There is nothing a tech junkie marketer loves more than playing around with the latest app. New features and creative twists on video, imagery, and web design can be fun to explore and even a little distracting....
But how do the apps really improve quality of work, make collaboration easier, and increase efficiency?
Don't waste your time downloading and signing up for apps that don't live up to expectations. Skip the time suck, and check out the apps marketers should be using right now.
13 New Marketing Apps You Should Be Using Right Now
Social Media Apps
Perch
Perch was created specifically for small businesses and designed to be easily accessed and used on the go. It functions as a social media crutch, pulling together all your streams and posts and making recommendations on what to post and when. Their goal is more conversions for their customers with less time and effort, and it seems to be working. The ability to monitor pages and posts of competitors with ease is an added bonus.
Buffer
Buffer condenses all your social media tools and allows for easy-to-use scheduling for multiple accounts. Tailor your media schedule to when you know users are active and then access the monitoring tool to see which posts performed the best. The add-on Buffer Button allows easy updates to any of your social media accounts with a link to the webpage you have open or from a specific social media post you've come across.
Urban Airship
The Urban Airship app was created to drive sales and customer engagement through social media. Its extensive, real-time tracking allows users to reach customers and take engagement with them to an entirely new level. For marketers that have the followers, but are missing a deep level of engagement, this app is worth taking for a whirl. It combines mobile loyalty programs, in-app messaging, and amazing customer insights into one powerful app.
Instagram Stories
By combining aspects of Vine and Snapchat, the new Instagram Stories app allows marketers to delve deeper into branding and customer personas. Offering a brief glimpse into a product, brand, or spokesperson's day offers a new opportunity to get personal with customers.
Boast
Boast is a Facebook app designed to corral and highlight amazing customer testimonials on your business's Facebook page. Boost credibility by relying on happy customers to relay the benefits of your product. Boast is an improved, in-house version of Yelp, except that in the case of Boast, the marketer is in control.
Graphic Design Apps
Canva
For smaller businesses without access to an on-staff graphic designer, Canva is the answer. Use it on your phone, tablet, or PC to create beautiful images and documents for multiple purposes, including invitations, email headers, blog images, posters, and more.
Canva takes the technical aspects out of graphic design and offers thousands of free and paid templates which make it easy to create professional-level artwork. The free version should suffice for most, but the paid "Team" version makes designing with brand standards and collaborating with a team a breeze and is a worthwhile investment.
Adobe Spark
Need professional graphics quickly? Adobe Spark turns everyone into a graphics pro, creating social media posts, graphics, web stories, and animated videos in mere minutes. They describe themselves as "a one-stop content shop for creating and sharing visual stories that wow your audience." Choose from one of three project types:
Post: Ideal for social media, images, graphics, and announcements.
Page: Create online stories with amazing visuals for use as customer stories and portfolios.
Video: Video content is exploding. Adobe Spark makes it simple.
Prisma
Have you seen the glut of images on Instagram that turn photos into works of art? That would be Prisma. This new photo editing app makes a regular photo look like an actual art piece in the style of Van Gogh, Picasso, and other famous artists.
Another bonus? Their filters rock.
And with their just announced video app, Prisma is sure to remain popular with the digital marketing crowd for quite some time.
Communication Apps
Cloze
Cloze might have the best name on the list. It is designed to keep all your contacts closer by funneling contacts' social media actions, contact info, and your personal history into one smart application. It's like customer relationship management (CRM) without the data entry and will prioritize your contacts, so you won't miss a thing your number one prospects are doing on social media.
Cloze acts as a virtual personal assistant and prevents an embarrassing, but common, scenario; the "I know I was supposed to do something for you, but what?" For those of us that occasionally struggle to remember exactly where you left off, Cloze is the gently whispered answer in your ear. Essentially, it makes you look good.
Slack
Ever heard of "Slack Junkies"? PTO be damned; with Slack's addictive interface, you can't help yourself from at least sending a quick reply. It is just so easy and friendly. Build different teams and groups or talk directly to minimize overlap and say goodbye to endless "reply all" emails forever.
Collaboration Apps
Airtable
Airtable claims to make everything easier with their hot new organizational app. What sets it apart is the wide array of organizational templates available. Stop searching Excel templates and Googling for the right template for your next project—they're all on Airtable.
Essentially a super-charged, relational database tool with an easy to use interface, Airtable is great for project management, event planning, and CRM.
GatherContent
Who doesn't love GatherContent? This is the leader in collaboration apps and is particularly adept at managing, well, content. For publishers of any level, managing a crew of writers can be a challenge. GatherContent is the solution. GatherContent is a publisher's tool for keeping a wide range on projects moving forward and on deadline.
Invision
Finally, a way to crack the age-old communications barrier between the UI/UX guy and the business unit. It's easy to use. Cut and Paste, add images, and drop notes and content wherever needed. This app is ideal for remote teams collaborating on large website redesigns and launches.
Next Stop? The App Store
Go forth and conquer, marketers. Check out the apps listed above and reap the benefits of faster, better tools for every aspect of marketing. And we didn't even rank them by their "cool" factor...
