With so many marketing resources at our fingertips, businesses can easily find themselves facing these challenges: the need to make a significant marketing impact on budget and navigating the mountain of marketing tools available online. Making the most of our time is essential for all small businesses. When you find the right digital marketing tools to maximize time, efficacy, and budget, it can be a real game-changer.

Digital marketing tools including digital platforms, apps, and online marketing services can help in every aspect of digital marketing. From planning and delegating, to social media management, email marketing and content creation – these tools will help you amplify your marketing campaigns. See some of our favorite resources that can turn your marketing efforts into a force, allowing you to focus on what truly matters – growing your business.

Stock Photo Resources

Starting with the basics of modern marketing, compelling images speak volumes, conveying a brand’s identity and message instantantly. Stock photo resources are an essential for enhancing marketing materials. From website banners to social media posts, using stock photos can save a ton of time and elevate any marketing campaign. Here are some free and budget-friendly stock photo resources:

• Unsplash: Access a vast collection of high-quality, royalty-free images for visual content creation. Free & paid versions are available.
• Pixabay: Provides a diverse selection of free images and illustrations suitable for various purposes.
• Pexels: Offers a wide range of free stock photos and videos, perfect for enhancing your visual marketing materials.
• Freepik: Offers free vectors, photos, and illustrations, useful for creating eye-catching visuals.
• Adobe Stock: Adobe Stock provides a comprehensive collection of premium stock photos, videos, and templates, integrated seamlessly with Adobe Creative Cloud, available through paid subscription plans.
• iStock: Offers a vast library of high-quality, royalty-free images, videos, and illustrations, available through paid subscription plans or credit packs.

Photo & Video Editing

In today’s visually-driven world, high-quality photo and video resources are essential for capturing audience attention and conveying brand messages effectively. Whether you’re a small business, content creator, or marketing professional, using the right editing tools can enhance the visual appeal and professionalism of your work. Here are some of our favorite photo and video editing tools that can help you create stunning content with ease and precision.

Photo Editing Tools:

• GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program): A free and open-source raster graphics editor, GIMP provides advanced photo editing features comparable to premium software.
• Canva: While known for design, Canva also offers basic photo editing features, making it a handy all-in-one tool for social media graphics and more.
• Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark): A user-friendly design tool that allows users to create stunning graphics, web pages, and video stories quickly, with a variety of customizable templates and assets, making it ideal for quick and creative content creation.
• Adobe Photoshop: A powerful image editing software used for creating and enhancing photographs, graphics, and illustrations, renowned for its extensive features and professional-grade tools. Note: For more advanced editing / may require training or some education.
• Adobe Lightroom: A photo editing and management software that enables photographers to organize, edit, and share their photos efficiently. It’s known for its user-friendly interface and non-destructive editing capabilities. 

Video Editing Tools:

• DaVinci Resolve: A professional-grade video editing software with advanced color correction and audio post-production capabilities, available for free with a robust feature set.
• Wondershare Filmora: An intuitive video editing software designed for beginners and professionals alike, offering a wide range of creative tools, effects, and templates to produce high-quality videos easily.
• InShot: A mobile app for both photo and video editing, InShot is user-friendly and offers essential editing tools along with filters and effects.
• Adobe Premiere Pro: Adobe Premiere Pro is a professional-grade video editing software. Filmmakers, video editors, and content creators use Premiere Pro to produce high-quality videos. This tool offers a comprehensive suite of advanced editing tools, effects, and seamless integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud applications.

Social Media Marketing

The strategic use of social media has become paramount for businesses seeking to connect with their audience and foster brand visibility. Social media marketing and management tools serve as allies, empowering businesses to streamline content creation, schedule posts, and analyze engagement across various platforms. By leveraging these tools, marketers enhance their efficiency in managing social presence. These tools also offer valuable insights, allowing for informed decisions that amplify the impact of digital marketing efforts.

• Buffer: Simplifies social media scheduling and analytics, allowing users to plan and manage posts across various platforms, making it an excellent choice for small businesses with limited social channels.
• Meta Business Suite: Tailored for businesses on the world’s largest social network, Meta Business provides a suite of tools for managing pages, ads, and analytics, enabling businesses to establish and enhance their online presence.
• Hootsuite: A comprehensive social media management platform that enables users to schedule posts, engage with their audience, and analyze performance across multiple social channels, making it a versatile solution for businesses of all sizes.
• Tailwind: Tailwind specializes in Pinterest and Instagram scheduling, offering features like content planning, analytics, and community engagement, making it an essential tool for businesses focusing on visual content.

Email Marketing

While digital marketing trends are always evolving, email marketing remains a cornerstone for businesses. Email marketing tools have emerged as essential instruments, providing businesses with the means to craft engaging campaigns, automate workflows, and analyze performance metrics. With their user-friendly interfaces and robust features, these tools streamline the email marketing process and also empower businesses to deliver targeted, personalized content that resonates with their audience. Email marketing tools also provide an effective resource to nurture relationships and drive conversions. Here are some of our favorites:

• ConvertKit: Designed for content creators, offering user-friendly email marketing tools with automation features. With a free plan accommodating up to 300 subscribers, ConvertKit is an excellent choice for bloggers, authors, and small-scale creators.
• Klaviyo: An advanced email marketing platform designed for e-commerce businesses, offering powerful features for segmentation, automation, and data-driven insights to help drive personalized and effective marketing campaigns.
• Mailchimp: A widely-used email marketing platform offering intuitive campaign creation, audience management, and analytics tools. With a free tier allowing up to 2,500 email sends per month, it’s an excellent choice for businesses seeking a scalable and user-friendly solution.

Website Design & Creation

Building a professional and engaging website is now quicker and more accessible than ever, thanks to a range of intuitive design and creation tools. These platforms offer user-friendly interfaces, customizable templates, and powerful features that enable anyone, from beginners to experts, to create stunning websites efficiently. Here are some top tools that can help you bring your online vision to life with ease.

• WordPress: A versatile content management system (CMS) with a vast library of plugins and themes. While the self-hosted version requires some technical knowledge, it provides flexibility for businesses looking to scale.
• Shopify: A leading e-commerce platform that allows businesses to easily create and manage online stores, offering customizable templates, secure payment options, and comprehensive tools for inventory management and marketing.
• Divi WordPress Theme: A versatile WordPress theme featuring a powerful visual builder that enables users to design custom layouts and pages with ease, making it ideal for both beginners and advanced developers.
• Elementor: Elementor is a WordPress plugin that allows users to create custom web page designs and layouts using a drag-and-drop interface, without requiring coding knowledge. It provides a range of design elements, templates, and advanced features to help users build professional-looking websites efficiently.

Website Hosting

Choosing a reliable web hosting service is essential for ensuring your website’s performance, security, and accessibility. A dependable host provides the foundation for your online presence, offering fast loading times, minimal downtime, and robust support. Here are our favorite options.

• Bluehost is a popular web hosting provider known for its affordable pricing, user-friendly interface, and excellent customer support, making it an ideal choice for beginners and small businesses.
• SiteGround is renowned for its reliable performance, exceptional speed, and top-notch customer service, offering a range of hosting solutions perfect for websites of all sizes.

SEO, Blogging & Content Creation

Mastering SEO, blogging, and content creation is paramount for businesses striving to enhance their online visibility and engage with their audience effectively. Here are some invaluable resources and tools to help you optimize your website’s searchability, craft blog posts, and create captivating content that resonates with your target audience.

• Google Analytics: A powerful web analytics tool that provides insights into website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates, helping businesses make data-driven decisions. It is available for free.
• Google MyBusiness: A free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Google Search and Maps, by providing essential information such as business hours, location, and customer reviews.
• Google Search Console: A free tool that helps website owners monitor and optimize their site’s performance in Google Search results, providing data on indexing status, search queries, and site errors.
• YoastSEO Plugin for WordPress: A popular WordPress plugin that assists users in optimizing their website’s content for search engines, providing features such as content analysis, XML sitemap generation, and readability checks. While the basic version is free, there is a premium version with additional features.
• Grammarly: Enhance your writing with grammar and style suggestions, excellent for proofreading blog posts and copy.
• Google Docs: Collaborative writing platform with real-time editing, beneficial for team-based content creation.

Marketing/Project Management

Effective project management is the backbone of successful campaigns. From organizing tasks to tracking progress and fostering collaboration, the right tools can make all the difference. Below, we’ve compiled a curated list of versatile platforms designed to streamline marketing efforts and empower teams to achieve their goals efficiently.

• Asana is versatile project management tool that allows teams to organize tasks, track progress, and collaborate effectively, making it ideal for managing marketing projects and campaigns with ease.
• Trello is a flexible project management tool based on boards, lists, and cards, enabling teams to visualize workflows, assign tasks, and prioritize projects, perfect for marketing teams looking for a simple and intuitive platform.
• Monday.com is a customizable work operating system that streamlines project management, communication, and collaboration across teams, providing marketing teams with a centralized platform for planning and executing campaigns.
• Wrike is a comprehensive project management platform with features like task tracking, time tracking, and Gantt charts, empowering marketing teams to plan, execute, and monitor projects efficiently.
• HubSpot offers an all-in-one marketing, sales, and CRM platform with features like lead generation, email marketing, and campaign analytics, providing marketing teams with tools to attract, engage, and delight customers.
• Slack is a real-time messaging and collaboration platform designed to streamline communication and workflow among team members, integrating with numerous tools to enhance productivity and coordination.