9 of the Best Marketing Apps for Your Business

A solid marketing strategy is what sets apart a thriving business from a struggling one. But when your manual marketing efforts come up short, there are many marketing apps you can rely on to streamline the promotion of your business.

Keep reading for ten of the best marketing apps for business owners.

Microsoft Planner

Some of the greatest business ideas ever conceived got their start on a humble whiteboard. The Microsoft Planner task management software and companion app (Android, iOS) work like a digital whiteboard.

Each board represents a project plan and each sticky note on the board represents a task you can assign to a member of a team. A couple of clicks or drag-and-drop actions will allow you to create new plans, teams or tasks or re-assign, categorize or update the status of existing tasks.

Hootsuite

Manually maintaining your business social media profiles across multiple platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can consume valuable resources and time. Hootsuite (Android, iOS) provides a consolidated dashboard that lets you view and manage profiles, schedule posts and gauge the efficacy of campaigns on every social platform where your business maintains a presence.

Facebook Pages

Two out of three American adults use Facebook, according to Pew Research, which makes creating a business Facebook page integral to attracting your target audience. The Facebook Pages app (Android, iOS) gives you a convenient way to post photos and text updates to your page, respond to client comments and view notifications. You'll also be able to track the success of posts through metrics about post reach, engagement and likes.

Yelp

Yelp receives an average of 32 million unique monthly app users, which is no surprise since few review sites have managed to compile millions of business reviews on a single platform as neatly or efficiently. Having the Yelp app (Android, iOS) on your smartphone allows you to fill out or modify your business profile, view your business rating in real-time, read reviews and respond to clients on the go with a few taps.

Fiverr

Need a last-minute graphic for your website before it goes live? How about a conversion of a blog post into a Powerpoint presentation you need to deliver to a client in a few hours? The Fiver app (Android, iOS) is one of the best marketing apps for business owners in need of an extra hand. It allows you to outsource small, everyday tasks at a reasonable cost to a chosen member of Fiver's global freelance pool, which can be a major convenience for cash-starved business owners.

Canva

Whether you need an infographic or a sketch of a product prototype, Canva allows you to create stunning still graphics, animations or videos directly from your smartphone. Better yet, the app (Android, iOS) lets you upload the created images directly to the social media platform of choice for pictures that require immediate viewing.

Google My Business

When is the last time you Googled your business name? If it's been a while, and you're afraid of what you might find, it's time you downloaded the Google My Business app (Android, iOS). The app lets you quickly take stock of the reviews, news and general business data people find when they enter your business into Google News, Google Maps or Google Plus. You can also update the name, location, and address of your business, upload photos and respond to customers on these business pages.

Mention

Defending the online reputation of your business is one of the greatest challenges of business today because the sheer number of digital outlets make it near impossible to gauge how people view your brand. The Mention app (Android, iOS) scours over one million sources around the web, including blogs, social media and website forums, to alert you to where and when you were mentioned and in what regard so that you can take steps to improve your online reputation if needed.

Scoop.it

Content marketing should be a component of every business owner's overall marketing strategy. But regularly identifying trending topics to develop content around can be a challenge even for the creative-minded. The Scoop.it app (iOS) allows you to search for topics and identify third-party content pieces that performed well in the searched domain. You can either develop value-added content related to these popular pieces or share the content with your audience to complement your original content.

To view the original article, visit the MileIQ blog.