Free and low cost marketing tools for small businesses

When times are tough, marketing is often the first budget to get the chop! How are we meant to live laugh love in these economic conditions?

If you’re looking to tighten your belt give some of these free or low cost marketing tools a try. They aren’t going to get the same result as working with experts but they might just make life easier for a little bit.

AI copywriting tools for marketing

AI will never replace the skills of a real human copywriter but sometimes we need a little hand. My favourites are Polite Post for customer service comms and Penelope AI for helping string thoughts together. And if email copy is where you struggle then check out Hoppy Copy.

One of the cleverer AI tools I’ve seen out in the wild is Alicent which can take your web URL and spit out various marketing copy for use in email or social media.

Quick marketing analysis tools

All of your favourite marketers are using quick analysis tools to establish the lay of the land before they talk to a potential new client like yourself. So here are a few of our favs:

Keywords Everywhere is a browser plugin that helps with keyword research, clearly shows the size of the prize (number of searches), and the competition (how much to pay for clicks)....handy if you’re running paid ads, but also to establish a good baseline for how hard you might have to work to get cut through online in a crowded marketplace. 

Meta Ads Library should be everyone’s first port of call when completing competitor research to establish what the competition’s key marketing messages are, as well as give you a gut-feel of how much they may be investing in paid social. 

NameChk allows you to check existing business names and generate new ones at the click of a button and get those creative juices going before buying domain names, securing social handles or picking a name that is already taken.

Get the most out of your customer reviews

Reviews are powerful and can help make it easier for your customers to choose you. Creating an automated process with email that includes imbedded code requesting a review with examples of other people’s reviews can make life easier on you AND your customers who might simply be put off because they don’t know what to write. Elfsight Google Review Widget nails this with heaps of customisation options. 

If you already have a bunch of fantastic Google or Facebook reviews, don’t let them languish in the ether, automatically populate them on your website using the All-in-One Review widget by Elfsight. You can control which reviews populate the widget including filtering by number of stars, score, or keywords… so if you want to fill your social media marketing sales page with only reviews about social media, you can do that, no coding required! 

Influencer Engagement Analysis Tool

If you are considering a paid relationship with an influencer or social media personality you want to ensure that their follower numbers are made up of engaged and relevant potential customers. Social Media analytics tool Social Blade allows you to enter the username or URL of any social media account and get a quick check on their engagement and whether they have had any suspicious follower behaviour (huge gains or drops can indicate a less than authentic method of acquiring followers).

Free Search Volume Tool

When it comes to figuring out the demand for your product, service or content the first place you need to check how many people are tapping away on Google actually searching for what you offer. Google Keyword Planner is accessible under the tools menu inside your Google Advertising account however, some people struggle with the Google Advertising interface.

If you’re looking for a more user friendly option head to Uber Suggest by Neil Patel where you can look at where your website ranks for specific keywords by entering your domain name OR you can enter a keyword and investigate search volumes & ranking difficulty. Make sure you have selected the right country before hitting go, and use this to inform your Google Advertising strategy OR inspire your content planning.

Give me all the tools!

If hunting down new shiny things and staying ahead of the productivity curve is something you’re into, I recommend joining AppSumo where you will get access to lifetime subscriptions. You can browse by app type so whether you’re after a CRM, social media scheduling, proposal tools, or inbox management - find yourself a bargain on AppSumo and pay less for cool shit you might end up using for life. 

If you’re a small business owner who needs a hand setting up your marketing tech stack or want a sense check of your current situation, then we’d love to work with you.