Free Marketing Resources
to Grow Your Small Business
Your small business may be in the beginning stages or a well oiled machine, either way, marketing can be costly and overwhelming. Check out these free resources to help you get started on marketing your small business today.
For many small businesses, there isn’t room in the budget to hire a professional when it comes to marketing, so that means marketing their business is left either as an afterthought or a not at all. I wouldn’t recommend leaving marketing out of the plan for your business but in the beginning, it’s ok to do it yourself. In fact many great businesses started as a sole proprietorship (or a solopreneur- if you will) with nothing in the budget but a negative sign. Starting small and doing all the things yourself is a great way to slowly build your business until you can scale up without the burden of loans or big monthly bills. So if you are just starting out and you are a one man (or woman) show, here are some free marketing resources that will get you started on growing that business.
1. Canva
One of the best resources out there for those who aren’t graphic designers or have the whole Adobe Creative Suite, canva is a great way to create engaging graphics for your social media for free (there is a paid version but the free version works great and can get you started). You can upload your photos and use your brand colors to customize your graphics. There are many stock photos, drawings, and other elements that you can use to make flyers, social media content, and much more. Check it out at https://www.canva.com/
2. Google my Business
Google my Business is completely free and a great way to help those searching for you, find you. Google My Business is a business profile on Google that allows people to find you on Google search and maps. It provides a profile of your business including hours, address, phone number, and website. You can add appealing photos of your business and your logo. And it’s free. If you aren’t using Google My Business, you are missing out on a great free resource for your business. To claim your business profile, visit https://www.google.com/business/
Email Marketing Solutions
Do you need help with your email marketing? All(n) Designs offer email marketing solutions to help reach your customers in the one of the most efficient ways to marketing your business, email marketing. Contact us today to learn more!
3. Wordpress.org
If you don’t already have a website (I’m pretty sure I have said this before), you need one. WordPress.org is a free and open-source content management system that has thousands of plugins to do just about anything you could want a website to do. There is a cost for registering your domain name and for hosting but this is minimal and typically you can purchase this once a year through a hosting company. I recommend https://www.siteground.com/ for hosting as their customer service is very good and their plans are affordable. You can use my referral link at https://www.siteground.com/recommended?referrer_id=8055409 to get a discount on their services. WordPress has a little bit of a learning curve but there are many resources out there to help figure it out. You can always reach out to us for help with your site. Note: there are two versions of WordPress: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. The difference is with the .com you must pay them to host your site with the .org you are just getting the free open source content management system. I personally like to choose my hosting and use the free content management system because you have more control of your hosting service.
4. Lumen5
If you are looking to make creative and exciting videos, check out Lumen5. You can upload your own photos or video, or use their stock photos or video, to create a video to get your message across to your customers. Feature a product or just put your message in an enticing video to make it more exciting. You can also use their variety of music backgrounds to videos to make it seem more professional. Check it out here: https://lumen5.com/
5. MailChimp
Email marketing is a great way to connect with your customers on a deeper level and to customize their messages from you. In fact, the average expected ROI is $42 for every $1 you spend on email marketing (Oberlo). MailChimp is a free marketing tool that you can use to create email marketing campaigns. Create and send to a house mailing list of up to 2,000 contacts (for larger lists you must upgrade). Their easy email builder is a great way to reach your customers while sending more than just a boring text email. Learn MailChimp in 16 minutes with this video.
This process doesn’t have to be hard.
Check out our free All(n) template for starting a content calendar to optimize your social media.
