6 Best Free Digital Marketing Tools for Small Businesses (National Entrepreneurs Day Special)

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

Every November, National Entrepreneurs Day recognizes and celebrates the contribution of newly minted business owners. And to help you on this journey, we’ve put together a quick guide to digital marketing success. Read on for:

  • Six tips for entrepreneurs and new business owners
  • Free tools to help kickstart your marketing journey
  • A glimpse of what lies ahead
     

There’s no denying that small businesses form the lifeforce of the economy, creating jobs, driving innovation, and fueling growth in regional hubs. In fact, research suggests that small businesses are responsible for 44% of all economic activityOpens a new window in the US, and over half Opens a new window of the total jobs in the country.

To mark the importance of this sector, the third Tuesday of every November is designated as National Entrepreneurs Day. If you are an entrepreneur or the owner of a small business/growing startup, this day celebrates your role and potential. Let’s consider the tools and technologies you require to realize the full potential of your business as you look forward to a new year. Interestingly, this doesn’t need to come with heavy investments.

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How to Get Started with Marketing Your Small Business: Tips for National Entrepreneurs Day 2019

National Entrepreneurs Day was first celebrated in 2010, formalized by the former President Barack Obama. Since then, it has taken on a new dimension with businesses across the country taking this opportunity to launch special campaigns, market their products, and even selecting National Entrepreneurs Day as the anniversary for their new company.

If you’re starting with your own business, reaching out to your audience could initially seem like a daunting task. But if you break it down to its core, a small business marketing roadmap will comprise the following steps:

  1. Build a social media presence across Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Medium, GrowthHackers, and multiple other communities as relevant to your business.
  2. Set up Google Analytics for your website and track customer/visitor traffic.
  3. Use the leads gathered from your website as well as social media to send emails; leverage email marketing automation to send personalized communication.
  4. Monitor online conversations for any mentions of your brand; take care to respond as promptly as possible (to manage your online reputation).
  5. Setup paid ads; Google ads should be on the top of your list, as it enjoys the largest amount of footfall and helps improve site traffic and conversions.
  6. Implement a customer relationship management (CRM) system to enable your sales team to improve customer experience and unlock upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
     

These six tips for National Entrepreneurs Day 2019 will set the foundation of a successful business, backed by a targeted customer base. But, how do you go about performing these activities without a sizable marketing budget? Fortunately, there are several free digital marketing tools that should be on your radar.

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Free Digital Marketing Tools to Help Kickstart Your Business

It isn’t enough to simply select and deploy a digital marketing tool. Its impacts must last well beyond National Entrepreneurs Day or other such specific milestones, and bring in sustained value. Here are the top six platforms that you need to stay ahead of your competition and garner a loyal audience that stands the test of time.

1. HootsuiteOpens a new window Opens a new window title="Opens a new window" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"> – To begin with, you need a regular and strategic presence across social media Opens a new window platforms to build impressions among your target audience. And this is even more important if you’re operating in a B2C segment, like apparel, consumer electronics, professional services, etc.

You can connect up to three social media profiles and schedule up to 30 messages. This will ensure that you never miss a marketing opportunity, and your audience is regularly reminded of your brand and your offerings.

2. Supermetrics Opens a new window – Once you have a website that is up and running, making sense of all the analytics data can be extremely difficult. It takes time to become familiar with Google Analytics, which is free but a highly detailed analytics platform. Instead, you can use a service like Supermetrics to convert your Google analytics data into an easily comprehensible format.

That’s why step 2 is to connect your Google Analytics account with Supermetrics for Google Sheets. You can generate an unlimited number of reports with up to 100 queries per day, free of cost.

3.MailChimpOpens a new window – MailChimp is a digital marketing Opens a new window staple for businesses of all sizes. That’s why this platform comes in a variety of versions ranging from free forever, all the way up to $299 a month. MailChimp automates email marketing, giving you a basic template to get started as well as standard behavioral targeting facilities.

You can store up to 2,000 contacts, target users based on behavior, and use the content studio to design your emails. Pay special attention to the automation feature that lets you automate email response to customer behavior – giving you the scalability you need as an entrepreneur.

4.TalkwalkerOpens a new window Opens a new window title="Opens a new window" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"> – As your brand grows, your customers will be talking about it online. You must stay on top of brand mentions, without having to scour websites and social media via manual efforts constantly.

Talkwalker is designed as an alternative to Google Alerts, and has several added benefits, like social coverage, platform-specific filters, and customizations. Talkwalker needs only a few clicks to get started – so it should sit high on your priority checklist.

5.Cobiro Opens a new window – Next on your SMB marketing roadmap is paid ads on Google. For local business owners, specifically, Google ads are a great way to reach a target audience, at a pretty high ROI. But how do you ensure that your investments in Google Ads actually generate value? That’s where a tool like Cobiro comes in.

It’s free for marketing teams with less than 51 members, optimizing your ads for Google search and Google Shopping. In fact, e-commerceOpens a new window startups must take a look at Cobiro, as it comes with unlimited product compatibility.

6. HubSpotOpens a new window Opens a new window title="Opens a new window" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"> – When it comes to digital marketing tools, HubSpot needs no introduction. It’s well recognized as a global leader in CRM, with dedicated modules for marketers, sales executives, customer support teams, and operation managers.

If pushing scalability is on the top of your mind, HubSpot is the way to go. It has a free version that offers all the basic functionalities required by these stakeholders.

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What’s Next? Looking Ahead on National Entrepreneurs Day

With these solutions and technologies in place, you’re well on your way to reinforcing your brand and amplifying recall among your target audience. Remember, in today’s customer-centric world, product innovation must be complemented by 360-degree marketing efforts.

Now that you’ve taken the first and most crucial step – deciding to take your product(s) to market – make sure to leverage the right tools to stay ahead.

Happy National Entrepreneurs Day!

As a business owner, how are you commemorating National Entrepreneurs Day 2019? Tell us on LinkedInOpens a new window , FacebookOpens a new window , or TwitterOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!

Chiradeep BasuMallick
Chiradeep BasuMallick

Contributor, Ziff Davis B2B

Chiradeep is a content marketing professional with 8 Years+ experience in corporate communications, marketing content, brand management, and advertising. Over the course of his tenure, he’s worked on several big-ticket projects, led and trained a variety of teams, and been instrumental in driving delivery quality, timeline adherence, and talent harvesting.
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