is a game-changing end-to-end solution for marketing organizations. It offers marketers a suite of integrated tools including:

• Content Management System (CMS)
• Content Marketing Platform (CMP)
• Web experimentation
• Personalization capabilities
• Data warehouse native analytics

🏆 Special mention goes to: Optimizely Opal The platform's crown jewel is Opal, an embedded AI assistant that transforms your workflows. From initial ideation to publication and analytics, Opal helps marketers automate processes, generate creative content, and implement data-driven personalization tactics with unprecedented ease.

2) Mailchimp: Email marketing made easy

What is Mailchimp? Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform specializing in email marketing, automation, and customer relationship management.

Why Mailchimp? It offers small businesses an affordable, user-friendly way to design emails, automate campaigns, and track performance without requiring advanced technical skills.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Marketing CRM Mailchimp goes beyond email, providing a comprehensive CRM that helps businesses understand and segment their audience, creating more targeted and effective marketing strategies.

3) Hootsuite: Simplify your social media management

What is Hootsuite? Hootsuite is a social media management platform that allows businesses to schedule, publish, and monitor content across multiple social networks from a single dashboard.

Why Hootsuite? It saves marketers significant time by centralizing social media activities and providing robust analytics to track engagement and performance.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Team collaboration Hootsuite's collaborative features enable team members to work together seamlessly, assign tasks, and maintain a consistent brand voice across platforms.

4) Canva: Design (so your designers don't have to)

What is Canva? Canva is a graphic design platform that democratizes design, allowing even non-designers to create professional-looking visual content.

Why Canva? With thousands of templates and intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces, Canva enables marketers to produce high-quality graphics quickly and cost-effectively.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Template library Canva's extensive template library covers everything from social media posts to presentations, ensuring marketers always have a starting point for their visual content.

5) Google Analytics: The official data intelligence hub

What is Google Analytics? A free web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic, providing insights into user behavior and campaign performance.

Why Google Analytics? It offers comprehensive, real-time data about website visitors, helping marketers understand their audience and optimize their digital strategies.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Advanced segmentation Google Analytics allows marketers to create detailed audience segments, enabling hyper-targeted marketing approaches.

6) Ahrefs: Get SEO savvy in seconds

What is Ahrefs? A comprehensive SEO tool that helps marketers research keywords, analyze competitors, and track search rankings.

Why Ahrefs? It provides deep insights into search performance, helping marketers develop data-driven content and SEO strategies.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Competitive Analysis Ahrefs' competitor analysis tools allow marketers to understand what's working in their industry and develop more effective content strategies.

7) Buffer: Streamline your social media schedule 

What is Buffer? A social media management platform focused on scheduling and analyzing social media content.

Why Buffer? It simplifies social media publishing with an intuitive interface and powerful scheduling capabilities.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Analytics and Reporting Buffer provides detailed performance reports, helping marketers understand the impact of their social media efforts.

8) Hotjar: Gain 'hot' UX insights

What is Hotjar? A user experience analytics tool that provides heatmaps, session recordings, and user feedback mechanisms.

Why Hotjar? It helps marketers understand how users interact with their websites, identifying areas for improvement.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Conversion optimization Hotjar's visual tools make it easy to spot user experience issues that might be hindering conversions.

9) Calendly: Effortless schedule meetings 

What is Calendly? An appointment scheduling software that eliminates the back-and-forth of setting up meetings.

Why Calendly? It saves time by allowing people to book meetings directly based on your availability.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Integration capabilities Calendly integrates with numerous calendar and communication platforms, making scheduling seamless.

10) Lucidchart: Collaborate with visuals and flowcharts

What is Lucidchart? An online diagramming tool for creating flowcharts, wireframes, and organizational charts.

Why Lucidchart? It helps teams visualize complex processes and collaborate on diagram creation.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Real-time collaboration Lucidchart allows multiple team members to work on the same diagram simultaneously, enhancing teamwork.

11) Business messaging apps: Slack and Microsoft Teams

What are business messaging apps? Slack and Microsoft Teams are communication platforms that enable real-time messaging, file sharing, and team collaboration.

Why business messaging apps? They replace email for internal communications, creating more dynamic and immediate team interactions.

🏆 Special mention goes to: Integration ecosystem Both Slack and Teams offer extensive app integrations, allowing teams to connect their favorite tools and streamline workflows (including Optimizely, d'uh).

Your ultimate productivity toolkit

By leveraging apps and platforms like these, marketers can overcome those really annoying day-to-day pain points. Less of the resource constraints and boring, repetitive tasks, and more time to focus on what truly matters: creating compelling digital experiences for their audience (AKA the fun stuff).