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Top Free & Most Affordable Marketing Tools for Small Businesses

Writer's picture: Cascade TeamCascade Team

Running a small business often means working with limited budgets, especially when it comes to marketing. When you’re a small business and it’s all hands on deck or whether you’re a founder or one person marketing department, time, money, efficiency and quality matter.


Fortunately, there are numerous cost-effective marketing tools available that can help small businesses build brand awareness, engage with customers, and drive sales.


So we’re sharing some top free and affordable marketing tools for small business that will help you get going until you can hire an integrated marketing or PR agency to produce more professional work.


Free video editing tools

Here are some of the best affordable marketing tools to consider:


SEO – When it comes to search everyone wants to improve their visibility and drive traffic, but there are some basic best practices that Google requires for you to show up and they’re free. Without these you might not show up in search at all.

1. Google My Business (Local SEO & Reviews)

  • Cost: Free

  • Why It’s Great: Essential for local businesses, Google My Business helps improve search visibility, manage customer reviews, and provide essential business details on Google Search and Maps.

2. Google Analytics (Website Performance Tracking)

  • Cost: Free

  • Why It’s Great: Google Analytics provides insights into website traffic, user behavior, and conversion tracking to help optimize marketing strategies.

 

Design

3. Canva (Graphic Design) Canva will not replace a professional brand designer and strategist, but it can help you get by on more basic things like images for social media or blog posts, create fliers and presentations. We leave the real branding to our experts.

  • Cost: Free plan; Pro plan starts at $12.99/month and opens the door to more fonts, images, graphics and options.

  • Why It’s Great: Canva makes it easy for small businesses to create professional-looking graphics for social media, email marketing, and promotional materials without needing a graphic designer.

 

Content

4. Semrush (SEO & Keyword Research): When it comes to writing content, or blogs, it’s good to understand how you might help them find you on search through keywords and longtail keywords. This will show you how they search for competition so that you can also begin to write ranking content.

  • Cost: Free with limited features; paid plans start at $129.95/month

  • Why It’s Great: Semrush is a powerful tool for keyword research, competitor analysis, and SEO optimization to help small businesses rank higher in search engines.

 

5. ChatGPT + Your Brain Everyone is embracing AI’s efficiencies in one way or another, and it can be really helpful in giving you a boost to writing content. We’ve all stared at a blank Word document wondering where we will start, and while ChatGPT and others can get you started, it will never be novel.


That’s where your brain comes in. Edit what it’s produced for you and be sure to put your own original and novel thinking on it.

  • Cost: Free with limited features; with more professional plans from $20-200 a month

  • Why It’s Great: No more writer’s block. Ask the question thoroughly and let it help you get started on your content.

 

Photos, Graphics & Stock Video: We live in a world where visuals are everything and can attract more engagement with social and blog posts with them then without, but subscriptions to other websites can become expensive. We save those for more high profile work and video that clients need.

6. Pexels, Pixaby & Unsplash (Free Stock Images and Videos)

  • Cost: Free; but you can say thanks to the photographers with a donation.

  • Why It’s Great: These platforms offer high-quality, royalty-free images that small businesses can use for marketing materials, websites, and social media content without breaking the bank.

  • The Downside: You may not always find what you want specifically on these sites.

 

Video Editing

7. ClipChamp Available on Microsoft, offers a very easy way to edit video or even create simple videos that can be used online.

8. iMovie The Mac version, offers similar features for Mac users.


  • Cost: Free with some limited upgrades

  • Why It’s Great: If you just need to edit or create a simple video, these are great to use in a pinch.

 

Social Media Most of us don’t have the time daily to create posts for social media, making schedulers a necessity.

10. Buffer (Social Media Scheduling)

  • Cost: Free for up to three social accounts; paid plans start at $6/month per channel

  • Why It’s Great: Buffer simplifies social media scheduling and analytics, making it easy to manage multiple platforms without spending all day online.

12. Hootsuite (Social Media Management)

  • Cost: Free plan available; paid plans start at $99/month

  • Why It’s Great: Hootsuite helps businesses schedule posts, engage with followers, and analyze social media performance all in one place. The best part is you can discover conversations to take part in.

11. Meta Business Suite If you have your business and business page set up on Meta, they make it easy to schedule posts for Facebook and Instagram in one place

  • Cost: Free

  • Why It’s Great: Meta offers more granular data on posts to help guide you to producing better content.

 

Email Marketing & CRM


12. Mailchimp (Email Marketing)

  • Cost: Free for up to 500 contacts; paid plans start at $13/month

  • Why It’s Great: Mailchimp offers an intuitive email marketing platform that allows businesses to send newsletters, automate campaigns, and track performance without a steep learning curve.

13. Zoho CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

  • Cost: Free for up to three users; paid plans start at $14/user/month

  • Why It’s Great: Zoho CRM enables small businesses to track customer interactions, manage leads, and automate sales processes efficiently.

 

Project Management


14. Google Drive While it might be a bit more work, Google Drive offers a lot of functionality for CRMs, campaign and project management, content calendars and more with easy collaboration.

  •  Cost: Free for up to three users; paid plans start at $12 for access to the full Workspace.

  • Why It’s Great: Almost everyone uses it in some form so it’s a low learning curve when bringing in new collaborators.

 

15. Trello (Project Management & Collaboration)

  • Cost: Free; paid plans start at $5/month per user

  • Why It’s Great: Trello helps teams organize and track marketing campaigns, content calendars, and projects with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface.


Conclusion

You don’t have to have a huge budget to create, execute, track and stay on top of projects and campaigns.


With the right tools above, small businesses can create effective marketing strategies without spending a fortune. Whether you need to design eye-catching graphics, automate email campaigns, improve SEO, or manage social media, these affordable marketing tools can help you grow your business efficiently.


Are we leaving out a brilliant, free tool that you have discovered for your business? Share it with us!

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Chicagoland-based Cascade Communications is an acclaimed top U.S. Integrated Digital Marketing & PR Agency for startups, small businesses and small enterprises around the world. Located in Chicago, IL and Northwest Indiana, we serve clients across the U.S., Canada, and around the world.

 

Brand design, website design, SEO, digital and social ads, content - blogs, video, graphics, photography, and public relations. 

© 2025 Cascade Communications  Integrated Marketing, Design and Public Relations agency for startups and small to mid-sized business

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