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Best Marketing Software for Small Businesses

Best Marketing Software for Small Businesses

By Daniel C. Daniel C. & Micaela A. Micaela A. Verified by Sharmaine G. Sharmaine G.Last updated: February 7, 2025 (0)
Table of contents

Best marketing software for small businesses

Your company may have the best product in the world, but if no one hears about it, you won’t make any sales. Marketing is one of the most important elements of any business, right next to product development. If the latter is what your business is all about, it’s the former that brings interested customers to your checkout page.

A good marketing plan is more than just scheduling a few social media posts throughout the month. You need to design your brand’s tone of voice, work out your sales funnel, track your marketing campaigns, and switch between several platforms and marketing strategies. This can be quite a challenge to tackle alone, especially considering that each strategy has its own dos and don’ts. But as we all know, small businesses have tight budgets and can’t invest a lot of money on full marketing teams or agencies – that’s where marketing software comes in.

Marketing automation for small businesses

Regardless of the marketing tools you use, consistency is key to increase brand awareness. But how can you run a non-stop marketing campaign over several platforms with a tight schedule and small budget? The answer is marketing automation.

Marketing automation software is any platform that helps you automize all your marketing efforts, cutting the time spent on managing them substantially. For instance, it’s unthinkable to manually tweet several times a day at the exact moment where your target audience is more active or to personally send an email to every newsletter subscriber. That’s why companies take advantage of marketing automation tools, such as social media schedulers and email marketing software.

But these are just two examples of a wide variety of marketing tools designed to help small businesses meet their objectives effortlessly. From image editors that come with built-in templates to hashtag generators and keyword planners, there’s a piece of software to help you with every marketing tactic.

Recommended marketing tools for small businesses

Among the many marketing automation tools available, some are more essential than others. If you’re on a tight budget and need to narrow down which platforms to invest in, we recommend looking at the following:

Semrush
SEO: Semrush
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • In-depth keyword analysis
  • Content management optimization
  • 14-day free trial
  • Intuitive
  • Social media management
  • Lack of 24/7 customer support
  • Only covers Google, Baidu, and Bing
Starting price: $108.33/mo Visit Semrush
Video overview
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Offers
17% off Semrush
Free SEO suite with Semrush
Exclusive 14-day free trial of Semrush Pro
7-day money-back guarantee with Semrush
Google Workspace
Office suite: Google Workspace
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Comprehensive suite
  • Great collaboration and productivity tools
  • Ideal for remote work
  • Extensive thrid-party integrations
  • Complicated support system
  • No desktop apps
Starting price: $7/user/mo Visit Google Workspace
Video overview
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Offers
20% off monthly rates with Google Workspace
14-day free trial of Google Workspace
Manychat
Chat marketing: Manychat
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Automated responses across platforms
  • Integration with popular business tools
  • Intuitive mobile app
  • AI-driven customer support
  • No live chat
  • No refunds
Starting price: $15/mo Get Manychat
Video overview
Video thumbnail
Offers
Free automation platform with Manychat
AWeber
Email marketing: AWeber
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Lots of responsive templates
  • Available on desktop and mobile
  • Detailed segmentation and targeting options
  • Many stats available in reports
  • Outstanding customer support
  • Lack of free version
  • Pricier plans
  • No money-back guarantee
Starting price: $16.17/mo Visit AWeber
Screenshots
Offers
Free use of AWeber for 3 months
Up to 35% savings on AWeber for students
Up to 15% discount on AWeber
30-day AWeber free trial
Canva
Design: Canva
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Extremely user-friendly
  • Millions of free visual materials
  • Thousands of templates
  • Supports video
  • Built-in social media posting
  • No 24/7 customer support for Pro users
  • Lack of flexibility
Starting price: $9.99/mo Visit Canva
Screenshots
Offers
23% discount on Canva Pro
Free graphic design editor with Canva
30-day free trial of Canva Pro
Free Canva Pro subscription for non-profits
RingCentral
Communication: RingCentral
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Versatile, advanced call handling features
  • Huge number of integrations
  • Unlimited domestic calls and texts
  • Extensive analytics
  • 14-day free trial
  • Steep learning curve
Starting price: $20/user/mo Visit RingCentral
Video overview
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Offers
Up to 33% off RingCentral subscriptions
14-day free trial of RingCentral
30-day money-back guarantee with RingCentral
Full product demo of RingCentral
EngageBay
All-in-one CRM: EngageBay
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • All-in-one platform
  • Generous free plan
  • Affordable
  • Intuitive mobile app
  • 24/7 customer support
  • No free trial
  • Initial learning curve
Starting price: $10.79/mo Visit EngageBay
Screenshots
Offers
28% off EngageBay paid plans
30% commission with every referral
Free CRM platform with EngageBay
Free demo of EngageBay
Shutterstock
Stock media: Shutterstock
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • +400 million stock media files
  • Free editor
  • 30-day free trial
  • Intuitive to navigate
  • Mobile app & plugins
  • Expensive
  • Elaborate pricing structure
Starting price: $41.58/mo Visit Shutterstock
Video overview
Video thumbnail
Offers
10 images for free with Shutterstock
10% off Shutterstock media
Up to 40% off Shutterstock subscriptions
$9.16 per image on Shutterstock
$50 Shutterstock referral program
Free image editor with Shutterstock
ATLAS.ti
Data analysis: ATLAS.ti
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Supports various file types
  • Intuitive
  • Comprehensive guides
  • Mobile app
  • 90-day free trial
  • Steep learning curve
  • Expensive
  • No 24/7 customer support
Starting price: $12.75/mo Visit ATLAS.ti
Video overview
Video thumbnail
Offers
Up to 35% off ATLAS.ti multiuser licenses
Just $8.50 per month for ATLAS.ti student licenses
90-day free trial With ATLAS.ti
Filmora
Video editing: Filmora
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Comprehensive software
  • In-depth customization
  • User-friendly
  • Free version
  • 24/7 support
  • A few bugs
  • Some tools' interfaces need improvement
Starting price: $49.99/yr Visit Filmora
Screenshots
Offers
Up to 30% off Filmora
25% discount on Filmora and FilmoraGo
Volume discounts with Filmora
Free video editor with Filmora
7-day free trial of Filmora Effects & Plugins
TextMagic
SMS marketing: TextMagic
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • 30-day free trial
  • Numbers for 30 countries
  • Sub-accounts for team collaboration
  • Voice broadcasting
  • Quick customer support
  • No 24/7 live chat
  • Region limitations to monthly subscription
Starting price: $99/mo Visit TextMagic
Video overview
Video thumbnail
Offers
10% discount with TextMagic on first purchase
20% off second order with TextMagic
Free 30-day trial of TextMagic
Credit refund with TextMagic's money-back guarantee
Freshmarketer
Marketing automation: Freshmarketer
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Comprehensive marketing automation
  • Free version
  • 360-degree customer view
  • Numerous integrations
  • User-friendly
  • Limited customer support
  • No money-back guarantee
Starting price: $19/user/mo Visit Freshmarketer
Video overview
Video thumbnail
Offers
17% discount on Freshmarketer
Free marketing automation software with Freshmarketer
21-day free trial of Freshmarketer
Kartra
All-in-one marketing suite: Kartra
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Robust lead management
  • Smart sales sequences
  • All-in-one marketing solution
  • Comprehensive analytics
  • Great customer support
  • Not ideal for larger businesses
  • No dedicated reports section
Starting price: $99/mo Visit Kartra
Video overview
Video thumbnail
Offers
Limited-time 20% coupon code for Kartra
Up to 22% off Kartra
30-day free trial of Kartra
30-day money-back guarantee of Kartra
Instapage
Landing page builder: Instapage
Editor's rating:
Reviews
  • Numerous customization tools
  • Easy to use
  • AI-powered features
  • Collaboration resources
  • Over 120 integrations
  • Pricey
  • Limited support channels
Starting price: $79/mo Visit Instapage
Video overview
Video thumbnail
Offers
Up to 20% off Instapage
Instapage 14-day free trial

Marketing strategies for small businesses

A marketing strategy always needs to be backed up by a marketing plan. It’s essential that you know who your target audience is and the objectives you want to accomplish. Only then will you know what platforms to focus on and see your marketing efforts pay off. For instance, if you have a young target audience, you’ll probably want to focus on social media outlets like TikTok or YouTube. On the other hand, if you own a B2B business, email marketing and webinars might offer a better return.

There are several marketing strategies that will be present no matter your target audience. You should always have a website, focus on the right social media platforms, and run targeted ads. But it’s content marketing that has become key to any marketing strategy. People no longer enjoy in-your-face ads. Instead, there’s a higher probability of converting a lead into a sale by offering them free content that helps them with a particular problem. That’s why more companies are writing blog articles and guides that bring traffic to their website. If you have a physical business, like a coffee shop, then it’s essential to list your company on Google My Business so it shows up when people use the ‘near me’ feature.

Additional marketing resources for small businesses

There are more marketing tools that help small businesses to thrive. While the ones recommended are great to spend less time on executing marketing strategies, you should consider other software that improves your overall content marketing and make the content creation process smoother. Meanwhile, you should also look at getting tools designed to boost productivity across the board.

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