If you’re trying to scale your marketing efforts, there are thousands of tools that can help you accomplish your goals. Unfortunately, many of those technologies often don’t fit within the marketing budget of a small business owner.
However, there are a number of marketing tools that you can use for free or for a minimal cost. From content creation to social media distribution to website analytics, there are marketing technology tools available on the market to fit any budget or marketing objective.
We’ve rounded up four marketing areas that can leverage martech solutions – check them out to learn how you can incorporate them into your tech stack for little or no money.
Marketing automation
When you think about marketing technology, marketing automation platforms are often the first thing that comes to mind. But tools like Marketo, Eloqua, and Pardot are expensive and better suited for large marketing teams.
If you’re looking for a free alternative, check out HubSpot’s marketing platform. Their free tools include email marketing, live chat, forms, and ads. Plus, their marketing automation system integrates with their free customer relationship management (CRM) platform as well, which allows you to track the complete lead lifecycle and hand-off warm leads to sales.
Social media management
Social media is a critical component of any digital marketing strategy, but managing your company’s social presence can be an extremely manual process without the right tools in place.
Affordable social media management tools like Buffer and Hootsuite allow you to post across multiple channels at the same time and track your engagement metrics. You’ll save time and learn what types of content and messaging resonate with your target audience.
Graphic design
Most small businesses don’t have designers on their payroll – but even if that’s the case for your company, you can still have beautifully designed graphics. Free tools like Canva offer a library of design templates for posters, blog banners, social media posts, and more.
If you’re looking to create more impactful and engaging visual content, tools like Piktochart allow you to design your own infographics, presentations, and reports. The best part of these technologies is that no formal design skills are required; just drop in your messaging and tweak to fit your brand style.
Website analytics
Once you’ve crafted and promoted your content, you’ll want to use it to drive prospective customers to your website. Free analytics tools like Google Analytics allow you to capture their engagement path on your website, including where they clicked and how long they spent on each page.
These insights will help you optimize your website for more conversions and better user experience. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can test out more advanced tactics, such as building personalized site content for custom audiences.
As marketing becomes increasingly data-driven, more and more technologies are emerging to help business owners and marketers understand their target audiences on a deeper level. Leverage these free (or cheap) tools to develop stronger relationships with your prospects and customers and drive more revenue from your digital marketing efforts.
