There are some creative thinkers here at The Marketing Centre, so we thought we would ask them what gadgets, gizmos, tools or services they would invest in, if we thrust £100 into their hands. We think it is safe to say that we got a wide variety of answers, from a Periscope account and a Raspberry Pi, to multiple types of pencil. We did say they were original...
We’ll start with Robert Stead: “If you’re looking for data-driven social media, SEO and Pay-per-Click, I’d recommend Linkdex. And for a novel view of your CV, LinkedIn profile, or other important text, take a look at Textexture, a semantic analysis tool that turns any text into a browsable graphical network.
Robert is also a fan of the Rise Global Power 100 Leaderboard, as is Nik Haider, who describes it as “an excellent low-cost tool for building an interest community”. Nik’s other recommendations are Radium One, “which can build a secondary audience from your website, as well as a very clear user demographic profiling of the existing audience.”
Nik keeps himself organised with TeuxDeux, “the best to-do-list software for the busy marketer” and would like everyone to do more with LinkedIn.
Nikki Milward votes for Mailchimp, as it is “free, versatile, easy to use and available to everyone.” On a more personal level, Nikki would recommend her Jawbone UP24. “I spend too much time in my car and at my desk,” she says, “but the Jawbone spurs me on to get up and work toward my fitness goals!”
It’s good to talk
It’s clear that Brian Prescott likes to talk: “As someone who perennially overspends on mobile, Giffgaff has saved me a fortune on calls and enables me to scale my usage up and down as needed”. How does he keep track of all the people he is calling? With Agile CRM: “It’s a really affordable and easy to integrate entry level service using the SaaS approach. It’s becoming increasingly extendable.”
It's good to talk: Giffgaff saves Brian Prescott a fortune on calls
One more from Brian: “For anyone with clients using Wordpress who are less than brilliant at keeping site software updated, Wordfence is an absolute (free) godsend and I’m currently building it into all my managed and new-build sites.”
Pete Jakob has got time on his mind: “My favourite software at the moment continues to be Toggl. It’s free and allows me to track time on projects across all platforms easily. Also makes it easy to report time for monthly invoicing and the like.”
Alex Swann wants people to look to the new, visual social media platforms: “Look at the benefits of live streaming,” she says.The likes of Periscope and Meerkat offer huge potential and are a fresh way for brands to reach customers. “The immediacy is fantastic.” She’d also like to see an end to ‘Death by Powerpoint’: “Webinars and demonstrations can take on a more interactive format, more like a meeting than a formal slide presentation.”
Lamia Walker recommends Tin Eye, “a very useful reverse image search, that is still free to use!” She also advises us to watch out for Recurly, “an innovative payment processor, which is very flexible and has moderate charges.”
More for your money
Rob Furness came up with a veritable shopping list, maybe his Christmas stocking was a little light this year: “I’d go for a Raspberry Pi set up as a media server, a Bluetooth receiver for the car, folding reading glasses, a TGT wallet, a power pack to recharge my iPhone on the move, a notebook and a pencil.” No sign of a cuddly toy but Rob did add that,“if you shop carefully enough, you’ll still have enough cash left for a cappuccino.”
Enough left for a cappuccino: Rob Furness is planning his £100 spend wisely
Robert Turner is keen for you to learn. He suggests signing up to the Springwise bulletin: “Their weekly newsletter lives up to its billing as ‘this week’s most inspiring innovations’.” He also feels the benefit of marketing lessons from Google via their Primer app.
Malcolm Johnston kept it simple: “My favourite gadget or gizmo is an app called CamCard, which scans and saves business cards to Outlook.”
Sophia Ahrel tried to push the envelope on the £100 budget: ”An Apple Pencil will transform my conceptualisation and visualisation in meetings and is a snip at only £79.” Unfortunately, she also needs a £679 iPad Pro to use it with. You know what? We’re keen to see what she can come up with, so we’ll let her get away with that.
iPad aside, it’s amazing what you can still get for £100, from software to gadgets to apps to wearables. Remember, though, a tool is nothing by itself, it’s about using it wisely.
Of course, the most effective investment you can make in 2016 is in marketing. Why not take our Marketing 360 Healthcheck to see where you stand? Or to talk to us about your marketing requirements for 2016 and beyond, get in touch.