Running a small business can be hard. And finding marketing resources for small business owners can be even harder. Technology is supposed to ease the overwhelm. But in reality, the sheer number of apps, tools, programs and tutorials available often seem to create more confusion than clarity. There are so many options, it’s hard to know where to start. And even harder to determine which options will actually work best for your business. Of course once you do decide which resources to use, you then have to learn how to use them! And don’t even get me started about keeping current on stuff every time there’s an update. It makes me tired just thinking about it.
Today, I want to eliminate some of your overwhelm by sharing some of my favorite marketing resources for small business owners. We try a lot of things out here at SizzleForce Marketing—always looking for ways to simplify our processes and save time without compromising quality.
34 Marketing Resources For Small Business Owners:
Stock Photography
When you need a freebie to pop into a blog or presentation, take a look at these sites:
When your needs outgrow the free image resources, check out these sites for low-cost, high-quality stock photography:
Image Creation
When you need to simply crop or resize a photo, or you’re in the mood to create a visually appealing blog image, social media graphic, flyer or download without breaking the bank, these two marketing resources for small business owners are your new best friend:
- Canva – Look like a graphic design genius, even if you’ve never done it before. We create all of our own blog and social media images, as well as frequently designing our own free downloads, using Canva. They have easy-to-use templates, and even a built in library of stock photos (including literally hundreds of amazing free photos!) If you’ve never used Canva before, it needs to be at the top of your list. Make it your new best friend, and thank me later.
- PicMonkey – Easily crop, resize, and edit photos.
Email Management
If you’re not building your list, you are doing yourself and your business an extreme disservice. There are CRM programs out there for every level imaginable. Here’s what we recommend:
- MailChimp – The most basic of the options. MailChimp has a free option, which is great if you are just getting started and have a small list. Once you get to a point where you need to do more advanced segmenting of your list or more advanced automations, you’ll need to move on to one of the other options.
- Constant Contact – When you need to segment your list or you’re ready to incorporate extras like text-to-join, Constant Contact is a great “middle of the pack” option. It is also probably the most intuitive/user-friendly experience of the options I’ve listed. Pricing is based on how many contacts you have on your list.
- ActiveCampaign – ActiveCampaign is a bit more expensive than Constant Contact, but with the extra cost comes extra functionality. It has a bit of a learning curve but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to easily guide your contacts from the first point of contact to their first purchase, and beyond. I. LOVE. THIS. TOOL.
Social Media Scheduling
- Hootsuite & Buffer – Easily schedule posts to Facebook pages and groups, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These programs make it easy to “set it and forget it” so you can spend more time focusing on the things you should be focused on.
- Zapier – Create “Zaps”, automated workflows that integrate seamlessly with thousands of apps and websites, including most social media platforms and CRM programs, management programs like Asana and Toggl (more on those later), and many others.
Online Storage/Backup
- Carbonite – Keep a cloud backup of your entire hard drive, just in case. Plan for the worst case scenario, because you never know when the worst will happen!
- DropBox – Easily share files with coworkers, clients, team members, etc.
Time Management
- Asana – Create detailed checklists for projects, assign tasks to team members, share feedback and send files directly in the program so you have everything in one place.
- Toggl – Easily keep track of every task you perform every day and create weekly/monthly reports so you can see exactly how you’re spending your time, and make changes if needed to use your time more wisely.
Blog Topic Generators
- HubSpot Blog Topic Generator – The next time you find yourself experiencing a case of writer’s blog, head over to HubSpot for inspiration. You enter 3 keywords, and it spits out a week’s worth of potential blog topics. For example, when I entered “marketing”, “blogging” and “social media”, these were the results I got:
San Diego Marketing Agency | Small Business Marketing Tips
Now, not every result will actually be a good option, but there will be more than enough good content to get you back on track.
- Answer The Public – Enter your topic/keyword, and this site will show you all the questions being asked across the internet related to that topic.
- Impact’s BlogAbout Title Generator
- Portent
Landing Pages
- LeadPages – This is my absolute favorite! It’s so easy to use, affordable and the templates have all been thoroughly tested to convert like magic!
- ClickFunnels – This is a landing page builder AND a complete funnel set up system. Awesome, awesome, awesome!
- Instapage
- Unbounce
Social Media Training
Some of my favorite marketing resources for small business owners have come from other marketers. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Marketing Solved – Kat Sullivan, the founder and owner of Marketing Solved, is one of the best trainers in the business. I know her personally and I love how approachable she is and how she is able to break down complicated social media strategies into bite-sized pieces just about anyone can understand. She has tons of different products available on her site. I’m a big fan of her monthly Marketing Solved program, Pin Funnels, and 20K In 20 Days.
- Social Media Examiner – The Social Media Examiner office is just a few miles from mine. Every year they put on the largest social media marketing conference in the world, attracting the most sought after social media experts. This year will be no different! If you can’t get to San Diego Feb 28th-March 2nd, 2018, you should definitely get a virtual ticket to the event. When you click on this link it’ll take you right to that option.
- Mari Smith – Better known as “the Queen of Facebook Marketing,” Mari is the go-to source for anyone that wants to know anything about absolutely killing it on Facebook. This link is to one of my favorite programs that she offers.
- Sizzleforce Academy – This is my own robust collection of training videos, tools, and amazing marketing resources for small business owners. I put these programs together based on the things my clients need help with most often, so it’s specifically designed to help you start getting on top of your marketing now!
Did we miss one of your favorites? Have you learned about any amazing new marketing resources for small business owners recently? Or did you find one from this blog that you’re excited to try? Let us know in the comments!
