Having the right tools is your passport to a job well done… This is true whether you’re responsible for handyman…er…handyperson(???) duties around the house. Or in charge of marketing your biz.
I learned this importance lesson at the tender age of 7… As youngster, I was close with a cousin, formally known as “Cousin Ed.” He was quite a bit older. About 20 years my senior.
Nowadays, Cousin Ed’s a doctor. In fact, he’s nearing retirement following a highly successful 30-year medical career.
But in my childhood days, he was a mechanic. He co-owned a small company that rebuilt rack and pinion streel columns. The guy was a total grease monkey. I guess you could say he was trying his hand at rebuilding cars before stepping up to rebuilding people.
Anyway, Cousin Ed gave me my first tool box. It was of the Big Red Tool Box variety. Only “kid-sized” (thus not SO big). He also bestowed upon me my first set of tools. And taught me how to use them. Mostly by assigning me practical jobs around his auto shop: “take apart this carburetor and sort out all the parts, and I’ll give you a nickel for every bolt.”
He also always admonished me: “Having right tool is the difference between getting the job done, and winding up stranded somewhere unpleasant. So keep your tools handy… You never know when you might need them.” And he was right…
Now, as far as I know, Cousin Ed has NEVER purchased a car brand new. Instead, he favored the used variety. Mostly for the “deep discount” buying uses “afforded” him. And because he possessed the uncanny ability to “fix ‘em up” and “keep ‘em running.” Something mere mortals, like us, lack.
The downside of user cars, however, is their unpredictable propensity to break down. Usually when you least expect it. And in the MOST inconvenient locations possible… One such breakdown occurred whilst Cousin Ed and I were on a back country road in the proverbial “middle of nowhere.”
As you might expect, Cousin Ed was NOT an AAA man. No, he was (and is) DYI until he dies. But after identifying a loose fitting as the culprit instigating his ’77 Toyota Tercel Wagon’s latest breakdown, Cousin Ed lamented not having his mini-socket set – the perfect tool for the job. Unfortunately, he’d lent it to a friend.
“I have a mini-socket set!” I chimed in, helpfully.
“Oh, yeah? Where is it?” Cousin Ed inquired.
“In my tool set!” I responded.
“And where’s that?” Cousin Ed asked.
“At home…” I trailed off.
“That’s why I always say ‘keep your tools handy’” Cousin Ed replied, “you never know when you might need ‘em.”
This was long (long, long) before the days of cell phones. That meant we had to walk a couple of miles until we found a house to call a tow truck. And then wait another hour and half plus for said tow truck to arrive.
Trekking miles through creepy backwoods. Knocking on a completed rando stranger’s door (how do we know this guy isn’t reenacting silence of the lambs in his basement or what!?) to beg for telephone access. And waiting seemingly FOREVER for a tow truck. At age 7, that chain of events makes an EVERLASTING impact.
The reverberations of this childhood less is why it pains me when I encounter clients who’ve floated down a similar branch of Sh*t’s creek – in a marketing context.
Yup, all too often business owners DON’T have the RIGHT tools in their proverbial Big Red Marketing Tool Box. And in many cases, said business owners don’t even know what the RIGHT marketing tools are.
To solve that problem, here’s my list of 5 tools that SHOULD be in your DIY marketing toolkit…

Dependable Domain Registrar + Hosting Company

I’m going to assume you already know you need a website. If not, we NEED to talk separately – Because you’ve got bigger fish to fry than just assembling a marketing toolkit…
But knowing you need a website is one thing. Knowing where to register your domain name (www.yourbiz.com) and where to host your site (the servers where your site lives so internet users can access it) is another matter entirely.
Many domain registration and hosting companies offer discounts for different services. Which makes it tempting to split your domain registration and hosting between two companies. Don’t. That split, regardless of how enticing the discount might be, needlessly complicates the process. And can even yield some unexpected pitfalls. Which is the last thing you want with your business website.
For domain registration + hosting, I recommend: Bluehost. They have one of the most affordable hosting packages going (their shared hosting platform). And their customer services is SOID. (They went through a brief dip customer service quality dip as their organization was growing, but have since FULLY recovered.)
Additional tip: AVOID GoDaddy. Sure, they pump out lots of sexy advertising. And offer some deep discounts. But there are GENUINE flaws with their hosting services. And while their customer service is readily accessible, their techs often don’t have the knowledge or skills to handle many of the technical issues their customers face.

WordPress CMS (website platform)

So now you’ve got your domain name registered and a spot for your website to live. WHEW! Glad that’s over with.
But now it’s time to actually BUILD your site.
So where do you start?
In a word: WordPress (pun intended!)
There are plenty of website builders out there. Or you could hire a designer to “hand code” your site (at great expense).
But WordPress is by far the easiest and most flexible option. With Bluehost’s “one-click WordPress install,” installing the platform is effortless. Plus, WordPress offers a seemingly bottomless well of site templates (both free + paid).
And most importantly, WordPress is CONSTANTLY updating their platform to incorporate the latest internet best practices.
Plus, these updates are available to you via one-click installs. And are applied across your ENTIRE site. Unlike custom hand-coded sites that require an exhaustive, site-wide overhaul.
Check out WordPress.com for more info.

Email Service Provider (ESP)

When it comes to marketing your small biz, you’re generally operating on small budget. Which means maximum return on minimal investment is uber-critical.
Well, fellow small business compatriots here comes email marketing to the rescue! What makes email marketing so great? An average of 40-to-1 return on investment (ROI). That means for every dollar you spend on email marketing returns $40 in revenue.
And let me tell you, that’s BANANAS! In fact, the average ROI on all other paid marketing tactics combined adds up to only about a third of email’s average return.
But to use email marketing effectively, you need an Email Service Provider. See, your typical mail client (Outlook, Apple Mail, Gmail, Yahoo, etc…), only allows you to send a single email to about 20 recipients at a time.
An ESP allows you to blast a single email to a virtually infinite number of recipients. And most ESPs offer a lot more than just broadcast capabilities… Predesigned templates, which makes creating gorgeous, best practice-complainant emails a snap, list segmentation options that allow you to target different segments of your client base, assorted tracking tools, social media plugins, and many more other email marketing optimization tools.
Now, there are a bevy of ESPs out there, including Constant Contact, Aweber and MailChimp. For my money, though, MailChimp is by far your BEST bet.
MailChimp offers a free account that allows you to broadcast emails to as many 2,000 recipients, and send up 12,000 emails per month. They offer tons of great looking, flexible and easy to customize email templates. And a HUGE knowledge-base help application to answer all your functionality questions.

Hootsuite, Buffer, Edgar or Similar Social Scheduler

About a decade ago, marketing pros were having the “website come to Jesus” intervention with small business owners. Because those who still hadn’t jump on the website bullet train were about to get left behind…
These days, many similar interventions are happening in the marketing world. But now they revolve around social media. In other words, social media is an undeniable part of any successful marketing strategy.
But the biggest complaint about social media is the “time suck” factor. And those complaints are valid. Effective social media marketing campaigns require a sizable time investment. But there’s a way to cut down on time suck…
Enter social scheduling tools like Hootsuite, Buffer and (on a more involved and expensive tip) Edgar. These tools enable you to schedule your entire social schedule a week, month and beyond in advance.
Edgar, which is by far the most expensive of these tools, even allows you to create “social update library.” Say whaaaaa? Let’s say you crafted a genius Tweet or Facebook update that links to a valuable piece of content, high performing sales page, or email signup form. You can call up that Tweet or update from your library on demand and repost.
But if you’re just getting started with social schedulers, I recommend Hootsuite. Their basic account is free (streaming up to three social platforms) and totally user-friendly.

Basic Layout Program

At some point, it’s gonna happen… You’ll need a flyer, poster, ad, or even specially formatted letter. That makes a layout application an important tool in your marketing toolkit.
If you have the full Microsoft Office Suite, Publisher is a powerful and relatively easy to use layout app. But if just have just the basic MS Office Suite, Word is essentially a mini-publishing app. It’s a tougher to format content and make a layout look the way you want, but it’ll get the job done.
There are also a couple of free layout programs you can use online or download…
Canva is an AMAZINGLY easy to use layout program. It’s a GREAT alternative if Word or Publisher aren’t an option or just aren’t cutting it for your needs. (Canva offers both free and paid versions, but the free version is fine for most of your basic layout needs.)
Scribus is professional grade layout app capable of creating legit print-ready artwork.

What’s in Your Current Marketing Toolkit?

Have any marketing tools proven indispensable in growing your business? Some in genius or can’t live without item I’m ignorant of? My all means, drop by my Google+ page and share!