Small Business Marketing Tools
As a small business owner, you’re probably aware that marketing is essential for growth. However, understanding its importance doesn’t always make it easy to handle. The good news is that you don’t have to tackle it by yourself. With the right small business marketing tools and guidance, you can simplify, streamline, and even start to enjoy your marketing tasks. Below, we’ve compiled a list of powerful tools that can truly impact your business. Whether you need to create stunning visuals, automate your sales funnels, or plan your promotions, these tools will help you get the job done.
1. Canva: Design Anything, Easily
For small business owners who want to create professional-looking designs without a hefty price tag, Canva is a game-changer. Canva is a versatile and user-friendly design tool that lets you create everything from logos and business cards to social media posts, QR Codes, flyers, and website graphics. It’s perfect for small businesses that need high-quality visuals but don’t have the resources to hire a designer.
One of Canva’s more fun features is its AI image generator, which can create custom visuals based on your needs and imagination. For example, at GRT Marketing, we used Canva to design an ad campaign around the theme of “chasing squirrels” to capture the feeling of being overwhelmed by marketing. …but only after a lot (we mean a lot) of tries. Check out all the squirrels it created before we landed on our winner (winning squirrel is featured at the at the top of this blog):
With the paid version of Canva, which is well worth the investment in our opinion, you can also access additional features like the social media calendar. This tool allows you to schedule posts in advance across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Although it doesn’t yet support simultaneous posting across all platforms, it still saves a ton of time. Want to try Canva for free? Click here to get started.
2. Systeme.io: A Budget-Friendly All-in-One Platform
If you’re looking for an effective and affordable alternative to Kajabi, Systeme.io is a fantastic choice. Its pricing tiers allow you to test out features and decide if they meet your needs, and its intuitive interface makes it easy to work with.
Systeme.io allows you to build sales pages, order forms, and checkout pages, ensuring your users have a seamless and secure experience. It also offers a generous affiliate program that users can take advantage of to grow their business. We took advantage of that feature and created what we call the GRT-itude program to thank people who refer others to join our membership. If that interests you, you can sign up here and earn commissions for referring anyone you think would benefit from the GRT Marketing Membership.
Systeme.io is also a powerhouse for email marketing, allowing you to create automated email sequences as well as send on-demand emails, all managed by tags assigned when someone joins your contact list. Additionally, we use Systeme.io as the foundation for our membership area, where all of our guides, workshops, and community resources are available to our members 24/7.
Want to give Systeme.io a try? You can test it out for free here.
3. Google Business Profile: Boost Your Local SEO
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the most under-utilized yet powerful tools for small businesses. Essentially a mini-website, GBP can significantly enhance your local SEO efforts and improve your visibility on Google. When potential customers search for businesses like yours, a fully optimized GBP increases your chances of showing up in their search results.
To maximize your GBP’s potential, make sure to fill out every section in detail—this includes using relevant keywords, adding photos, listing your products or services, and making regular updates. Customer reviews also play a crucial role in your GBP’s performance. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews and make a habit of responding to them.
If you want to take your local SEO to the next level, join our membership for detailed guidance on how to fully optimize your Google Business Profile.
4. Google Analytics: Gain Actionable Insights
Understanding your website’s performance is key to making informed marketing decisions, and Google Analytics provides you with those insights—completely free. Google Analytics gives you detailed information about your site traffic, such as how many visitors you receive, where they’re coming from, how long they stay on your site, and which pages they view the most.
For small businesses, this data is invaluable. It can help you identify which marketing strategies are working and which areas need improvement. For example, if you notice a high bounce rate (a measure of how long someone stays) on your homepage, it might be time to reevaluate your messaging or design to better capture visitors’ attention. Set up Google Analytics here.
5. Google Docs: Collaborate and Stay Organized
Google Docs is a go-to tool for small business owners needing a reliable, secure space for collaboration and document storage. It’s perfect for working with a remote team, sharing large files that may be too big for email, or keeping your business documents organized all in one place.
For example, if you’re drafting a blog post with your team, everyone can edit the same document simultaneously, making real-time updates and suggestions. Google Docs also integrates seamlessly with other Google Workspace tools, making it a hub for all your business documentation needs.
6. Google Meet: A Budget-Friendly Video Conferencing Solution
Google Meet is a simple, affordable alternative to Zoom, providing small business owners with an easy way to conduct video meetings, screen sharing, and more. Whether you’re hosting team meetings, client consultations, or virtual workshops, Google Meet offers reliable and user-friendly features.
One benefit of Google Meet is its integration with other Google Workspace tools, making it easy to schedule meetings through Google Calendar and access everything from one platform. If you’re looking for an efficient way to conduct virtual meetings without the hefty price tag, Google Meet is worth considering.
7. TidyCal: Streamline Your Scheduling
TidyCal, developed by AppSumo, is an affordable alternative to popular scheduling tools like Calendly. TidyCal allows you to create custom meeting types, specify your availability, and set limits on the number of bookings per day. For small business owners looking to streamline their scheduling process, TidyCal offers all the essential features at a fraction of the cost. Go to the AppSumo website here, search for TidyCal and while you’re there check out what else AppSumo may have to offer. It’s a super cool platform, essentially serving as a marketplace that offers lifetime deals on software and tools primarily designed for entrepreneurs, small businesses, and freelancers. It features discounted access to a wide range of digital products, such as productivity tools, marketing software, and business apps, helping businesses save money while discovering new, innovative solutions. AppSumo curates these deals to give users early access to promising startups and established tools at a fraction of their regular price. It’s a real gem.
8. Google Trends: Plan Your Marketing Strategy with Data
Google Trends is a powerful tool that helps small business owners make data-driven marketing decisions. By showing you what people are searching for, Google Trends allows you to identify popular search terms, compare keyword performance, and plan your promotions around peak search times.
For instance, if you’re in the fitness industry, Google Trends can help you determine whether more people search for “weight loss tips” in January or May. With this information, you can time your marketing campaigns and promotions to align with when your target audience is most interested. If you’re looking to refine your promotion planning, our membership covers these strategies in depth.
9. Semrush: Hone Your SEO Strategy
Semrush is a powerful SEO tool designed to help small businesses fine-tune their keyword strategies and drive more targeted traffic. Once you identify trends, Semrush is a nice next step that allows you to dive deeper into longer-tail keywords. For instance, you can use the Keyword Magic Tool to analyze terms like “realtor in Des Moines” and get data on up to 10 keywords per day.
By focusing on transactional, low-competition keywords, you can create content that attracts valuable traffic and positions you as an industry expert. This strategic approach not only enhances your visibility but also boosts your authority in your niche.
10. Wordstream: Unlimited Keyword Research
Wordstream is a standout keyword research tool that offers the advantage of unlimited searches, making it an invaluable resource for small businesses dedicated to enhancing their SEO strategies. Unlike other tools with daily search limits, Wordstream provides unrestricted access, allowing you to explore as many keywords as needed. This feature is particularly useful when you’re batching your efforts and conducting extensive keyword research in a single session. With Wordstream, you have the flexibility to dive deep into keyword opportunities and optimize your content effectively.
11. WordPress: Build a Flexible and Affordable Website
WordPress is one of the most popular website-building platforms for small businesses due to its affordability and flexibility. Whether you need a simple site to showcase your products or a more complex e-commerce setup, WordPress can handle it.
At GRT Marketing, we found that integrating Elementor, a WordPress page builder, made the design process much, much easier. Elementor’s drag-and-drop interface simplifies the website-building experience, even for those with limited technical skills and there are a ton of YouTube videos and other resources available if you’re new to website creation and doing it on your own.
12. Trello: Stay Organized with Projects and Contacts
Trello is a powerful project management tool that can help small business owners stay organized. Whether you’re managing client projects, tracking marketing campaigns, or keeping tabs on your contacts, Trello offers a visual way to organize tasks and collaborate with your team.
For example, if you’re launching a new product, you can create a Trello board with separate lists for each stage of the process, from research to development to marketing. This helps ensure that nothing falls through the cracks and that everyone on your team is on the same page.
To read more about Trello and get hands-on help with it, check what Virtual Assistant Tammy from Butterfly Solutions has to say about it.
13. Airtable: A Modern Take on Data Management
Airtable is a modern, cloud-based alternative to traditional database management tools like Microsoft Access. It combines the simplicity of spreadsheets with the power of databases, making it a great tool for small business owners who need to organize large amounts of data.
For instance, if you’re running an e-commerce business, you can use Airtable to track inventory, manage customer orders, and even plan marketing campaigns. Airtable’s flexibility makes it suitable for businesses in a wide range of industries.
This tool is a favorite of digital organizer Wendy Carlson of Prospering Transactions, who uses her expertise to tidy up and organize your inbox, files, and more.
14. ChatGPT: Your AI-Powered Marketing Assistant
ChatGPT is an AI tool that can help small business owners generate ideas, create content, and streamline their marketing efforts. While ChatGPT shouldn’t replace human writers, it can be a valuable tool for brainstorming content ideas, cleaning up email drafts, or generating social media captions.
At GRT Marketing, we regularly use ChatGPT to speed up our marketing tasks, from drafting blog posts to refining email content. If you’re curious about how ChatGPT can enhance your marketing efforts, check out the prompts we use to get the most out of this tool.
15. GRT Marketing Membership: Empowering You to Take Control
Finally, one of the best resources available to small business owners is the GRT Marketing membership. Is that too biased to say?! 😊 We pride ourselves on giving business owners the knowledge and tools they need to tackle their marketing tasks effectively and affordably themselves. Our membership offers pre-written guides, monthly workshops, and one-on-one guidance at a fraction of the cost that agencies charge to do it for you. Which, by the way, that agency fee is often well worth it! BUT if you can’t afford that yet, the GRT Marketing Membership will get you the results you need so you CAN afford that soon if you’d like.
Our goal is to empower you to take control of your marketing efforts, grow your business, and achieve your goals—without the overwhelming price tag. Whether you need help with SEO, promotions planning, social media strategy, or just some 1:1 marketing strategy help, our membership is here to support you every step of the way.
Ready to take charge of your marketing and watch your business grow? Sign up for the GRT Marketing membership today and start thriving!
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