It’s time for a suiting up montage.

You know, those close up shots in super hero movies where our hero puts on his boots, cape and utility belt?

Yeah, one of those.

So strap on your community building utility belt and a curly mustache if ya got one because it’s time to talk about some tools that are going to help you bring in customers and keep them wanting to hang around with you.

1. Autoresponder For Email Marketer

I’m going to hit you over the head with it one more time in case you haven’t heard it 10 times yet today: you need an email list.

It’s not just the common wisdom you should follow blindly – email marketing is the best way to actively reach out and get your message in front your customers.

They have to check your RSS feed.

They have to visit your blog.

They have to remember to bookmark you.

But when your autoresponder sends an email straight to their inbox you initiate the conversation.

What To Look For In An Autoresponder?

The right autoresponder for you depends on your goals but I personally have two qualifications:

• Multiple lists – The ability to have multiple lists means that you can tailor your marketing message to different segments of your audience. For example, one email can go to people who have bought your products before, while another one goes to folks on the fence who aren’t sure about buying yet. That one feature is priceless.
• Click tracking – Being able to track your clicks means that you know which of the links you’ve emailed out are most interesting to your customers. It’s the crux of testing – if you don’t know what works, you don’t know what doesn’t work.

My current autoresponder of choice Aweber which is one of the more popular players and has never given me (too much) trouble. I’ve also dabbled with MailChimp which I liked okay, but I still come home to Aweber so do with that info what you will.

2. Video Camera

I know a lot of you are uncomfortable on camera and I can understand that, but there really is no better way to establish a connection with your customers than to let them see your smiling mug on screen.

Emotion and inflection don’t travel over text, which is why sarcasm can be dangerous, and body language says a lot.

This is as close to in-person communication as you can get and at least this way you get to edit the footage if you totally screw it up. Let’s face it, for showing off your personality, there’s just no better bet than video.

What To Look For In A Video Camera

The good news is that you don’t need anything expensive, just the ability to transfer your footage to your computer.

For years I had a pro-quality Mini-DV Panasonic that cost me $1500. It was a great camera and I used the hell right out of it for a long time, but the camera I use now, the Kodak Zi8, is $100 on Amazon and actually shoots higher resolution than the one I paid a small fortune for.

3. Screencasting Software

No matter what your business specializes in, screencasting can help take your marketing and customer interaction to a new level. Screencasting lets you demonstrate your digital products, give tutorials and record sales presentations.

It’s also great as a teaching tool for creating digital How-To products or helping clients with technical issues.

Personally I use screencasting all the time as a replacement for typing out long explanations when helping clients solve blog design problems.  It’s just quicker and easier to record a video of me explaining what I do as I solve the problem live and emailing them a YouTube link.

What To Look For In Screencasting Software

I want two things from my screencasting software:

• Multitrack editing -multitracking means that you can lay text, music and other video on top of your screen recording which really spices things up. If you want to see some examples check out the videos on my YouTube page.
• Callouts – callouts are things like graphics and logos that you can use to enhance you video, but one of the things I really like is that you can use them to blur or mask sensitive info.

Currently I use Screenflow, which is a Mac specific software.

I used Camtasia previously but I find it clunky and expensive enough to warrant selling a kidney for so forget that.

Screenflow is simpler and let’s me get my videos done in half the time.

4. Microphone

A good mic, like a good camera, is a must and is super cheap to buy. It goes without saying (except I will anyway) that if your visitors can’t hear what you say in your videos and podcasts, your content is worthless.

Having a clear microphone means a mic that cuts down on hisses, pops and clicks in your speech and keeps your voice from sounding “tinny.”

If you have no idea what any of that means, don’t worry because you’ll know it when you hear it.

What To Look For In A Good Microphone

There are some seriously expensive microphones out there, but I use two types of mics right now that are really cheap, but great for what they do.

With my Kodak Zi8 I use an Olympus ME-15 lapel mic, it’s under $20 and it works like a charm.

For recording straight into the computer during screencasting or podcasting, I prefer to use a USB mic to avoid having to buy a sound mixer board which is expensive, takes up a lot of space and is way outside my needs.

Right now I use the USB mic that came with my Beatles RockBand kit (I swear to god) and it sounds great.

Bottom line, find a mic that doesn’t break the bank and still sounds good. Most of the quality is going to come out of editing anyway. Which brings us to…

5. Editing Software

For pretty much all the things above, you’re going to need video and audio editing software to make you look and sound good.

Editing can be tricky and can throw a lot of people off, but the important thing to remember is that editing your videos and podcasts isn’t about making it look pro-quality, just about tightening up for finished product.

We want to make sure your videos are fun, informative, entertaining and branded. Who cares if it looks like James Cameron made them or not?

Of course if you can snag James Cameron for a project you should probably jump on that…anyway…

What To Look For In Good Editing Software

Simplicity.

Don’t go out and buy Adobe Premiere or FinalCut Pro. Those are great pieces of software, but they’re complicated and you don’t need that hassle unless you’re editing a feature film.

I have extensive experience with both (editing films, incidentally) and right now I use Screenflow’s built in editor to edit everything I do.

Nine times out of ten you can just use whatever came with your computer like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker.

But Wait, There’s More

I know there a ton more tools for social media and the like that can help you build a community around your blog, but we’ll cover some of those in another list coming later.

For now though, share some of your favorite tools in the comment section and let everyone know what you’re getting the best results from.