For Blue Frog, 2015 was a year of great success: new staff, new clients, new projects, and a reinvigorated passion for what we do. But alongside all of our accomplishments come great challenges, and being able to work smartly and efficiently helps us continue to be our best and strive for more. Behind each successful company are the tools and platforms that help it function smoothly. These are the top ten technologies that help to fuel our success:
"HubSpot is the most powerful inbound marketing platform! It houses your email marketing, social media marketing, contacts, traffic reports, and data. It allows you to attract leads with landing pages and CTAs and nurture them by creating customized lists and workflows." -- Laura, Inbound Strategist
At Blue Frog, we live and breathe inbound. With HubSpot's powerful platform, it's easier than ever to keep track of every facet of your business strategy without losing yourself in the whirlwind world of marketing.
"It keeps everyone, both in and out of the office, on the same page. You can monitor (literally) hundreds of to-dos, no problem. You can also keep people on track by assigning due dates to different projects." -- Micah, Creative Specialist
Basecamp keeps our main and remote offices organized and allows us to work effectively together as a team. By having a single, unified, forum on which to post projects, comments, and questions, our entire staff can remain in the loop with each other's work loads and tasks.
"I speak for all the designers when I say we use this every single day. I couldn’t do my job without it." -- Erin, Creative Specialist
For designers, no tool is more universal than the Adobe Creative Suite. Having easy access to essentials like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign is absolutely vital to not only our own branding and design but also to that of all of our clients.
"I always recommend Dropbox for people needing storage space. For personal, you can use space for free; for business you can buy a terabyte for practically nothing and virtually never run out of space. It’s ideal for remote project managers!" -- Kelsey, Inbound Strategist
Much like Basecamp, Dropbox unifies our team through a single server, enabling us to share documents and revisions in real time, which enhances our ability to work quickly and efficiently. Using a tool like Dropbox is a great way to increase the productivity level of your business.
"WordPress is the first platform that comes to mind for blog and website creation." -- Halverson, Digital Marketing Specialist
WordPress is a user-friendly website creation platform that offers amazing customer service and designer forums. With the ability to build from pre-existing templates or insert your own code, the flexibility it offers for website design is as powerful as it is convenient.
“People always ask me how we manage to write such successful ads, and I have to give credit to the Power Editor. After taking the time to learn and practice using it, I can’t imagine going back to the ad manager. It really sets our ads apart!” -- Kelsey
Our inbound strategists and account managers love the Power Editor. It takes Facebook ads to a new level by allowing more text to create even more descriptive ads, which, in turn, increases the probability of your ads being seen (and even more importantly, clicked on!).
“With so many management tools available, Sprout Social wins by a landslide with its overall functionality. Its well organized dashboard and messages area presents all of your connected social platforms in a single unified stream. It also furnishes several analytic and report options at no additional cost." -- Laura
The tracking and analytics behind Sprout Social are what makes it better than other social media-specific posting platforms out right now. Since they only offer social media publishing, they have excelled at making it a specialty.
"Tracking calls is a vital strategy for a marketing agency because it allows us to show exactly who we are sending directly to our clients. CallRail makes measuring ROI a breeze, and it’s an absolute must-have for agencies!" -- Kelsey
CallRail allows you to gain metrics into who is calling your business from your online marketing campaigns, how long the call lasted, where they were calling from, and more -- perfect for any small business.
"SharpSpring is an affordable online marketing platform that allows you to really focus on email drip campaigns and engage with your leads and customers." -- Laura
SharpSpring is known for its advanced email marketing technology, but its ”Life of the Lead” feature allows you to track a visitor from their very first visit, through every email or call touch, all the way to purchase.
“Yext makes managing and updating hundreds of online listings a breeze and allows you to monitor online reviews all in one place. The easy-to-use dashboard, the ability to manage numerous client locations in one place, and the outstanding customer service behind the technology makes Yext an agency essential!” -- Kelsey
At Blue Frog, we love how Yext enables us to manage countless directories across the web. Its single platform controls your listings and makes organizing your marketing lists a breeze.
Like what you see? Subscribe to our Frog Blog to learn more about inbound marketing, SEO, web design, and our many print services! Call us at 515.221.224 or go to www.bluefrogdm.com. With offices in Des Moines and Denver, we serve clients across the U.S.