Free Digital Marketing Tools For Businesses

If you run a business you want to make the most of the free tools that are on offer out there to get ahead online. Here at Yuuzuu we get asked all the time, “what else can we do to get business in” and apart from having a well optimised website there are loads of ways you can market your website for free, all you need is a little bit of knowledge and some free time and of course, a little enthusiasm.

Here are a few tools you can use to help you get ahead online.

Google Business

The #1 thing you need when you have set your business up is make sure that your Google Business profile is set up and optimised properly, we see so many Google business listings not optimised properly and as a result will be losing lots of business. Ensure that you have uploaded your logo, photos, pictures of your team and van livery, pictures of your shop, let people see what you are about and get to know you.

If you are a bricks a mortar business, make sure your address is populated so Google Maps can locate your business, if you provide services in different areas, make sure you list these areas so that when people are searching for your services on mobile, Google can pull your listing through on the maps search on mobile and with 80% of all traffic being mobile based, you want to make sure you’re getting found there.

Provide a full description of your business and all your services, what your selling points are and don’t hold anything back. Basically completely fill in everything on your Google Business page to optimise it fully.

Once you have verified your listing, you will want to keep updating your listing with recent work, offers and new products, Google pulls this in the search and will help rank your website. So if you have a new product, make sure you update this on your website and then link this back from your Google profile. Regularly updating your Google Business profile is a good way to stay relevant and reach your customers.

To set up a Google Business account, just click the button below

Youtube

So important as we enter the age of video marketing to ensure that your video marketing is on form. You can film yourself on your phone or you can create high end quality videos, it doesnt really matter as long as you are being honest and you are connecting to your audience. You can download the Youtube app on your phone and create videos directly from your phone and upload there and then.

Once you have uploaded your video, you can post that link socially and on your website blog and recent work page. So if you are a builder and have completed a home extension for example you can do a walk around with commentary on your phone quite easily, you can even upload your logo and trim the video with your phone number on for extra marketing. The businesses that are already doing this win online and ultimately win more business.

Download the Youtube App for iOS

Download the Youtube App from Google Play

Social Media

This goes without saying but so many of our customers underestimate the power of being social. We provide social media marketing as part of our services and our customers see a marked increase in sales and traffic to their websites because of it. Social media is free, if just takes TIME – yes, that’s it TIME. Now, if you don’t have the budget to outsource your social media, then we say put 1 hour a week aside and post your recent work, products, company news and offerings. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.

With Facebook, grow your audience by boosting posts, you can create targeted ads for locations and even target your demographic even further by age, gender and interests. Instagram is a great way to boost exposure and brand message as to is Twitter for hashtag trends and locations.

Linkedin is a great networking tool for businesses, if you have an offering, there will always be a connection on there that can help push that forward to the right people. We tell our customers to think of everything as a marketing opportunity and to make sure you are shouting through the noise with a good relevant message. Social media also helps your website rank on Google so make sure you are being social and posting links back to your website, Google uses these social signals as a ranking factor, after all if you’re being social, you’re a transparent business.

Hootsuite & Buffer

Another great way of integrating your social media and scheduling your posts is by using Hootsuite and Buffer, both the best free tools out there, Sprout Social is a great option if there is a budget, but this is for free digital marketing tools. Hootsuite and Buffer let you schedule posts and use content that is relevant to your business which can save you loads of time when you’re busy working on your own business. There are paid plans too which unlocks more features, but you can get by on the free versions.

Reach Out To Influencers

One thing you can do is reach out to influencers in your sector or area of expertise, if you have written an article on your website, you can post this on to an influencers timeline and ask them to either retweets, write a review, post or comment or better still write an article with a link back to your website from theirs. If you have something that genuinely will help others or is a great business service, don’t be afraid to target people with authority online, it will help you get off the ground.

Followerwonk

This is a great resource for finding out who are the best people to follow for your business, they use an algorithm of amount of followers and sectors so you can hit the right people and network in the right places online and through social media.

These are just a few tools to help your business grow in 2020 and beyond, remember to make sure you have a quality website that is optimised and designed for mobile too otherwise you are making life very hard for yourself. Here at Yuuzuu we specialise in building pay monthly websites with no setup fees and affordable WordPress websites for small to medium businesses throughout the UK, we have over 1000 customers ranging from home based businesses to large UK multi-nationals.