7 Must-Have Marketing Apps
for the Built Environment

by TODD STOLARSKI | Aug 19, 2015

As our industry's most bright-eyed and presentable storytellers gather in the City of Angels this week, we know the Twittersphere will be buzzing, and the energy level there will be off the charts. So, to help the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) kick off its annual Build Business conference today, we offer here 7 Must-Have Apps to help make your AEC business stand out from the pack. After all, the theme of this week's annual meeting is Go Beyond: Stand out in a Sea of Sameness.

So, with that in mind, let us set sail...

Optimizely - Five years ago, two men who once worked at Google headquarters, began a company that likely did a considerable amount of split testing on its website. The testing results paid large dividends because Optimizely is now the place to go to for all your A/B website needs. Inside the last year, they have begun mobile app split-testing, as well;

Grammarly - Everyone has spellcheck in their pockets now, but this app also puts an editor at your fingertips, too. In real time, this free browser plugin will check for 10X the amount of mistakes currently recognized by Microsoft Word, plus send you a weekly report of your writing statistics;

Hootsuite - You have a Twitter account, and one for Facebook, and LinkedIn, a YouTube channel, and finally, Instagram. Oh right, Google+...almost forgot about that one. It can be difficult to keep up with all the social media tools available and that's why you need a management dashboard. Hootsuite consolidates everything together so you can send, and schedule, your posts across all channels in a simple fashion. Bonus points for their recent inclusion of Instagram;

Hard Hat Hub - Having already won a first place award for the "Mixed Media" category at the regional SMPS conference this year, it's hard for our industry's fastest-growing site for matching both jobseekers and employers to fly under the radar. And now it is revamped and even more user-friendly. So, check it out and sign up for the job search engine that combines high tech with high talent. (Think Match.com, only with fewer long walks on the beach);

Right Relevance - Like a few of the apps mentioned on this list Right Relevance is still in beta, but their website is smooth. BuiltWorlds' Director of Marketing, Ian Manger pointed out why he has it bookmarked: "Content is king and you need to see how your social channels are pushing new boundaries for your audience. Right Relevance gives strong insights without having to pay";

Userium - Something as so simple a checklist can be so crucial. That's where Userium comes in. They provide a beautifully minimal checklist for developers to walk through to make sure that your site loads and works properly before someone browses it. From page layout to accessibility and all points in between, they make sure all of your zeroes and ones are in a row;

Evernote - You have this by now, right? It should come factory installed with every smart device. This note taking app began as a way to instantly store your thoughts in the cloud and has evolved into a behemoth of real-time collaboration. Still free to sign up for a basic account, this cross-platform app now boasts over 100 million users worldwide.

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Not in LA this week? Keep up with the hashtag #smpsbb15 on twitter.