Free and Low-Cost Tools for Marketers on a Budget

In the spirit of the season of giving, I’m delighted to share with you a few of my favorite things. These are tools that I’ve used over the years to help me be more productive, creative, and collaborative in my Marketing career, but they can be used by any content creator or thought leader who needs to effectively plan, develop, and distribute information. Best of all, these marketing tools are either free or low-cost, which means they are very start-up friendly.

Asana

Asana is an amazing platform that makes it easy to organize, track, and collaborate on work with teammates. For anyone whose desk and inbox are filled with complex, multi-layered projects that involve multiple stakeholders, Asana is a lifesaver. I readily admit to being a chronic multitasker and unrepentant list-maker, and Asana has made keeping track of the many balls I always have in the air a true delight. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Asana is so effective it actually makes my workload feel lighter. Plus, its flexible and intuitive interface is one of the best out there.

HubSpot

I became a customer of HubSpot in 2010 and have onboarded 3 different companies with their platform – that’s how much I love them. Back in the old days when “inbound” was still a new word in the Marketing world, HubSpot was only focused on marketing automation. Today they have built out an entire product portfolio that includes a solid CRM for early stage companies, one I infinitely prefer to Salesforce, for its robust simplicity. Like Asana, HubSpot’s interface is simple and intuitive, and their customer support is unmatched.

Canva

Where would the creative world be without Canva? Not that long ago, the only way to develop truly professional looking collateral and digital marketing assets was using complex, sophisticated, and expensive tools like Photoshop and Illustrator. And if you didn’t have the skill set for those tools, you probably had to hire a designer as well. Canva democratized graphic design by providing an easy to use set of tools with professional looking templates that make it possible for anyone – even those who are on the less creative side – to create beautiful designs. Whether you want to put together a dance recital poster or a business infographic to drive leads to your website, Canva has you covered.

Biteable

Everywhere you turn, it’s all about video content these days. Attention spans continue to shrink, which means virtually every social media platform’s algorithm is favoring short-form video. There was a time when creating video was very expensive and therefore out of reach for young and growing companies, but that is no longer the case today. Biteable is an easy to use tool (are you sensing the theme here?) that makes it possible for anyone, regardless of skill level, to create engaging and memorable video content. From animation to voice overs and stock videography, Biteable has everything you need to start building out your library of videos.