When I started learning about digital marketing in Tampere, I thought you needed expensive software for everything.
Turns out, some of the best tools are completely free.
I’ve spent the past two months working with small businesses on their digital presence, and I keep coming back to the same five tools. They’re free, they’re practical, and they actually solve real problems.
Here’s what I recommend.
1. Google Business Profile
This one surprised me. I didn’t realize how powerful it was until I started optimizing profiles for local businesses.
Google Business Profile is free and it shows up when people search for your business or services near them. If you’re a coffee shop in Austin and someone searches “coffee near me,” your Google Business Profile can be the first thing they see.
Setting it up takes maybe 30 minutes. You add your business name, address, hours, phone number, and some photos. Then you verify that you actually own the business.
The real value comes from what happens after. You can post updates, respond to reviews, and see how people find you. I’ve seen small businesses get more customers just from having a complete, updated Google Business Profile than from their actual website.
One client I worked with was getting maybe two calls a week from their profile. We optimized it with better photos, a clearer description, and regular posts. Now they get 15-20 calls a week. Same business, same location, just a better profile.
The best part is the insights. You can see how many people viewed your profile, how many clicked to your website, how many asked for directions. That data helps you understand what’s working.
2. Canva
I already wrote about Canva for blog graphics, but it’s worth mentioning again because it does so much more.
Small businesses need graphics constantly. Social media posts, flyers, email headers, presentations, business cards. Hiring a designer for all of that gets expensive fast.
Canva’s free version gives you thousands of templates and enough features to create professional-looking graphics yourself. You don’t need design experience. You just need to be willing to spend 20 minutes learning how it works.
I use it for social media graphics at least three times a week. The templates are sized correctly for each platform, so you don’t have to guess whether your Instagram post will look right.
The one limitation with the free version is you can’t save brand kits or use some premium templates. But honestly, the free templates are good enough for most small businesses starting out.
3. Google Analytics
This one has a learning curve, but it’s worth it.
Google Analytics shows you what’s happening on your website. How many people visit, where they come from, what pages they look at, how long they stay. Without this data, you’re just guessing about what works.
I’ll be real with you: when I first opened Google Analytics, I had no idea what I was looking at. There are so many numbers and charts. But you don’t need to understand everything. You just need to focus on a few key things.
How much traffic are you getting? Where is it coming from (Google search, social media, direct visits)? What pages do people visit most? Where do they leave your site?
Those questions tell you what’s working and what needs improvement. If people land on your homepage and immediately leave, something’s wrong with that page. If a blog post gets tons of traffic from Google, you should probably write more content like that.
The free version is more than enough for small businesses. The paid version (Google Analytics 360) costs a lot and is built for huge companies. You definitely don’t need that.
4. Mailchimp (Free Plan)
Email marketing still works. Actually, it works really well.
According to research from Litmus, email marketing has an average return of $36 for every $1 spent. That’s better than most advertising channels.
Mailchimp’s free plan lets you send emails to up to 500 subscribers. For a small business just starting with email marketing, that’s plenty.
I’ve helped set up a few Mailchimp accounts now, and the process is straightforward. You create an email list, design an email (they have templates), and send it to your subscribers. You can see who opened it, who clicked links, and who unsubscribed.
The templates are decent. They’re not going to win design awards, but they look professional and they work on mobile phones, which is where most people read emails anyway.
One thing I learned: don’t email people too often. Once a week is plenty for most small businesses. Maybe once a month if you don’t have that much to say. People will unsubscribe if you spam them.
The free plan has Mailchimp branding in your emails, but most people don’t care about that. If it bothers you, the paid plans start at $13 a month and remove the branding.
5. Ubersuggest
This is a keyword research tool, and it’s incredibly useful if you’re trying to get traffic from Google.
Before I started doing SEO content writing, I didn’t understand keyword research. I just wrote about topics I thought were interesting. Sometimes those posts got traffic, usually they didn’t.
Keyword research shows you what people are actually searching for. Instead of guessing, you know what topics have search volume and how hard they are to rank for.
Ubersuggest’s free version gives you limited searches per day, but it’s enough to plan your content strategy. You type in a topic or keyword, and it shows you how many people search for it monthly, how competitive it is, and related keywords you might not have thought of.
For example, if you run a bakery and want to write blog posts, you could search “sourdough bread recipe.” Ubersuggest might show you that “easy sourdough bread recipe” gets more searches and is less competitive. Now you know what to write about.
I use this before writing almost any content now. It takes five minutes and completely changes what I write about. Instead of creating content nobody searches for, I create content that actually has an audience.
The paid version gives you unlimited searches and more detailed data, but the free version is fine for small businesses creating a few pieces of content a month.
What About Paid Tools?
I get asked this a lot. Should small businesses invest in paid marketing tools?
My answer: not at first. Master the free tools first. Learn what data matters to your business. Figure out your workflow. Then, if you’re hitting the limits of free tools, upgrade.
A lot of small businesses buy expensive software thinking it will solve their problems. But if you don’t know how to use Google Analytics (free), you won’t know how to use Adobe Analytics ($100,000+ per year) either.
Start with free. Get good at the basics. Upgrade when you actually need more features, not just because you think you should.
Making These Tools Actually Work
Having the tools isn’t enough. You need to actually use them.
I’ve seen businesses set up Google Analytics and never look at it. They create a Google Business Profile and forget to update it. They sign up for Mailchimp and send one email, then give up.
The tools only work if you commit to using them regularly. Check Google Analytics once a week. Update your Google Business Profile when something changes. Send regular emails to your list. Do keyword research before creating content.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. Spending 30 minutes a week on these tools will give you better results than spending three hours once a month.
My Recommendation for Starting Out
If you’re a small business just getting into digital marketing, start with Google Business Profile and Google Analytics. Those two tools give you visibility in local search and data about your website. That’s the foundation.
Once those are set up and you’re comfortable with them, add Canva for creating graphics. Then Mailchimp when you’re ready to start building an email list. Then Ubersuggest when you want to create content that actually gets found in search.
Don’t try to implement everything at once. Pick one tool, learn it, make it part of your routine, then move to the next one.
Digital marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. These five free tools can handle most of what a small business needs. The hard part isn’t finding the tools. It’s actually using them consistently.
