Software that makes your online business grow like a rocket on steroids! Social media marketing, website traffic and sales optimisation. That’s what you can get with free online advertising software for small business. No, it’s not a joke, there is such a thing.
We’ve done the hard work and put together the list of some of the top marketing automation and advertising software for small business owners and startups .
SendPulse
SendPulse is constantly evolving, improving the functionality of existing marketing channels and adding new ways to keep in touch with your customers.
At present, with SendPulse users can automate sending marketing emails, SMS, and web push notifications as well as create chatbots for popular messengers like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Telegram.
In addition to that, SendPulse also offers an email verifier, a landing page builder, and a free CRM for marketing and sales.
Almost any service within SendPulse’s functionality can be used for free with certain limitations.
The popularity of the platform can be explained by the combination of an intuitive user dashboard that doesn’t require any technical skills, a variety of channels to reach customers, and a smart pricing policy where users can opt for solutions to match their budget and business size.
It’s also worth noting that the service is available in six languages which certainly adds a touch of diversity and sets the platform apart from its competitors.
Penji
Sometimes, you’re loaded up with project management tasks, writing, and you don’t have time to do the infographics, images, logos, or landing page assets yourself.
Even the easiest apps won’t help clear your content schedule.
But then, there’s Penji. It’s used by big brands like Lyft and Reebok, and it’s like having a designer on retainer for everyday work.
You just need to enter the project description, and a dedicated designer goes to work, meanwhile, you can be brainstorming, writing, or managing.
Penji’s great for bloggers, social media marketers, and businesses running ad campaigns.
There are no surprises with the pricing, and if you need constant graphic design work, it’ll save you plenty of time and money.
Outfunnel
Outfunnel offers two-way sales and marketing integrations to keep your data in sync. You can pick and choose your favorite tools and easily set up deep data connections between them with Outfunnel.
So why use Outfunnel? Do small businesses really need another marketing automation tool?
The answer is no – what businesses need is a tool that helps unite the efforts of sales and marketing, so they can drive revenue together.
So Outfunnel stepped in to fill the gap, and created one platform that would deeply connect all your sales and marketing software.
It currently works with Pipedrive, Copper and HubSpot CRM.You can use it to set up seamless integrations such as Mailchimp and HubSpot, Copper and ActiveCampaign and more.
These integrations allow you to easily target your CRM contacts with marketing campaigns, and record engagement data from these tools (such as clicks, opens, etc) in the CRM.
Additionally, you can use Outfunnel’s Web tracking and Lead scoring functionalities to surface hot, sales-ready leads.
It also provides a simple email tool that automates campaigns and follow-ups.
You can use Outfunnel’s own simple email campaigns tool to send out email sequences based on data changes in the CRM.
Essentially, Outfunnel is the golden thread that unifies all your CRM and marketing tools, forms deep connections, and maximizes the usefulness of data from all of them.
It’s also got a clean interface that’s ultra user-friendly, so it really wins on the user experience front, too!
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is completely free software that provides valuable insights into who is visiting your website and how they engage with it.
It’s best paired with Google Search Console – another free digital marketing tool that helps you to identify any problems on your site and optimize it for traffic.
Some of the data points that Google Analytics makes available to you include:
- The number of visitors to your site by day, week, month, or any time period you choose
- Where these visitors are coming from – referrals from other website, organic search, ads, social, or direct
- The keywords people are using in Google to find your site
- The demographics and interests of your users
- How long each user spends on your site and which pages they visit
All this information is interesting, but it’s also vital knowledge that can help you to optimize your website and marketing campaigns (while keeping your SEO efforts low cost).
For example, you might notice through Search Console or Analytics that you’re getting a lot of traffic from a keyword that you lack content covering. Write a blog post optimized for that keyword and watch your traffic and engagement levels rocket.
Getting loads of visitors from Facebook but none from Twitter? Maybe this is a sign you should concentrate your marketing efforts on your main channel.
It’s all about the insights – not just the analytics.
Mailchimp
No matter how large or small your business is, email marketing should definitely be a part of your overall strategy.
When a customer signs up to your mailing list, they’re inviting you straight into their inbox. That’s why email marketing on average offers a higher ROI than any other marketing activity.
To get started with email marketing, you need a service that will enable you to capture emails, manage your lists, send out emails automatically or on a schedule, and analyze engagement.
Mailchimp is an ideal choice if you’re just starting out or if you are running a small business. Mailchimp’s basic service is free until your list hits 2,000 subscribers. It offers the main functionality you need without making managing your email marketing too complex.
Plus, Mailchimp now offers a slew of features and digital marketing tools (some under paid plans):
- Segmentation and personalization
- Landing page builders
- Form builders
- Audience insights
- CRM tools
- Predictive insights
Hootsuite
There’s no question. You must maintain a presence on social media to remain competitive in the marketplace. You also probably already know that social media can be a huge time sink, even if you’re using it purely for marketing purposes rather than endlessly scrolling.
Luckily, you have digital marketing tools available to cut down on this time inefficiency, like Hootsuite.
Hootsuite provides a central management platform for all your social media channels and allows you to schedule posts in advance so you can get all your social media content for the coming weeks or months ready in one session.
You also get advanced reporting tools to see which of your social media campaigns are working most effectively and use this data to calculate ROI.
You can also track mentions of your brand and manage responses, all in one dashboard.
Hootsuite also offers tools for promoting your social media posts through the platform now as well.
BuzzSumo
Your content strategy shouldn’t consist of wild stabs in the dark as you cover topics you think your audience will engage with.
That’s why 60% of B2B brands with the most successful content marketing have a documented strategy. Meanwhile, only 21% of the brands with the least successful content say they have a documented strategy.
To be successful in content marketing, you need to do your research properly, and this is why BuzzSumo is one of my favorite content marketing tools.
BuzzSumo shows content that is trending across social media based on searched topics. Following your search, you can analyze the results that are returned to see what’s so appealing about them and to get ideas of subjects to write about.
But BuzzSumo is moving beyond just basic content research and viral posts. Today, BuzzSumo offers tons of digital marketing tools like:
- Keyword research
- Influencer search
- Topic-based social media feeds
- Content analysis
- Crisis management
- Brand monitoring tools
KWFinder
SEO is a fundamental of online marketing and it’s important to get right. Not only should you make sure your site is structured properly and optimized for mobile, the content you produce must also contain relevant keywords that you have a good chance of ranking for in search results.
You need a special digital marketing tool to find those relevant keywords and start your search. You have several options available from the free Google Keyword Planner, to more complex suites of tools like SECockpit.
The more advanced digital marketing tools get quite expensive, with monthly subscription fees starting at $100 or more. However, options like KWFinder offer affordable, accurate, and useful insights at a perfect price point for small businesses.
Just put in a seed keyword and the tool will come back with hundreds of suggestions, search volume data, trends, and a ranking difficulty score for each word or phrase.
Mangools, the brand behind KWFinder, offers plans for individual tools or its full suite which includes a backlink tool, website analysis, SERP watchers, and more inside each one – along with a nice browser extension.
HubSpot
If you’re running multiple campaigns across numerous marketing channels, not only is it a huge challenge to manage them all, but you also have to figure out exactly what’s working and where to make improvements.
HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing software solution that enables you to bring all your different marketing channels together, and optimize for more traffic, a higher conversion rate, and better ROI.
The tool includes optimized templates that are ideal for creating landing pages along with other features like live chat and user action events which ramp up your engagement and convert more visitors into customers.
Other features of HubSpot include:
- Content optimization tools
- Optimized landing pages
- Email templates
- Marketing automation
- Lead management
- Analytics
- Social media management
The full version of HubSpot has a hefty price tag but small businesses on lower budgets can get started with their free or basic package.
HubSpot has also made the switch from an inbound marketing tool to a complete CRM platform, now offering free and paid sales hubs, customer service hubs, and content management (on top of the free/paid marketing hub).
However, the complete content management platform is only available in paid versions.
SocialChamp
There is always room to make life easier, either with your daily tasks or your social handles. Without any doubt, social media is an exceptional platform for small businesses to reach more customers.
It is challenging to manage your social media presence, posting on all social channels in different tabs, monitoring the engagements, and keeping the engagement flow.
But what if one tool is doing all this for you while keeping it pocket-friendly?
You don’t need to maximize your efforts or time when you have the right tool in your hands.
Social Champ is all here to share your struggles. A loyal friend for a small business. Digital marketing is the most effective and cost-efficient way to promote your small business to your target audience.
Social Champ supports small business owners and entrepreneurs to schedule posts, promote your business on different social media platforms, and see how your small business grows with Social Champ.
Conclusion
For small business owners that aren’t using a marketing software platform, you can easily feel overwhelmed by the digital marketing landscape. You need to provide people with a product or service, but in order to do this, there’s a lot to take care of. If you’re starting out in your own business, it might feel like you need to manage everything (marketing, branding, and more).