Marketing Tools That Actually Work for Small Businesses
These 4 tools make it easier to create and share content.
Large corporations have their own marketing teams, but small businesses don’t often have the luxury of an in-house creative team that can bring their brand to life. And for some small businesses, hiring a marketing team might just be out of budget for their stage of growth. We get that! Being fierce supporters of small businesses ourselves, we want all small businesses—from boutiques to start-ups—to have the marketing tools they need to thrive and grow, so we put together this list of our four user-friendly favorites.
Canva
No matter what kind of business you operate, you’re going to need graphics! Canva can be used to create just about anything. We love it because it’s easy to use and very customizable.
Here’s an idea of what you can create in Canva:
Logos
Instagram posts
YouTube thumbnails
Business cards
Proposals
Menus
Newsletters
Blog post banners
Labels
Brochures
Email Scheduling Tools
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to connect your business with its customers and build lasting relationships. It enables you to deliver relevant information to customers’ inboxes with subject lines, product recommendations, and messaging all being chosen based on consumer behavior.
Being at the forefront of your customers' minds through emails will help them be aware of where you stand and what's available to them—it's an extremely effective method to help your customer navigate which of your products and services are best suited to their needs.
Through digital marketing, your businesses will be actively building email lists by collecting customers’ emails from your website and social media platforms. Once an email list is formed, you can email customers about your products or services. Based on how customers respond to emails—some will buy and some won’t—smaller, more targeted email lists can be built to direct email marketing efforts to specific audiences. This is called email segmentation, and marketers who use segmented email campaigns note as much as a 760 percent increase in revenue!
We love these email marketing platforms because they make it easy to create segmented email campaigns:
SquareSpace
Website creation and design may not be the average business owner’s specialty. We love SquareSpace because it’s easy to use and requires no coding knowledge or plugins. You can choose a template, enter your brand’s colors and fonts, and get started in no-time. Here are some of the benefits of SquareSpace:
User friendly interface
Compatible across all platforms and devices
Social integration
Integrated e-commerce
Built-in mobile functionality
Easily editable
Social Scheduling Tools
We love tools that allow us to schedule our clients’ social media posts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or wherever else they may want to share content. These tools save us so much time, but they also provide reporting for data-driven decision-making. Understanding how your posts perform is key to creating more engaging content!
Here are some of our favorite tools:
Sprout Social: powerful social analytics and listening tool
Later: best Grid Preview so you can plan visually
Planoly: their new Reels Planner is a time saver.
When you’re ready to hire a team to do the heavy lifting for you, reach out to us! Our team of overqualified creatives are marketing experts, and can offer tailor made strategies to fit your budget and marketing needs.