I’ve spent over a dozen years in digital marketing learning to split my attention across multiple businesses, from my marketing agency to Mailshake — and I’ve had to stretch myself pretty thin at times. But, when you’re trying to grow a business, you can’t stay in that state forever.
After facing massive burnout, I learned pretty quickly that I needed to become a lot more efficient. There’s only so much time in the day, and only so much you can do on your own.
That’s why I’ve happened to cycle through a load of tools, apps and platforms over the last decade, trying to maintain a productive handle on things and keep the forward momentum going. After years of trial and error, here are my eight favorites that I recommend for driving business growth at any stage.
1. Buzzsumo
I’ve yet to find an application that can do everything Buzzsumo can. Honestly, I look back on my early days of content marketing and can’t believe the number of hours I spent on topic research alone.
Being able to plug in search terms and get the most popular content, along with the names of influencers sharing that content, makes this one of the most valuable tools in my library. Whether you’re trying to connect with influencers, create roundups, look for new topics, test audience interest or build skyscraper content for a new posts, you need Buzzsumo in your toolbox.
I’m not alone in making this recommendation. Brian Dean, founder of Backlinko and author of the now-famous skyscraper content post I linked to above, uses it whenever he wants to create viral content.
2. Hello Bar
Hello Bar is a great tool for lead generation, and it’s a relatively simple plugin to implement. When you want something a little more subtle than a pop-up, this is my go-to choice.
I’m all for aggressive pop-ups, but only when they’re appropriate. Sometimes, you need something less in your face in the funnel.
3. SumoMe
The SumoMe suite of tools is most commonly known for its opt-in tool set that helps you rapidly expand your list of email subscribers. The options and templates included for this functionality are terrific, and I love how easy it is to set up and customize each tool’s specific elements.
The additional tools available are just…