by Sophie Daniline 
As marketers, we’re always looking for new ways to make our campaigns more effective and efficient. If you’re already using Pardot and Salesforce, then you have taken the first big step in your marketing automation journey.
But what else could you use to elevate your email marketing along the way?
For testing
Litmus is an email testing tool that allows you to check how your emails will display across a wide range of email clients and apps. It’s really useful as it saves you from creating test email accounts across email clients, while allowing you to test in one central place. It covers desktop, mobile and tablet.
Litmus usually costs to use, but if you have Pardot you could easily get around that, as Litmus is already built in there! You can access it in your email drafts by clicking the ‘Testing’ tab, then scrolling down to the ‘Rendering tests’ section.
For building
If I had all the marketing budget in the world then the Adobe suite (specifically Adobe Dreamweaver) would be my pick to build HTML / CSS email templates with. However, if you’re looking for a free alternative, there’s this nifty tool out there called Brackets.
One of the downsides of Pardot is that you can’t see what you’re building as you build. Brackets allows you to see what you’re coding in a browser window that updates each time you make an edit.
For imagery
You might have some really great brand imagery that you have access to, but if that’s not the case, stock imagery sites are your friend. If you’ve got the budget, then Shutterstock or Getty Images are fantastic. However, if you need something free, why not try Unsplash, Pexels, or IM Free.
Another one I came across more recently is Pikwizard. Unlike many of the free imagery sites. they have a lot pictures of people. The creator recommends searching ‘meeting’ to get an idea of the quality of people based imagery they offer.
Plus if you need to edit imagery and don’t want the pain of using Paint, or the cost of using Adobe Photoshop, there are some useful free web-based alternatives such as Pixlr or Canva.
If you don’t have access to iconography, you can find free icons on The Noun Project – just make sure they fit within your brand guidelines!
For screenshots
Supporting your copy with relevant imagery is really important, which makes screenshot tools a must-have for any marketer. The first I’d recommend is PlaceIt, which allows you to add screenshots of your application, website or digital product to your chosen device and context, for example onto iPhones, hoodies, etc.
My second recommendation is SnagIt which captures screenshots and videos of anything you see on your screen and has built-in editing abilities that allow modification of the screenshot before saving. You can even add effects (shadows, reflections, etc.) and element such as speech bubbles and text to your screenshot.
Now you know what external tools I recommend for succeeding with your online marketing communications. Don’t miss our best tips on how to optimise your email marketing strategy with Pardot.