Content marketing plays an important role in your business’s success. Also, it is a cost-effective way to build brand awareness, engage customers, and drive sales. For small businesses, this can mean the difference between thriving in a competitive market or getting overshadowed. 

To ensure your content is high-quality and reaches the right audience – you must have the RIGHT CONTENT MARKETING TOOL. Again, with AI integrated with every tool these days, you might want to explore more for your business. 

Though these advancements have made content marketing tools incredibly powerful, they come with hefty price tags. However, after years of experience with content marketing, I can assure you that you may achieve the desired outcomes without investing a lot of money in expensive technologies. All you need is to build a simple yet effective toolbox that outperforms its size.  

So, if you’ve got big dreams and no-so-big budget – don’t worry. We have compiled a list of budget-friendly content marketing tools for your small business – most of them work free or are low-cost-versions. 

12 Budget-Friendly Content Marketing Tools For Your Small Business

Consider this as your cheat sheet for building the best toolkit in your budget – 

1. Wordable

If you create your content on Google Docs, then you know how painful it is to port your content. Well, gone are those days when you were worrying about porting your content. With Wordable, you can publish your posts directly from Google Docs – all you need to do is – PUSH A BUTTON. 

Not that it will make much of a difference – but it is good to have a tool if you want to publish your content as a page. Also, it is a must-try tool if you are tired of copying and pasting your content into WordPress.

The Best Part: You can format, optimize, and publish – all in one tool. 

Pricing: $19 per month

2. Semrush

It is our favorite, and of course, because of several good reasons. This is the best all-in-tool for all things content marketing. It gives you a better understanding of where you stand in regard to the competition. It shows you where your content program is falling short – which gives you an actionable list to get you started. 

You can use Semrush for keyword research, backlink analysis, and traffic audits. In addition to these, you can run your content through the SEO writing assistant. Moreover, Semrush’s position tracking tool helps you monitor keyword movement. This helps you gauge if your strategy is working. 

The tool tells you where you are falling short, what you need to rethink, and what strategy your competitors are following – all these can help you generate relevant and rank-worthy output.

The Best Part: It gives you three free attempts on keyword research. 

Pricing: $125 per month (which goes above, depending on the plan you are choosing)

3. AnswerThePublic

With AnswerThePublic, you can understand what your audience is searching for online. It helps you find your audience’s questions and concerns, as well as trending topics on SERP. This gives you a clear direction for creating relevant and engaging content. 

It is one of the best content marketing tools that visualizes search queries and data, which highlights gaps and opportunities in your current content efforts. You can use AnswerThePublic for keyword research – you can find long-tail keywords and identify search trends. 

The tool’s user-friendly interface makes it accessible even for beginners, and the insights help you create content that answers your audience’s needs and queries. Also, it allows limited free searches daily for keyword exploration – that’s a win-win!

The Best Part: It categorizes search data into questions, comparisons, and related topics – which offers a treasure trove of content ideas.

Pricing: Free limited version available. Pro plans start at $99/month.

4. Exploding Topics

If you are new to content marketing, finding a content topic can be pretty challenging. You can find blog topics very easily – but what about your YouTube content? Well, some people become annoyed to death searching for topics that have not been covered. 

Put an end to the miseries – and try Exploding Topics. It scans the web for popular topics and brands. Based on the data, they can curate the best topics for your marketing. Whether you are looking for fashion, lifestyle, home decor, etc., this tool can do the work for you. 

So, if you are looking to find popular but not competitive topics – we recommend you check out Exploding Topic. 

The Best Part: It categorizes everything for you. 

Pricing: Free 

5. Buffer

Buffer allows you to schedule your social media posts in the most convenient way. The tool makes sure that your posts go live exactly when your audience is around. In short – it helps you create a consistent social media presence. 

You can schedule, post, and analyze your posts all from one interface – isn’t that something relieving? As a small business owner, you might have other work to do as well, so waiting to post at the right time is daunting. 

All you need to do is queue the posts – the tool will ensure your content is delivered at the best times for engagement. 

The Best Part: Emphasis on simplicity and affordability – which makes it best for small businesses and solopreneurs. 

Pricing: A free plan with basic features is available. However, the paid plan starts at $15 per month. 

6. Loomly

Loomly is a super simple and efficient content calendar software. Though it only focuses on social media posts – you can use Loomly to plan any content. It is one of the best tools to organize and schedule your social media posts. 

It is best for your small business – and there are several reasons why! The tool gives you post ideas and inspiration based on trending topics. It also allows collaborative features – which allows team members to make edits in real-time. 

You can integrate your social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, which ensures that everything is streamlined and on one dashboard. So, if you are looking to save time, try Loomly now!

The Best Part: Workflow – which is like an assembly line for content. This means you’ll have everything sorted and in sync. 

Pricing: Starts at $20 per month (can go higher depending on the plan you choose)

7. SocialBlade

If you are into YouTube content creation – as a small business, SocialBlade is your best friend. Don’t believe us? Well, here’s the not-so-secret sauce – it helps you spy on your competitor’s YouTube channel. It gives you comprehensive stats on – followers count, estimated earnings, and historical data on performance. 

It gives you an inside look at your competitor’s YouTube studio account. You can get insights not just on YouTube but also on your Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch accounts – including many others. This is best for you if you are looking to analyze audience growth and engagement trends. 

The Best Part: Channel ranking and projection (YouTube progress chart). 

Pricing: Free

8. Google Analytics

Google Analytics helps you track your content with ease and for free. If you are working on a budget, don’t miss out on this gem. If you are thinking why, let us explain it to you. 

It tells you pretty much about everything, including – user engagement metrics, landing pages, traffic sources, and other marketing aspects. This helps you tweak or adjust your content based on the data. Also, it’ll give you a clear idea of what’s working for you. 

Moreover, you can analyze demographics, interests, and geographies to filter your target audience. That’s not all – you can also connect it with Google Ads, Google Tag Manager, and other platforms. 

The Best Part: There are ample. For example, it offers real-time analysis and custom reporting, but you need to try the rest for yourself. You won’t regret getting your hands on it. 

Pricing: Free

10. Hotjar

This is also a tracking tool that gives you the analytics of your website and tracks the behavior of your website visitors. Hotjar helps you understand what’s working for you and what needs to be changed through their heatmaps, session recordings, and survey feedback. 

You can make changes to your website and optimize it to give your users what they actually need. This boosts conversion. There are a bunch of other features that make your content marketing more efficient. 

The Best Part: Recording is the best – as it records your users’ behavior. 

Pricing: Starting from $29, which goes higher with an increase in the features. 

11. Frame.io

Frame.io helps you streamline the video production workflow for your small business. Of course, no one wants to send feedback again and again – that’s monotonous. Moreover, the process of timestamping every change and sending screenshots – nothing can be as daunting as this. 

Frame.io centralizes the review and feedback process and eliminates the inefficiencies of email chains. That’ll be a relief for you and your team. All you need to do is leave a comment wherever you need changes – and voila! Your editor will get it done. 

So, if you are working with a video editor – this tool is a GAME CHANGER for you!

The Best Part: You’ll be notified of every upload, comment, and change – since you last signed in. 

Pricing: Free. But for more features, you’ll have to pay $25 per month. 

12. WordPress

WordPress is the most popular and used content management system (CMS). It helps you build anything – from blogs to ecommerce stores – all by using its vast library of themes and plugins. No doubt, they are trusted by millions.

Though WordPress is beginner-friendly, it can also be customized. Thus making it suitable for small businesses. Also, with built-in SEO capabilities and integration options, you can improve search engine visibility. 

The Best Part: Its community-driven ecosystem ensures regular updates and access to support.

12 Budget-Friendly Content Marketing Tools For Your Small Business

Wordable

Semrush

AnswerThePublic

Exploding Topics

Buffer

Loomly

SocialBlade

Google Analytics

Hotjar

Frame.io

WordPress

HubSpot

Takeaway
Looking For Content Marketing Services in Sacramento? Contact Velocity Media Labs!

Turn on screen reader support
To enable screen reader support, press Ctrl+Alt+Z To learn about keyboard shortcuts, press Ctrl+slash
Ctrl+M

13. HubSpot

HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing, sales, and CRM platform. You can save the hassle of switching tabs and investing a fortune in other tools. With its CMS Hub, you can create, manage, and optimize website content for better engagement and conversions. 

It has smart features like – content personalization, SEO optimization, and analytics – all of which can help you know your audience. Using these data, you can create your personalized content marketing strategy and deliver what your audience wants. That’s not all. Their integration with HubSpot’s CRM can improve lead management. 

The Best Part: HubSpot’s drag-and-drop editor and pre-designed templates make content creation hassle-free. 

Pricing: Starts from $20 per month (goes higher if you want to upgrade)

Bonus Point – 

Though there are many, the tools mentioned above are the best if you are just starting or are a small business. Additionally, Hemingway Editor, Grammarly, Writesonic, Canva, etc. also can help you with content marketing. Moreover, if you are looking for the best free tool for images, try Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, Freepik etc. 

Our experts have tested and tried all the tools. 

Takeaway

If you want to build your brand awareness – you cannot miss out on content marketing. In addition to building awareness, it also helps you engage your audience and drive conversions. But, creating the right strategy requires the right content marketing tools. 

So, as mentioned above, there are several you can choose from, and all are within budget. These budget-friendly solutions can help you increase your efforts without overspending. We understand that, as a small business, it is important to balance effectiveness and affordability – so our list of tools will help you select the ones that you need to achieve your goals. 

Looking For Content Marketing Services in Sacramento? Contact Velocity Media Labs!

As a business owner, creating and managing content can be overwhelming. Velocity Media Labs is here to help. Our team of SEO specialists and content marketers help and assist you in creating data-driven content strategies that are solely based on your business needs. 

Want to grow your online presence through SEO, social media, and content? Contact Velocity Media Labs for personalized content marketing strategy. 

Call us today for a free consultation!

Posted in Blog, Content Marketing, SEO