5 Free Digital Marketing Tools You Might Not Know About In 2020
Luckily, every single one of us is prepared for this. We have been for some time. From popular delivery services to video communication, we have all the tools necessary to keep moving forward.
What’s important now is that small businesses are familiar with the latest digital marketing trends in 2020. Now is not the time to cut your marketing budget. Why, you ask? Read more about that from our recent blog post.
However, we understand that money is tight for everyone.
Our team compiled a list of free, useful marketing tools to help you succeed as a small business in the upcoming months.
5 free digital marketing tools to help you reach more customers online:
1. Google Trends
Did you know this search tool existed? We bet not. Well, we want to share our secret weapon with you!
Google has so many helpful tools, but this one just might be our favorite.
Google Trends can help you identify what keywords and topics are buzzing right now, specifically ones that are related to your brand. By using Google Trends to search your main keywords, you can see related topics that are currently on the rise.
This is helpful because you can use that knowledge to your advantage when thinking about the content you want to produce on both your website and on social media.
Another great advantage of Google Trends is that you can type in your brand name to determine if you are rising or declining in terms of search popularity.
If you are declining in search popularity, one way to improve this is to run branded ad campaigns on Google Ads and social media platforms.
You can see below that over the past 3 months, our brand name, Social Firm, has been rising in terms of search popularity in the Columbus, Ohio market.
This increase is due to the fact that we expanded our marketing efforts since the end of last year by running branded ad campaigns.
If we wanted to dive even deeper, we could compare our brand name with a competitor’s to see how we rank in search popularity against them. This could help inform us on which marketing tactics we need to take next to compete with them.
2. Animoto
You might be wondering how to compete on social media right now with the overload of messaging that is happening. You need to stand out against the competition, and video is a great way to do that.
If you want to compete online in 2020, you need to add video marketing to your content plan. A recent HubSpot survey showed that 54% of people want to see more video content from marketers.
While it is always better to hire a professional producer to help you create videos, we know that this can be expensive for small business owners. You may not have the time and resources right now to hire a professional.
Animoto gives you a chance to create short, professional-looking videos to promote your products and services on social platforms like Facebook and Youtube.
They have hundreds of templates for each type of business. You are able to customize a video template to match your brand colors, font, pictures, and even music. Check out this e-commerce example video by Animoto. We love how short and to the point the messaging is.
If you need to communicate information quickly, for example, if you’re now offering free delivery, this is a great way to capture your audience’s attention.
3. Canva
Not to sound like a broken record, but you really need to stand out on social media right now.
A great way to do that is by creating visually appealing graphics for your messaging.
Canva offers quick, easy to customize social media graphics. Similar to Animoto, you can change all the assets like color, font, and images to match your brand.
The professional layouts Canva provides are what will make you stand out.
With already defined parameters for design best practices, you do not need to worry about having a design background to accomplish great results.
4. Email Marketing Templates
There are so many great email resources available to small business owners. But as a small business ourselves, we know how daunting it can be when trying to craft the perfect email to your customers. It can be especially difficult in times like these.
According to Hubspot, 73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email, and 99% of all consumers check their email every day.
It is extremely important to stay in touch with your customers right now. Your customers are looking for peace of mind. They want to ensure you have their health & safety in mind.
The more you communicate with your audience, the more they will trust your brand and continue to purchase online.
5. Mailchimp
Now that you understand the importance of email communication and have a template to start with, you will need an email service to send branded emails to your customer base.
One of our favorite email services that is both free and offers complete control of your content is Mailchimp.
According to Mailchimp, their share of the email marketing industry is over 60%, positioning themselves as a leader in the industry.
On their free plan, users can send up to 10,000 emails a month to 2,000 subscribers. Most of their tools and templates are also included with their free plan.
Their free email plan is ideal for small businesses just starting out with email marketing.
Final Word:
We encourage small businesses to take advantage of these free marketing tools. We have used each of these tools to our advantage throughout our many years in business. While they are free, they can sometimes be time-consuming. Now is the perfect time to invest in your marketing skillset and learn a few of these programs.
As always, if you need guidance or help implementing these digital strategies into your marketing plan, Social Firm would be happy to partner with you.
Our #1 goal is to help small businesses survive this unforeseen pandemic.
Social Firm
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