Best Marketing Tools for Small Businesses in 2024

As small businesses look for ways to streamline their operations and grow their digital presence, having the right set of marketing tools is essential. In 2024, there's a range of affordable and efficient tools designed to help businesses of all sizes scale their marketing efforts. In this guide, we’ll break down some of the best tools for small businesses, along with their pros, cons, accurate pricing, and alternatives to help you build a comprehensive marketing tech stack.

1. Social Media Content Creation & Scheduling: Coso.ai

Coso.ai is an AI-powered social media content creation tool that helps small businesses generate on-brand posts, plan a content calendar, and automate scheduling. Coso.ai tailors posts based on trends and the brand’s personality. Businesses can review the content calendar weekly and approve posts, while the platform handles the rest.

• Use Case: Best for small businesses that need consistent social media content without dedicating extensive time to manual creation.

• Key Features: AI-generated posts, automated scheduling, content calendar, brand consistency, trend analysis.

• Pros: Free version available, time-saving, brand-aligned content, great for social media automation.

• Cons: AI-generated content may lack the creative depth of manual posts.

• Pricing: Free plan available with limited features; paid plans start at $99/month for self-service and $499/month for managed services that include video creation【61†source】【63†source】.

Alternatives:

• Hootsuite

  • Pros: Comprehensive social media scheduling, great analytics tools.

  • Cons: Expensive for larger teams, lacks AI-driven content generation.

  • Pricing: Starts at $99/month source.

    
    

• Buffer

  • Pros: Simple, affordable, ideal for small businesses.

  • Cons: Limited advanced features like trend analysis and content generation.

  • Pricing: Free plan; paid plans start at $6/month per social channel source.

2. AI Voiceovers: ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs specializes in creating natural-sounding AI-generated voiceovers, offering an efficient solution for businesses that need professional-quality narration for marketing videos, podcasts, or commercials. The platform supports multiple languages and accents, giving your content a more professional and engaging edge.

• Use Case: Best for businesses needing professional voiceovers without hiring expensive voice actors.

• Key Features: Realistic voice generation, emotion control, multiple languages and accents.

• Pros: High-quality voice output, fast generation, multiple voice options.

• Cons: While very realistic, it may still lack the nuance of human voice actors.

• Pricing: Free tier available; paid plans start at $5/month source.

Alternatives:

• Lovo.ai

  • Pros: Large library of AI voices, highly customizable.

  • Cons: Higher-end plans can be expensive for small businesses.

  • Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $34.99/month source.

    
    

• Murf.ai

  • Pros: Easy to use, supports both audio and video voiceover projects.

  • Cons: Limited customization options in the lower-tier plans.

  • Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $19/month source.

3. Website Builder: Framer

Framer is an intuitive website builder that allows users to create interactive, responsive websites without the need for coding. It’s ideal for small businesses that need a professional-looking website quickly, without relying on developers.

• Use Case: Perfect for small businesses looking for a user-friendly website builder with interactive capabilities.

• Key Features: Drag-and-drop builder, live previews, real-time collaboration, SEO-friendly.

• Pros: Easy to use, real-time collaboration, pre-built animations and interactivity.

• Cons: Limited customization compared to more advanced web development tools.

• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $20/month source.

Alternatives:

• Wix

  • Pros: Highly customizable, drag-and-drop interface, eCommerce-ready.

  • Cons: Limited design freedom compared to more flexible platforms.

  • Pricing: Free plan available; premium plans start at $14/month source.

    
    

• Squarespace

  • Pros: Beautiful, modern templates; great for eCommerce and portfolios.

  • Cons: More expensive compared to competitors.

  • Pricing: Starts at $16/month source.

4. Hosting & Infrastructure: AWS Activate Credits

AWS (Amazon Web Services) offers reliable, scalable hosting services for small businesses. Through the AWS Activate Credits program, eligible startups can receive up to $100,000 in free cloud credits for web hosting, storage, and computational resources. This allows small businesses to build scalable infrastructure without the initial financial burden.

• Use Case: Ideal for startups and small businesses that require scalable cloud services and hosting.

• Key Features: Scalable cloud infrastructure, industry-leading security, wide range of services including storage, databases, and AI/ML tools.

• Pros: Highly scalable, reliable, and secure.

• Cons: Can be complex to set up and manage for non-technical users.

• Pricing: Free credits available through the AWS Activate program; additional costs vary based on usage source.

Alternatives:

• Google Cloud

  • Pros: Comprehensive cloud services, easy integration with Google tools.

  • Cons: Slightly more expensive compared to AWS for certain services.

  • Pricing: Free tier available; paid plans depend on usage source.

    
    

• Microsoft Azure

  • Pros: Great for businesses already using Microsoft products, wide range of services.

  • Cons: More expensive than AWS for some features.

  • Pricing: Free tier available; paid plans depend on usage source.

5. SEO & Content Analytics: NeilPatel.com

NeilPatel.com provides a robust set of SEO tools, including keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitive insights, helping small businesses improve their website rankings and attract more organic traffic. The platform is known for being user-friendly and affordable, making it an excellent choice for businesses that want to optimize their online presence.

• Use Case: Perfect for businesses that want to enhance their SEO efforts and improve their search engine rankings.

• Key Features: Keyword research, site audit, backlink tracking, SEO strategy recommendations.

• Pros: Easy to use, great for small businesses, affordable.

• Cons: Limited free features.

• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $29/month source.

Alternatives:

• Ahrefs

  • Pros: Advanced SEO tools, great for backlink analysis and keyword tracking.

  • Cons: Expensive compared to other SEO tools.

  • Pricing: Starts at $99/month source.

    
    

• SEMrush

  • Pros: Comprehensive SEO and marketing tools, great for competitive analysis.

  • Cons: Higher cost compared to NeilPatel.com.

  • Pricing: Plans start at $119.95/month source.

6. General Productivity & Content Drafting: ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI-driven tool that helps with content generation, idea brainstorming, and drafting marketing copy. Small businesses can use ChatGPT to quickly create blog posts, social media captions, product descriptions, and more.

• Use Case: Ideal for businesses that need to generate content ideas or draft marketing materials quickly.

• Key Features: Natural language processing, content brainstorming, first-draft generation.

• Pros: Time-saving, versatile, great for first drafts.

• Cons: Content may require human editing for complex topics or specific tone.

• Pricing: Free access; ChatGPT Plus starts at $20/month for faster responses and access to GPT-4 source.

Alternatives:

• Jasper.ai

  • Pros: More customization for content generation, great for copywriting.

  • Cons: Higher cost for advanced features.

  • Pricing: Starts at $49/month source.

    
    

• Writesonic

  • Pros: Affordable, easy to use, supports multiple languages.

  • Cons: Limited advanced features compared to Jasper.ai.

  • Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $12.67/month source.

7. Video Editing & Subtitles: CapCut

CapCut is a quick and easy video editing tool designed for short-form content. It's especially popular for creating videos on TikTok and Instagram Reels. CapCut also offers an automatic subtitle generator, making it easier to add captions for increased engagement.

• Use Case: Best for businesses that produce a lot of short-form video content for social media platforms.

• **Key Features:**CapCut is a widely-used video editing tool that simplifies the creation of short-form video content, especially for platforms like TikTok and Instagram. It offers a range of features, including auto-subtitle generation, transitions, and effects that make video editing accessible to anyone, regardless of skill level.

• Use Case: Best for businesses or creators producing short-form video content for social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts.

• Key Features: Auto-subtitles, trimming, transitions, effects, mobile-friendly editing.

• Pros: Free to use, user-friendly interface, mobile-first design, ideal for quick edits.

• Cons: Limited advanced features compared to professional editing software.

• Pricing: Free, with in-app purchases for additional features source.

Alternatives:

• Adobe Premiere Rush

  • Pros: Cross-platform compatibility, offers more advanced editing tools compared to CapCut, integrates with Adobe Creative Cloud.

  • Cons: Steeper learning curve for beginners, more expensive.

  • Pricing: Starts at $9.99/month source.

    
    

• InShot

  • Pros: Easy to use, highly popular among mobile video creators, includes video trimming, transitions, and effects similar to CapCut.

  • Cons: Free version includes watermarks, lacks advanced editing features.

  • Pricing: Free version with watermarks; paid version at $3.99/month source.

Conclusion: Building the Perfect Marketing Stack

In 2024, small businesses can leverage a host of powerful marketing tools to streamline their digital strategies and grow their presence online. Whether it's creating engaging content with Coso.ai, enhancing videos with CapCut, or optimizing SEO with NeilPatel.com, the right tools can significantly reduce your workload while increasing your output.

By incorporating platforms like AWS for hosting, Framer for web design, and ChatGPT for content creation, small businesses can efficiently manage all facets of their marketing efforts, ensuring long-term growth and engagement.

Start by exploring free plans and trials for these tools to see how they can fit into your marketing strategy, and gradually build a tech stack that best suits your needs and goals.