Marketing Software
Many small businesses believe that they do not need or have the time or expertise to invest in marketing software. However, with the changing digital landscape, this may be short-sighted. Several reasons for considering this are the automation of time-consuming tasks like sending emails or keeping track of customers as well as understanding your customers better. In this section, we provide some free or low-cost digital marketing tools.
CRM: Customer Relationship Management. This software helps you gather data about your customers to better understand them. According to Nimble.com, several key reasons that a small business needs CRM software include:
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- “It helps store information about your clients intelligently
- It helps organize the information about your existing and potential customers in more digestible formats
- This software provides you with a more organized workflow
- It provides you with detailed insight into purchasing dynamics”
- HubSpot: This is a free CRM system that looks interesting.
- Insightly has been found to be a good way to track and manage your customers. They also have a free (limited) version.
- MyCase: for lawyers; case management software or Law Firm Marketing 360.
- Pipedrive: “The leading sales management tool small sales teams love to use.”
- PosIQ: For restaurants; “The only true Restaurant CRM solution. Fully integrated.” Pricing
- Zoho: This is a pretty commonly used CRM system for small and medium businesses.
Digital Marketing:
- Amazon Ads: If you have any products on Amazon, this is a good way to promote them.
- Facebook Ads: This is usually considered a powerful, cost-effective way to reach your target market customers. This website shows the different options available including ads, videos, etc.
- IdeaScale: is a software that allows you “to involve the opinions of public and private communities by collecting their ideas and giving users a platform to vote.” It has a free version.
- Klaviyo: is an interesting integrated marketing tool that has a free version for up to 250 customers.
- Mail Chimp: “Mailchimp makes it easy to create campaigns that connect with your audience at the right time and the right place. This includes email, landing pages, postcards, sign-up forms, Google re-marketing ads and Facebook ads. Note- there is a free version.
- MoonMail has a free version that allows you to manage your email marketing campaigns.
- RedCappi: also has a free email marketing plan for up to 100 customers.
E-Commerce Systems:
- Shopify: This is one of the most popular and respected e-commerce software solutions for small businesses. It also integrates with many different apps to extend its functionality.
- Note- you can also use Shopify Lite to sell on Facebook.
- Amazon Channel Feed- Ability Commerce: “Channel Feed service to manage products on Amazon. Once you provide the inventory to sell on Amazon, Ability Commerce Amazon experts will monitor your products daily to help you position products better, motivate buyers and, ultimately, boost sales.”
- Big Commerce: “Build your online store; Customize your site, manage shipping and payments, and list your products on Amazon, Ebay, and Facebook with the #1 ecommerce platform. “
Social Media management:
- Buffer: “Save time on social media with powerful scheduling and analytics”. Note- there is a free limited version.
- Hootsuite: scheduling social media, managing content, analytics and more.
- Brand 24: This software mines data from social media sites to see what people are saying about your brand.
- Trust Pilot: This is a free rating software: ” With Trustpilot, people have a place to share and discover reviews of businesses, and every company has the tools to turn consumer feedback into business results.”
- Zoho Social has a basic free edition that lets you manage your basic social media posts.