Here at Immedia Creative we use so many different marketing tools to help our clients business efforts. The good news is that with so many free marketing tools out there, we can try stuff without breaking the bank. So without delay, here is our list of free marketing tools for 2019:
Google Analytics
If you are running a business website and do not regularly analyse your web traffic you are missing out and your competitors have an advantage because they ARE analysing their data. They are almost certainly doing it using Google Analytics. It is quite simply the bedrock tool for understanding what is really going on on your website. Recent upgrades have given you free access to more information than ever before. The only problem is that there is almost too much data available to you.
Canva
The joy of Canva is that it feels like playing but is actually work. An oh so simple graphic layout tool for making social media friendly images that look better than you ever thought possible. With lots of cleverness to ensure sizes and symmetry are just what you need. This is the tool that everyone in the office got excited about when we first saw it. We suspect that you will too.
SEM Rush
All sorts of keyword fun to be had here. Search volumes, number of results, trends over time, related phrases, expected cost per click and so much more. Although the basis is free, any sensible marketing department will soon realise the value and switch to the paid model, but the free version is still a great little bonus when you are getting started.
Yoast
If you have a WordPress website, the Yoast plugin tells you if you are writing good sentences and if you have done enough to be in with a shout of appearing in the Search Engine rankings. A simple ‘traffic light’ system lets you know if your post is green (good to go live), amber (needs work) or red (who wrote this drivel). In the list of free marketing tools this one is a real beauty for clients who want simple solutions.
Hotjar
If a client needs to know in forensic detail how a page is performing then a free Hotjar account can be really useful to them. Hotjar records precisely what actions web visitors have taken and delivers that information back to you as beautiful aggregated easy to understand heatmaps. Clients love them and so do we. Marketing pros use it too.
Google Tag Manager
If you have ever had to work with Adwords (sorry, Google Ads!), Facebook ads or Analytics goals then this lovely tool (which takes a bit of time to get your head around) will ultimately save you heaps of time and effort. Hated it at the start, but a couple of years later I am now a huge fan of Tag Manager and particularly like the fact that it gives you tools to check that the tags you add are actually working. And it is still free!
IFTTT
“If this, then that”. The ultimate in coding for non coders, getting your apps and devices talking to each other. IFTTT helps you daisy-chain events together to build powerful automation systems . If a clients wants to be emailed every time their firm is mentioned on reddit, IFTTT will do the job for you. There are masses of great ideas from other users of how to automate a huge workload leaving you to spend more time goofing about. How about automatically archiving all your tweets to a google spreadsheet to make client reporting less bothersome? With IFTT this sort of task really is simplicity itself.
Brands of The World
When you are struggling to locate a logo to use for print (yes print!), this lovely library of vector logos can really help. An easy search tool makes this the go to site for finding pin sharp vectors. We also use it for idea generation and for placeholders. Yes it is ultimately just a database and a search, so is that even a tool? Well we can argue over metaphysical conundrums at our leisure, but ultimately it is useful to us and may be useful to you, so it goes on the list.
