Throughout my professional career, I’ve always had a love for small business. Whether it was creating them myself, or helping others, small business is the backbone of our economy, and I always love finding tools and resources that can help small businesses navigate their marketing needs. It can be incredibly tough to find the time and budget to effectively market your small business, so anytime I find something I think can help, I feel compelled to shout it from the rooftops! Below are 5 of my favorite tools these days, many of which I use on a daily basis.
Canva – I’ve been playing around with Canva for a bit, and it’s quite an amazing tool. Canva is an all-in-one design suite for non-designers. Think Photoshop for newbies but much more expansive. First off, the tool is completely free to use unless you use premium elements which typically involve $1 images, still incredibly cheap. Other than that, you can create anything from social media images to business cards to whatever your design needs may be. All your work is done through the browser, your work is saved online, and everything is incredibly easy to use. Quite a game changer for small businesses that don’t have creative talent on board or can’t afford professional designers all the time.
Fiverr – It’s possible you’ve actually heard of Fiverr…the marketplace where you can buy services for $5. But what you probably don’t realize is that there are actually quite a few offerings that are worthy of your attention as a small business owner here. While there is plenty to avoid for such a small pittance, don’t write off everything. How’s about a professional sounding voicemail greeting? Or having your business logo animated for video intros? Chances are you have some small projects or needs that can be met very inexpensively in this marketplace.
Socialistics – Managing social media for your business can be a laboring affair. You know you need to, you know if done right it can drive business, but 9 times out of 10, you just don’t have the time, expertise or budget to pull it off. Socialistics is a great new offering that caters specifically to small business needs providing tools and services that are affordable, and produce results for your business. They provide a great, easy to use platform as well as some content creation and channel management that will help you focus on the other areas of your business.
Dollar Photo Club – You have to be careful on the images you use for your business marketing. Rather then having to worry about whether you have permission to do so, just drop $10/month or $99/year to Dollar Photo Club and have access to over 25 million royalty free images at your disposal whenever you need them. Dirt cheap, easy to find anything you ever need for anything, it’s worth every penny to add this to your marketing resources.
Funnel – Last but not least, is Funnel, a CRM (customer relationship management) and marketing automation tool built specifically for the small business. CRM & marketing automation are all the buzz lately, but most tools are WAY overkill for small businesses and too expensive. That’s where Funnel comes in. Painfully easy to use, and incredibly affordable ($4-$8/month), it’s a great tool to help create lead generation forms, track your leads and customers, and send proposals.
What say you? Any useful tools you’ve found? If so, share in the comments section as I’d love to hear about them.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 5 Incredible Small Business Marketing Resources You Haven’t Heard Of
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