Marketing Software for Small Businesses: An Unbiased Guide

Struggling to meet ROI? Are traffic and leads going sour even with all those pitch-perfect strategies? Well, not to worry. There is plenty of marketing software for small businesses to save the day!

Apparently, marketing software for small businesses is similar to any other marketing tool. It works on a smaller scale, so you can easily pick the features you want that fit within your budget. Now, which marketing software is best for small businesses? 

Well, you have come to the right place. In this article, we are going to discuss the most efficient and popular marketing platforms for small businesses. Don’t worry, it will cover different branches of marketing, guaranteeing that nothing is left unchecked.

Okay. Enough talking; let’s roll.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Marketing Software for Small Businesses

CatagoriesProduct namesPricingSpecial mention
CRMZohoPremiumBudget friendly
HubspotFree (Basic plan)Powerful free CRM
Email MarketingMailchimpFree (Basic Plan)Advanced Segmentation
MailerLiteFree (Basic Plan)User-friendly
Website ToolsWixPremiumProfessional-grade template library
WordPressFree (Basic Plan)Flexibility
SMMSEMrushPremiumFull technical audit
HootsuitePremiumWorks for all major social media platform
Content MarketingBuzzSumoFree (Basic Plan)Content research
CanvaFree (Basic Plan)Quick Graphics Designing 

Zoho

If you are willing to invest in an all-around CRM solution within a budget, Zoho is what you need. It’s simple to learn, so you can easily involve all of your employees in working on it. Moreover,  Zoho delivers a handful of integrations, including Canva, Facebook, and LinkedIn lead ads

Key Features:

  • AI assistance
  • Insights about real-time sales
  • Advanced customizations
  • Inventory management
  • Landing page optimization

Pros:

  • Strong management process automation and
  • Budget-friendly
  • Compatible with other apps including G-Suite
  • Mobile-friendly 
  • Powerful Search functionality

Cons:

  • Full manual input
  • Email tracking needs to be improved
  • Forms required to be optimized for conversions
  • Lack of in-depth feature
  • Requires a lot of customization to start

Price:

4 Plans. Standard Plan starts at $20/user/month billed monthly, Professional $35/user/month billed monthly, Enterprise $50/user/month billed monthly, Ultimate $65/user/month billed monthly.

Hubspot

Where else can your small business get a free CRM with tons of features?  Well, even in its free version, Hubspot is known for offering great CRM features. Customized emails target, live chat, insights into customers’ behavior, free educational materials all make Hubspot stand alone.

Key Features:

  • Tracks Website activity
  • Sales email automation
  • Marketing analytics and dashboard
  • Landing Page Optimizer
  • Meeting scheduler

Pros:

  • Best free CRM services 
  • HubSpot Academy offers an extensive knowledge base
  • Simple and easy process for lead generation
  • Personalized email sequences
  • Huge library of apps for integration

Cons:

  • Might be confusing at first to get started
  • Limited templates at workflows
  • Limited survey functions
  • Supports single email per contact
  • Automation can be improved comparing with competitors

Price:

Basic plan is free.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a top-notch email marketing service provider, especially for SMBs and freelancers. Its user-friendly interface, ready-made email automation, and subscriber re-engagement features will get you used to rely on it.

Key Features:

  • Email Templates
  • A/B Testing
  • Automation
  • Mobile Signup Forms
  • Reports & analytics

Pros:

  • Simple to design and modify campaigns
  • Integration compatibility with many platforms
  • Detailed report that helps future sends
  • Effective email segmentation
  • Send time optimization

Cons:

  • No email, live chat support available. 
  • Limited free templates
  • Mobile app is not useful enough
  • Mail might go to spam due to bulk number of emails going to a domain
  • Not suited for advanced marketing teams

Price:

Basic Plan is Free.

Mailerlite

MailerLite is an email marketing software that is focused on simplifying the user’s experience, and, let’s just say, they have done so! Its three editors for campaigns (a drag-and-drop editor, a rich text editor, and an HTML editor) make it unique and more fun than other platforms.

Key Features:

  • Newsletter editors
  • Transactional emails
  • Email verifier
  • Landing pages
  • Automation

Pros:

  • Easy to begin
  • Drag and Drop feature is convenient to work
  • Email, live chat support
  • Good collection of templates
  • RSS campaigns, WordPress integration makes it good for blogging

Cons:

  • Reports are not comprehensive.
  • Automation lacks advanced triggers
  • Integration platforms are limited.

Price:

Basic Plan is Free.

Wix

Wix is a website builder that provides you the flexibility to design, manage, and grow your online presence as you see fit. Using it, you can advertise your company, display your work, launch a store, or start a blog – whatever you want.

Key Features:

  • Domain options
  • Advanced Design Features
  • App Market
  • Media Galleries
  • Blogging features

Pros:

  • No coding required
  • Website optimization on mobile
  • Professional grade template collection
  • Drag and drop interface
  • Lots of extra features

Cons:

  • Hidden costs
  • Slow site loading and rendering
  • Wix’s e-commerce tools lack features
  • Sites cannot be transferred to other platforms
  • Templates are hard to customize

Price:

4 Website Plans: Connect Domain US$450/month, Combo US$850/month, Unlimited US$1250/month, VIP US$2450/month

Business and eCommerce Plans: Business Basic US$17/month, Business Unlimited US$25/month, Business VIP US$35/month

WordPress

You definitely heard about it, right? Yes, we know. According to WordPress, it powers more than 43% of websites. It allows you to choose from more than 54,000 plugin tools, including online stores, image galleries, search and analytics tools, payment platforms, and more.

Key Features:

  • User Management
  • Media Management
  • Built-in Comments
  • Supports multi-language
  • Features Publishing Tools

Pros:

  • Wide range of plugins
  • SSL certificates are easy to add
  • Optimized for PC and Mobile devices
  • Simple process to switch between designers
  • Library of professional level theme

Cons:

  • Slow page speed
  • Requires numerous plugins to add new features
  • Limited SEO optimization
  • WordPress does not have any built-in security mechanisms
  • Most Important tools are premium

Pricing:

Basic plan is free.

Semrush

Semrush has earned the trust of both large and small businesses worldwide as a market research tool. It offers all important features like keyword research, competitor keyword analysis, CPC ads, running SEO audits of your blog, backlinking opportunities, etc.

Key Features:

  • In-depth traffic and backlink analysis.
  • Content marketing
  • Social Media Management
  • Keyword research, PPC keyword research
  • SEO Optimization

Pros:

  • The Semrush interface employs graphs and data visualizations to make metrics simple to understand.
  • Strong link-building facility
  • Largest keyword database
  • Multichannel customer support – phone, chat and email
  • Compatibility with Google Apps and social apps.

Cons:

  • Works only for a single search engine, Google
  • UI can be improved
  • Might provide inaccurate data sometimes.

Pricing:

3 Plans. Pro $119.95 monthly, Guru $229.95 monthly, Business $449.95 monthly.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is the SMM pioneer and also, the most listed SMM tool. Why? You can manage Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, & Pinterest all using this app. They are well known for their expertise in RSS integration, scheduling, organization, and content curation.

Key Features:

  • Post Scheduling
  • Analytics
  • Assignments
  • Content Library
  • Streams – Monitor different social media at the same time

Pros:

  • Supports all major social media platforms
  • Auto scheduling posts
  • Reports from all social media platforms demonstrating the impact on your brand
  • A single dashboard allows for seamless advertising across multiple channels
  • Compare the performance of your post with your competitors’ post

Cons:

  • The learning curve is too vast
  • Hidden costs
  • You must use its own URL shortener “Ow.ly”
  • Costs add up gradually

Price:

4 Plans. Professional $49/month, Team $249/monthly, Business $739/month, Enterprise/Custom.

BuzzSumo

Do you know what content is currently trending in your niche? No? Enter BuzzSumo. It suggests insights of most shared content across social media, which topic you should write about, to run an analysis report, and helps you locate industry influencers, therefore, leveling the field.

Key Features:

  • Discover trending content
  • Competitor research
  • Generates content Ideas
  • Content analyzer
  • Backlinking tool

Pros:

  • User-friendly
  • Offers all tools for content marketers and PR professionals
  • Automated email alerts to notify competitor content
  • Offers influencer segmentation
  • Works on all types of content e.g blog posts, pages, insights about social media, video contents

Cons:

  • Features can be improved
  • Might be a bit costly when switching to premium
  • Backlinking metrics are not rich enough
  • Article discovery might show non-related article result some times

Price:

Basic plan is free. (10 free searches a month)

Canva

A blog post without images is a pile of boring text. Sorry, but that is exactly what it is. So, what can you do? Photoshop? Well, that might take forever to learn. Luckily, we have Canva. It has prebuilt templates and layouts, an easy-to-use toolbox, and a lot more features to turn you into a graphics designer, instantly!

Key Features:

  • Image collage maker
  • Merging music, and text with images
  • Image enhancement 
  • Drag and drop feature 
  • Stock of images, icons, and fonts

Pros:

  • User-friendly
  • Library of free templates
  • Direct sharing on social media or scheduling
  • Templates can be customized
  • Mobile app is efficient

Cons:

  • Limited export settings
  • No offline access
  • App integration can be improved
  • Raw files are not downloadable

Price:

Basic Plan is Free.

Concluding Words

So, that was quite a journey. We have discussed the 10 best marketing software for small businesses, their usage, and pros, and cons. 

Well, the truth is you are going to need tools to survive in this unstable market. While selecting a tool, try to find out which features of the app match your requirements. Good luck!

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