Affordable marketing solutions for small businesses and startups

For new businesses and startups, marketing can be a significant expense. However, there are several free or low-cost options available to kickstart your marketing efforts without breaking the bank. Here's a roundup of some cost-effective tools and platforms to consider:

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Managing customer relationships is crucial for business growth. A good CRM system helps you track interactions, manage leads, and nurture customer relationships efficiently.

HubSpot CRM

This free-for-life CRM is an excellent starting point for managing customer relationships. It offers contact management, deal tracking, and basic email marketing features. While HubSpot's more advanced marketing tools can get expensive quickly, the free CRM provides a solid foundation for growing businesses.

Email marketing

Email remains one of the most effective marketing channels, offering high ROI. Starting with a free email marketing tool can help you build your list and engage with your audience.

Mailchimp

Offers a free plan for up to 2,000 contacts and 10,000 sends per month. It includes basic automation and audience segmentation features.

Klaviyo

Offers a free plan for up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends per month. This plan includes Klaviyo branding in your emails. While limited, it's a great way to start with this powerful e-commerce-focused platform. Paid plans, which remove the branding and offer more features, start at $45/month 1,001 - 1,500 active profiles and 15,000 monthly email sends.

HubSpot

Part of HubSpot's marketing suite, it offers a free plan with up to 2,000 email sends per month, with paid plans starting at $45/month for more advanced features and higher send limits.

These platforms offer various features and pricing models, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your needs and budget. While some free plans include branding from the email service provider, they're a great way to start building your email marketing strategy. As your business grows, you can consider upgrading to paid plans for more advanced features and higher send limits.

Analytics

Understanding your website's performance is key to optimizing your marketing efforts. A good analytics tool provides insights into user behavior and campaign effectiveness.

Google Analytics

This powerful, free tool helps you understand your website traffic and user behavior. It's essential for measuring the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and making data-driven decisions.

Website building

Your website is often the first point of contact for potential customers. Choosing the right platform can help you create a professional-looking site without breaking the bank.

Wix

Offers a free plan with Wix branding and basic features. Paid plans start at reasonable rates for more professional options.

WordPress.com

Provides a free plan with WordPress.com branding. It's a good option for blogs and simple websites, however the learning curve can be steep.

Google Sites

A free option for creating simple websites, especially useful if you're already using Google Workspace.

Weebly

Offers a free plan with Weebly branding, suitable for basic websites.

There are other solutions such as using a domain partner’s built-in site builder (like GoDaddy). They’re not great, but it might be fine for a simple site.

Social media marketing

Social media platforms offer a free way to connect with your audience, build brand awareness, and drive engagement.

Utilize free social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X to build your brand presence. These platforms offer free business profiles and basic analytics.

Content marketing

Content marketing helps establish your brand as an authority in your industry and drives organic traffic to your website.

Medium

A free platform for publishing articles and blog posts, helping you establish thought leadership in your industry.

Substack

This platform allows you to start a free newsletter and build a subscriber base. It's particularly useful for businesses looking to create and monetize regular content. Substack offers a free plan with basic features, and you only pay a percentage of your earnings if you decide to charge for subscriptions. This makes it a low-risk option for businesses looking to explore newsletter marketing or create a dedicated content channel for their audience.

Design tools

Visual content is crucial in today's digital landscape. These tools can help you create professional-looking graphics without a big budget.

Canva

Offers a robust free plan with numerous templates for creating social media graphics, flyers, and other marketing materials. Paid plans start at $12.99/month for additional features.

Figma

Provides a free plan for up to 3 projects, ideal for UI/UX design. Paid plans start at $12/editor/month.

Adobe Express

Formerly known as Adobe Spark, this tool offers a free plan with a wide range of templates for creating social media graphics, videos, and web pages. The premium plan, starting at $9.99/month, provides additional features like brand kits and premium templates. Also include in a Creative Cloud subscription.

AI tools for writing

AI writing tools can help small businesses create content more efficiently, saving time and resources. Here are some popular options:

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

Free for basic use. ChatGPT Plus at $20/month offers priority access and advanced features.

Claude (Anthropic)

Offers a free version with impressive capabilities for various writing tasks. Paid plans may be available for more advanced features.

AI tools for image generation

These AI-powered tools can help create unique visuals for your marketing materials:

Midjourney

Offers a free trial. Paid plans start at $10/month for 200 images.

DALL-E (OpenAI)

Provides a certain number of free credits, with the option to purchase more. Known for its ability to generate highly creative and diverse images.

Stable Diffusion

An open-source AI image generation model that can be used for free through various interfaces, or set up on your own hardware for more control.

Adobe Firefly

Integrated into Adobe's Creative Cloud, Firefly offers AI-powered image generation and editing tools. While it's part of Adobe's paid ecosystem, it provides powerful features for those already using Adobe products. It's particularly useful for creating and editing images that align with your brand guidelines.

Choosing what’s best for you

Remember, while many of these tools offer free plans, investing in paid versions can provide additional features that may be worth the cost as your business grows. Start with free options, measure your results, and gradually expand your marketing toolkit as your budget and needs evolve.

If you need help deciding, you can download our vendor audit worksheet to help you make an objective decsion.