Small businesses have a wide variety of marketing tools and strategies available to them depending on their budget. Stotts Creative strives to provide affordable services and recommend resources for those that need them! There are a number of free tools and resources available that can help you promote your small business effectively. Here are five of our favorite free tools that small businesses can use to improve their marketing efforts.

MailChimp is an email marketing service that allows you to send newsletters, announcements, and other promotional materials to your subscribers. It’s free to use up to 2000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. If you arent yet utilizing email marketing for your website and small business, you're missing out on potential leads and sales!

Google My Business is a free listing service provided by Google that allows you to manage your business information across their search and maps platforms. Claiming and optimizing your listing can help improve your visibility in local search results. Stotts Creative encounters a lot of small businesses that have not yet started their profile! Claim it and get seen. It takes a few moments and can be GAME CHANGER.

Later.com is an all-in-one social marketing platform for the top social networks. Plan, analyze, and publish your content in a few clicks – so you can save time and grow your business.

Other local listings such as Thumbtack or Bark, get you connected directly to leads looking for your services. Simply set up a profile with your business and set a budget! Your budget and availability will determine the local leads you get that are ready to book NOW! Make sure to add reviews to your profile for the extra spark over your competitor.

Instagram and Facebook Analytics are FREE to business profiles. Make sure to have your account linked to a business account. If you haven't yet, there are instructions on Instagram.com. These tools can help you measure the success of your posts, see which type of content is resonating with your audience, how much reach your posts have, and track your growth over time.

Utilizing these five free tools will help give your small business a boost in marketing efforts and improve visibility for potential customers. If some of these sound awesome, but you don't have the time - Stotts Creative offers services to help with that!