How to Run Your Marketing Game on the Cheap with My Ultimate Guide to Free Marketing Technology
I am what one might call a frugal marketer. Perhaps it stems from having been tasked with building more marketing departments than I care to admit with, let’s just say minimal budgets. But as frugal as I am, I also happen to be a MarTech junkie.
Yeah, not a good combination.
I have probably done every free trial of every SaaS product even remotely related to marketing out there. I am, admittedly, an easy target for other marketers because if you even come close to promising to solve a pain point for myself or my clients, I am all over your trial.
As a result of all that necessary frugality and obsessive urge to try every product there is, I’ve had the chance to uncover quite a few free or super cheap marketing tools that are worth their digital weight in gold, even if they’re not priced like it.
Today I’m breaking down everything the frugal entrepreneur needs to run their marketing efforts for free or cheap.
Topic Research
When it comes to researching and choosing blog topics, you won’t find me shelling out my hard earned money for fancy tools. Why would I when there are so many freebies out there? Here are a few of my favorites.
Google Trends
Basing your topic choices on data is critical when it comes to developing content that resonates. Even if you’re just starting out and you can’t capitalize on tons of traffic to your own website, you still have data to pull from. Google Trends is one my favorite tools for diving into what’s likely to be relevant and resonate right now.
Explore currently trending searches to identify an opportunity for a bit of newsjacking (just make sure it’s relevant!) or dive into the search box to see what people are searching for in your industry. You’ll end up with some lovely little boxes like this one that show the search queries that are trending for the time period you specified.
Content Idea Generator from Portent
Sometimes your writer’s brain just needs a shot or two of espresso to get the wheels turning. For that, I love using tools like Portent’s Content Idea Generator. Enter your topic (like “content marketing” for example) in the search box and watch as it generates random blog titles for you. Sure, I might not wind up writing the first article or two they suggest (though 15 Things About Content Marketing Your Kids Don’t Want You to Know could actually be a lot of fun) this exercise is bound to get the creative juices flowing.
Writing & Proofing
For writing and proofing my content, there’s really only one tool I turn to. Fortunately, it also happens to be free (or cheap, depending on your subscription level)
Grammarly
I think it’s safe to say that most people who make a living writing would agree that Grammarly has become an indispensable tool in the content writing toolbox. With a free version available, Grammarly will help ensure that you’re crafting content that is grammatically sound, and will even make stylistic suggestions and check for plagiarism, among other things.
I currently use the paid Pro version since I write for so many different clients spanning many verticals, each with their own unique style and voice. Even so, I made use of the free version for years before finally taking the leap to the paid version of Grammarly.
Design & Content Creation
Canva
These days, Canva is a must-have tool in every marketer’s tech stack. There simply isn’t a tool available that makes it quite so easy to create compelling visuals for everything from social feeds, to ads, presentations, slide decks, and more. It’s also a favorite tool for creating animated stories for Instagram and Facebook. While paid versions are available (and worth it for the access to premium graphics and elements!) the free version is a great launch pad for visual content creation.
Biteable
A few years ago, Biteable would not have been on my list. But they’ve made some serious upgrades to their video creation tool recently, and I’ve come to rely on it more and more. Even with the free plan, users get access to over 1.8 million high quality video clips, templates, and more. I use it regularly when creating video content for my clients’ social feeds and ads (or when I need another resource for stock video).
Stock Photography & Videography
Sure, stock photos have a bit of a bad reputation. After all, do you even know a plumber that looks like this? Because if you do, I want to know about it. But like it or not, stock photos and videos are a part of the marketing life.
Fortunately for us there are a few resources out there for high-quality stock photos and videos that also happen to be free (or super cheap)
Ivory Mix (550+ Free!)
See that lovely photo up above? That came from Ivory Mix. I didn’t pay a penny for it, either. I simply downloaded it, added some text in my brand fonts, and that’s it. Paid subscriptions are available for even more fantastic photos and resources, but if you want to get a feel for the quality, Ivory Mix gives you a super generous 550 photos and resources absolutely free.
Social Squares
This is my go-to source for stock photos that are on the feminine side. While this is a paid membership, Social Squares does offer a free 14-day trial where you can search the full database and download as many photos as you’d like. You also get access to trainings, resources, Instagram captions, and so much more!
Envato Elements
This is hands-down one of my favorite tools on a long list of favorite tools. While not free, Envato Elements (which also acquired Placeit, another of my absolute favorites) starts at a meager $16.50/month.
This is my go-to resource for stock video, royalty-free music and audio effects, graphic design elements, layouts, coordinated social media layouts, and even awesome WordPress themes. It has everything (including stock photos) and I don’t know where I’d be without it.
Placeit
Have you seen those cool looking device mockup shots all over social media and websites? What about flashy Instagram Stories or social graphics? Yeah, Placeit is THE place for these and much more. Originally a T-shirt and product mockup tool (yeah, it does that too, and brilliantly) they’ve expanded their “mockupabilities” to include everything from logos, responsive devices, social videos, and much more.
One of my favorite things about Placeit is that the models that star in their “mockupable” (yes, we’re inventing words here) photos are super diverse and feature people who not only look like real people but who represent the broad spectrum of humanity.
Placeit was acquired by Envato, so for Envato Elements and Placeit combined I pay just around $29.00/month and it is worth every penny and then some.
Honorable Mentions:
- Pexels
- Katie Harp Creative (50 Free Styled Stock Photos)
- She Bold Stock (20 Free Styled Stock Photos)
Social Media & Content Management
As anyone who has managed an online presence knows, getting content posted and published takes some doing. There are, however, a few tools that make it much, much easier. Here are my favorites for social media scheduling and content management.
CoSchedule
Because blogs tend to be the cornerstone of my content strategies, I rely heavily on CoSchedule for everything from planning to publishing, amplifying and everything in between. I probably spend more time in CoSchedule each day than I do in my CRM or Marketing Automation. It’s just that important to my workflow.
Now, this is a paid tool. Sorry, no freebies on this one besides a great trial period. But it isn’t all that expensive considering what you get.
With CoSchedule, I manage all of my social media scheduling to all of my platforms, blog creation (including coordination with others on my team), and the planning and execution of multi-platform marketing campaigns.
With CoSchedule, I can connect directly to WordPress, so I can format and publish right from it’s user-friendly interface. I can drag and drop my campaigns around on the calendar, or use “best time” publishing for social content to ensure maximum engagement.
It also makes use of a robust workflow builder that allows you to organize your team’s tasks around content creation. I have tried a lot of social media and blogging tools, but this one is truly the best of the best. And sometimes the best is worth paying for.
Hootsuite
Not to poo-poo an industry favorite, but Hootsuite’s status as a big player in the industry (and one of the only truly free tools I know of in this category) is the only reason I’m including it on this list. It is a VERY useful tool, and I have used it extensively for scheduling social media posts, social listening, and a host of other applications. But I’ll admit that I have a love/hate relationship with Hootsuite.
It’s the UI that gets to me. It just feels so cluttered. But if you don’t mind a cluttered kanban-esque layout and you want a powerful social media scheduler that costs exactly $0, then Hootsuite is totally your jam.
I’m just not a Kanban fan. What can I say?
(if you’re looking for the free version, scroll all the way to the bottom of the “Plans” page)
Honorable Mentions
My Personal Marketing Stack
Wondering what my personal marketing stack looks like? Take a look behind-the-scenes at all of the tools I use to run my marketing and my client’s marketing every single day.
The Essentials:
$ ($1-30) $$ ($30-$100) $$$ ($100+)
- ActiveCampaign ($$) – CRM, Marketing Automation & Email
- Kartra ($$) – Memberships, Helpdesk, Product Pages
- CoSchedule ($$) – Content Management & Social Media Campaigns
- SEMRush ($$$) – SEO & Content Research
- Envato Elements ($) – Graphic Elements
- Place.it ($) – Graphic Elements, Mockups
- Canva ($) – Social Graphics, Slide Decks, Videos & More
- Biteable ($) – Video
- Grammarly Pro ($)
What’s in YOUR Stack?
What’s in your marketing stack? What awesome tools should I check out and review? This martech junkie needs a new fix! Let me know in the comments!
This post may contain affiliate links. If you sign up for a free trial or subscription, I may receive a small referral fee which will not impact the price you pay for any service. I only recommend really awesome tools that I personally use and love, so it’s a win-win!
