Note: This post and the accompanying infographic were originally published by our friends at Hatchbuck. They are republished here with permission.
Managing all aspects of marketing can be a real challenge for small business owners. You’re likely already stretched thin, lacking the extra staff or funds for a multitude of pricey marketing solutions.
Don’t worry! There are plenty of budget-friendly and powerful tools available to boost your marketing game and go head-to-head with the industry giants.
We’ve put together a list of 64 of our top marketing tools for small businesses to help you conquer marketing mayhem. Remember, you won’t need all 64, and they’re not all directly comparable. The key is to identify a few that align with your business needs and invest the time and effort to get the most out of them.
Learn more about each of these tools designed for analytics, content marketing, lead generation, SEO, PPC, email marketing and automation, design, project management, and social media, all detailed below the infographic.
Now, let’s take a deeper look at the tools in each category.
Analytics Tools for Your Small Business
Google Analytics Google Analytics is a familiar name for most. This tool enables you to gather and analyze data about your website traffic and visitors. Used strategically, it can significantly enhance your website’s user experience and boost your conversion rates.
KISSmetrics Ideal for SaaS companies, the KISSmetrics platform helps pinpoint the origins of your prospects and traces their journey on your website, from initial interest to becoming a customer. KISSmetrics delivers crucial data to optimize your marketing channels, attract more customers, and guide them towards conversion once they land on your website.
CrazyEgg CrazyEgg’s heatmapping feature unveils how visitors interact with your website. It reveals their scrolling and clicking patterns and, more importantly, what fails to grab their attention. CrazyEgg empowers you to optimize your landing pages, ensuring visitors stay engaged and progress smoothly through your sales funnel.
Hotjar Hotjar is a comprehensive analytics and heatmap tool that integrates seamlessly with a variety of platforms like WordPress, Instapage, and Unbounce. With incredibly simple setup, Hotjar even allows you to record website visits to observe where your customers are clicking and what captures their focus on your site.
Intercom Intercom is a customer messaging platform that sheds light on where your customers encounter obstacles and enables you to send targeted messages to resolve their issues. This tool offers insights for improvement on both your website and within your platform, especially for SaaS companies. By automating customer service and implementing live chat, you can maintain customer engagement and minimize costly churn.
Pendo Pendo functions as a seamless extension of your product, capturing all user behavior, gathering feedback, and providing contextually relevant assistance to your users. It provides robust reporting on page views and feature usage, empowering you to enhance your product effectively.
GoodData GoodData is a business intelligence and data visualization tool. While better suited for larger enterprises, it’s a powerful asset for any business. Instead of diverting limited resources towards building and maintaining BI infrastructure, GoodData allows you to concentrate on transforming your data into actionable insights across your business.
ChartMogul ChartMogul stands out as another exceptional business intelligence tool. The platform seamlessly integrates with many other tools you likely use (including Zapier, Zendesk, and Slack), allowing you to calculate key metrics in real-time and bid farewell to manual Excel spreadsheets.
Content Marketing Tools for Your Small Business
WordPress According to their website, WordPress powers a staggering 27% of the internet, and there’s good reason for its popularity. WordPress is arguably the most user-friendly content management system available and comes with a very reasonable price tag. While free for personal use, the most suitable package for small businesses starts at a budget-friendly $8.25 per month.
Feedly Content curation can be a real time drain, especially when building your social media presence. Feedly steps in to simplify this process, allowing you to search, organize, and share relevant content effortlessly. What’s more, Feedly integrates seamlessly with various project management tools such as Slack and Trello for enhanced efficiency.
Grammarly Can’t quite afford a dedicated copy editor to polish your blog posts before they go live? Grammarly comes to the rescue, preventing embarrassing errors. Use it in conjunction with your spell checker, and you’ll be amazed at how many typos you catch. Opt for the premium version, and Grammarly sweetens the deal with a plagiarism checker for added peace of mind.
CoSchedule Headlines are make-or-break for your content, determining whether readers click through or move on. In addition to their comprehensive content marketing calendar, CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer rates your headlines numerically and provides actionable suggestions for improvement, ensuring they are as compelling as possible.
BuzzSumo BuzzSumo is a powerful tool to identify trending topics and top-performing content across different social media platforms. It’s also a great way to uncover influencers in your niche (and even keep tabs on your competitors, if that’s your style).
Contently Contently goes beyond simply scheduling and optimizing content; this platform offers access to a network of freelance writers who can create in-depth articles and blog posts for your business. While Contently leans towards enterprise clients, no “best of” list would be complete without mentioning its comprehensive capabilities.
ClearVoice ClearVoice is a content creation and management platform that connects you with freelance writers and editors to produce professional content. While ClearVoice might not be the best fit for small businesses just starting their journey (due to its annual subscription model), it’s definitely one to keep on your radar as your content marketing strategy matures.
Wistia Video marketing is experiencing a surge in popularity this year and is an essential piece of the content marketing puzzle. Wistia stands out as a top-tier video tool. Like many other social and content tools, Wistia offers analytics, automation, and video hosting capabilities. The platform’s strength lies in its ability to track which videos resonate most with your audience. Additionally, its call-to-action feature is invaluable for directing traffic to your website regardless of where your Wistia video is hosted online.
Small Business Tools for Lead Capture
OptinMonster OptinMonster’s straightforward lead capture forms simplify the process of offering valuable resources to your audience in exchange for their contact information, effectively growing your email list. The platform allows you to A/B test different versions of your forms to identify what works best and understand why visitors stay or leave, enabling data-driven optimization.
Unbounce Unbounce is a user-friendly landing page builder that provides aesthetically pleasing, pre-designed templates. These templates make it easy to create functional landing pages without needing coding experience or professional web design services. Plans begin at $49 per month, and Unbounce sweetens the deal with a free 30-day trial to test the waters.
LeadPages LeadPages provides pre-designed landing page templates, pop-up forms, and the ability to send SMS opt-in codes, making it a versatile option. It boasts numerous seamless integrations, and its Pro Plan, starting at $48 per month, unlocks even more features.
Sumo Sumo (previously SumoMe) offers a suite of useful lead capture tools, such as advanced opt-in forms, hassle-free integrations with virtually every content management system, Google Analytics integration, and heatmaps. Pricing varies based on your website traffic but includes a free package, making it ideal for those just getting started.
Instapage Instapage is another highly effective landing page builder that stands out with its PPC compatibility, numerous integrations, and valuable A/B testing capabilities. Their basic package, starting at $29 per month (billed annually), provides excellent value for businesses looking to optimize their landing pages.
HelloBar HelloBar allows you to effortlessly add a non-intrusive lead capture bar to your website, converting website visitors into email subscribers, and ultimately, customers. This tool allows you to promote your social media content and easily A/B test your messaging for optimal results.
Qualaroo Qualaroo helps you refine your website by implementing targeted surveys that capture valuable customer insights. With Qualaroo, you can strategically target questions to visitors anywhere on your website, within your product, or within your conversion funnel, allowing for precise data collection. Their startup package starts at $199 per month, billed annually.
LiveChat LiveChat lives up to its name, providing a simple yet effective tool to engage with your website visitors in real-time, capture their information, and offer personalized, immediate customer support. The LiveChat starter package, starting at $19 per month, is an excellent way to prevent potential customers from leaving your website by providing instant assistance.
Tools for Your Small Business: SEO & PPC
When you’re done with this list, be sure to check out our post on 10 Free Google Ads Tools You Didn’t Know About (But Should). nexus-security nexus-security not only boasts a stellar team and company culture, they are also true leaders in PPC and paid advertising. Their Google Ads Grader, available for free, provides invaluable insights into areas where your small business can improve its advertising efforts. Yoast Yoast reigns supreme as the most widely used SEO plugin for WordPress. This user-friendly tool streamlines the optimization of your content and landing pages, setting your website up for success. Featuring a readability checker and keyword optimizer, Yoast ensures your content is easily discoverable by the right audience.
Google AdWords While Google AdWords might seem daunting for small business owners, this intuitive platform is essential for reaching your target audience. With search, display, and video advertising options, AdWords helps you connect with potential customers where they are actively searching. Although AdWords requires an investment to yield optimal results, it’s a worthwhile investment for driving valuable traffic to your website.
Moz Moz is well-regarded not only for its fantastic blog (including the insightful Whiteboard Fridays series) but also for its suite of tools that assist with SEO optimization, keyword research, and backlink analysis. They also provide resources for local search optimization, boosting your business’s visibility within your geographic area.
Google Trends Google Trends leverages data from Google Search to reveal the frequency of search term usage across various regions. By leveraging Google Trends, you can tap into the latest trends within your local area and among your target demographic, keeping your content current and relevant.
AdEspresso AdEspresso seamlessly integrates with Hootsuite, allowing you to manage your social ad campaigns directly from your Hootsuite dashboard. This streamlines your marketing efforts, ensuring consistency across platforms.
SpyFu SpyFu, true to its name, allows you to gain valuable insights into your competitors’ strategies. This platform lets you search for any domain and see its presence across Google, including their purchased AdWords keywords, organic rankings, and even past ad variations spanning the last decade. It’s like having a detective on your side in the digital world.
SEM Rush SEMrush is another competitive research tool that can significantly impact your business. It allows you to compare your domain’s performance to that of your rivals, gather information about their targeted keywords, and uncover new competitors in your industry organically, providing a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape.
Tools for Your Small Business: Email Marketing & Automation
Hatchbuck Hatchbuck is a comprehensive all-in-one CRM and marketing automation solution designed specifically with small businesses in mind. This intuitive platform helps you organize contacts, automate marketing tasks, and ultimately drive higher response rates and sales through personalized communication with prospects at every stage of their journey.
IFTTT IFTTT (If This Then That) offers powerful yet incredibly user-friendly automation. It allows you to create or select “Applets” (previously known as “recipes”) to automate specific tasks across various platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and countless other business applications. And don’t forget to share this valuable tool with your colleagues outside the marketing team; they’ll thank you for it!
Zapier Zapier excels at simplifying time-consuming administrative tasks through automation, freeing up your time to focus on core business operations. This versatile tool connects your web applications, streamlining processes and ensuring your small business runs smoothly and efficiently.
Litmus For email marketing aficionados, Litmus is an indispensable tool. Offering tools to test your code and email designs across multiple platforms before hitting ‘send,’ Litmus prevents broken images and formatting issues. They also maintain an excellent blog packed with valuable email marketing insights, making it a well-rounded resource.
Email on Acid If you prefer to code your own emails (like us!), it’s crucial to ensure they render flawlessly across all inboxes. Email on Acid’s user-friendly tool allows you to test your emails across the most popular email clients, applications, and devices, enabling you to catch and resolve any issues before your message reaches your audience.
HubSpot HubSpot provides a comprehensive suite of products encompassing marketing, sales, and customer relationship management, which can be used independently or in tandem. Although it’s a powerful platform, it’s better suited for larger enterprises due to its pricing structure, starting at $800 per month for 1,000 contacts, with an additional $50 per month for every additional 1,000 contacts.
Infusionsoft Infusionsoft is another all-in-one solution combining CRM, sales and marketing automation with a specific focus on e-commerce. Pricing starts at $199 per month, along with a one-time onboarding fee starting at $999.
Newoldstamp Emails that conclude with a well-crafted signature exude professionalism and trustworthiness. Newoldstamp is an email signature generator that empowers businesses to create, customize, and implement consistent email signatures across the entire company. Known for its advanced customization options, ease of use, and centralized email signature management, Newoldstamp enables you to add promotional banners, calls to action, or links to important pages directly within your email signature.
MailChimp MailChimp is arguably the most recognizable name in the email marketing realm, boasting a user base of 15 million and an impressive array of integrations. However, it doesn’t include built-in CRM functionality. This makes MailChimp a solid choice for larger businesses that can integrate it with their existing CRM or those who don’t require CRM features.
Small Business Tools for Design
Pexels Selecting the right visuals for your blog posts and social media content is paramount. Many people respond more readily to images than text-heavy headlines. Pexels is a top contender in the stock photo arena, offering millions of free images for commercial use, without requiring attribution. You can’t beat free!
Canva Visual content consistently achieves greater engagement and higher conversion rates compared to text-only content. Canva simplifies the creation of stunning images and other visual assets. If you’re new to design or don’t have extensive design software experience, Canva is an excellent starting point.
Stencil Similar to Canva, Stencil enables you to craft high-quality visuals for your social media posts and content marketing materials. The platform boasts a library of nearly a million images to work with and allows you to upload custom fonts for a personalized touch. Additionally, its handy Chrome extension lets you create images while browsing the web, streamlining your workflow.
99designs 99designs is your go-to resource for all things design. They maintain an exceptional blog and connect you with a network of talented freelance designers, ensuring you can find the perfect creative professional to meet your small business’s needs.
Adobe Creative Cloud Adobe Creative Cloud, formerly known as Creative Suite, offers a comprehensive suite of tools that empower small businesses to create professional, engaging images to complement their content. While mastering Creative Cloud’s tools may require an initial time investment, the creative possibilities are virtually limitless once you’ve grasped the fundamentals.
Piktochart Piktochart is a fantastic resource for small businesses without a dedicated design specialist on staff. This user-friendly tool makes it a breeze to create professional-looking reports and infographics quickly and easily. Plus, its simple social media sharing options let you promote your creations effortlessly.
Easel.ly Easel.ly offers another option for designing charts and infographics. While it might not have all the bells and whistles of some other tools, it offers a free sign-up option, making it accessible for businesses on a tight budget.
Infogr.am Infogr.am proudly serves some major clients, including MSN, POLITICO, and Fast Company. Their templates for infographics and charts are particularly well-suited for businesses with a data-driven approach. However, their business plan comes at a cost, starting at $67 per month, billed annually.
Small Business Tools for Project Management
Slack Here at Hatchbuck (and in countless other companies), we absolutely love Slack. This platform simplifies team collaboration by centralizing communication, facilitating file sharing and commenting, and offering seamless integration with other applications, allowing you to accomplish more in less time. Plus, let’s not forget the fun factor—the Giphy integration adds a touch of lightheartedness to team chats. And the best part? Slack is free for most businesses, with the option to upgrade if you need additional features.
Skype For Business We utilize Skype for Business primarily for its video conferencing capabilities. The tool provides high-quality video conferencing for up to 250 participants simultaneously and is available at a reasonable $5 per user per month.
Evernote Evernote simplifies note-taking and task organization, allowing you to categorize tasks into project-specific notebooks. You can even scan paper documents directly into Evernote, making it a breeze to manage project-related files.
Trello Trello consistently earns high praise from small business owners for its user-friendly setup and intuitive design. The main interface functions like a digital whiteboard, simplifying project visualization. Trello offers a free plan for small teams, while their business accounts begin at an affordable $10 per month.
Basecamp Basecamp is a robust project management platform that keeps your team organized and on track for any project. It provides a centralized location for managing your entire task list, ensuring no assignments fall through the cracks.
Asana Asana offers a holistic view of your personal and professional to-do lists, making it a great choice for both individuals and teams. Its valuable integrations streamline workflows and boost productivity.
Google Drive If you’re just beginning your foray into project management, Google Drive is a simple and effective solution for sharing documents, collaborating with your team, tracking revision history, and allowing team members to leave and resolve comments within documents. Drive’s suite of tools includes documents, spreadsheets, and presentation slides, all for free, making it a budget-friendly option.
Freedcamp Freedcamp’s project management platform excels at helping you strike a balance between personal and professional tasks. Its robust calendar provides a clear overview of daily or monthly schedules, and its mobile app keeps you organized on the go.
Tools for Your Small Business: Social Media
Buffer We understand that social media can be a major time sink. Fortunately, Buffer’s intuitive scheduling tool, content library, and comprehensive analytics simplify the process of reaching a wider audience while maximizing your time.
Hootsuite Similar to Buffer, Hootsuite is a feature-rich tool designed to streamline your social media efforts. Some of its standout features include in-depth reporting and filters that allow you to monitor brand mentions across various social media platforms. Pricing starts at $15 per month for a single user, but you’ll need to upgrade to access its most valuable analytics features.
Agorapulse Agorapulse bridges the gap between a social media monitoring and scheduling tool and a social media CRM. This tool focuses primarily on Facebook engagement and starts at $49 per month for one user.
Bitly Bitly is arguably the most widely used link management tool available. It allows users to shorten, manage, and track shared links across the web, providing valuable insights into engagement levels. And here’s the best part: Bitly is free, unless you require branded links or an enterprise-level account.
Sprout Social Sprout Social offers an all-in-one solution encompassing social CRM, scheduling, engagement monitoring, and team collaboration features. While it might offer more features than most small businesses initially require, its effectiveness is undeniable. However, this robust tool comes with a higher price tag: its introductory package starts at $99 per month per user.
Oktopost Oktopost focuses specifically on social media lead generation. While social media dashboards like Hootsuite help you schedule content, Oktopost is geared towards maximizing your social media ROI.
DrumUp DrumUp might be a newer entrant in the social media management arena, but it’s quickly proving its effectiveness. This scheduling tool allows you to curate and schedule content while also suggesting relevant hashtags to maximize your reach and engagement.
Cyfe Cyfe is a business dashboard that sets itself apart from other social media dashboards by aggregating data from multiple sources, including social media metrics. This enables you to see the bigger picture, accurately assess your social and content marketing efforts, and evaluate your ROI.