Looking for free content creation tools?
And free tools for social media marketing?
Right now, your budget may be tight – or nonexistent.
Perhaps you’re seeing your income drop in the current economy.
Maybe you’re trying to launch a home-based business to help with family expenses.
But you know you need great content for your blog and social media marketing!
These free tools are ready to help.
You’ll find them grouped them by the type of content you wish to create:
- Free graphic design tools, including photos, fonts, and infographics.
- Free Pinterest tools, including templates, scheduling, and mini course.
- Free Facebook and Instagram tools for scheduling, Stories, and bio.
- Free video tools for creation and editing.
- Free tools to make ebooks, PDFs, and slide presentations.
- Plus more free marketing tools!
Ready? Let’s roll!
Disclosure: Many of these tools have a paid upgrade. I may receive a referral fee if you choose to purchase at a future date.
ALL tools here have a free-forever version! If you find one that does not, please let me know and I’ll remove it from this article.
30 Free Marketing Tools for Frugal Entrepreneurs
You don’t need professional designers, writers, and videographers, or expensive software, to create your content!
Nor do you need paid tools to schedule social media posts.
You certainly can invest in those if you want, but you may be surprised just how much you can do for free.
And with a little creativity, you’ll get great results, too!
Free graphic design tools
So you don’t have Photoshop, or the skills to use it?
This is my area of expertise, but it doesn’t have to be yours.
Don’t worry, there are plenty of ways of making stunning graphics without the need for professional software or graphic design skills.
Which is great, because you’re going to need images for content marketing – and lots of them!
Some platforms – such as Instagram and Pinterest – are all about the images. But you’ll also need images for blog posts, Facebook and Twitter posts, e-book and report covers and even video thumbnail images.
Canva is a perennial favorite, but I find it a bit complicated, especially for beginners. However, it does have a large variety of templates!
Note that Canva is free to use, and there is a selection of free templates and images, but others will cost you $1 per use. Check carefully if you’re pinching every penny.
Two of my favorite free graphic design tools are Snappa and Stencil. Both are amazing because all the images you’ll find inside are free for commercial use.
And they both have a free-forever version – though you will be limited on how many images you can download per month.
You can try them both, or use my simple tip to decide which is better suited to your needs. They both offer many more features, though!
Using Pinterest for business? Snappa has a super selection of Pin templates.
Love to share quote graphics? Stencil includes a searchable database of quotes right inside.
Want more choices? Here are over a dozen more easy ways to make graphics online.
And if you’re strictly mobile-based, you’ll want to try these iPhone apps to add text to photos. Android versions in there too!
Free infographic maker
Infographics are images that display data in a visual form. Although they take a little time to create, they’re worth the effort if you have complex information to get across.
People love to share and link to them, giving your content lots more exposure.
There are several free tools you can use to make infographics, including Canva’s Infographic Creator, Infogram and Easel.ly.
The one I’ve used and recommend is Venngage Infographic Maker. You can see an example of one I made at the end of this article!
There’s a huge selection of templates on the Free plan, plus you can sort to just show the free ones, reducing frustration.
Free Stock Photos for Commercial Use
When you’re trying to save money, the last thing you need to do is risk a lawsuit by using images you don’t have rights to use.
If you use free images, ensure they are CC0 or public domain.
Do not use Google or Pinterest to find images for your business.
The design tools Snappa and Stencil mentioned above include free CC0 images you can use in your creations.
There are dozens of sites to download free photos – or simply use my one-stop shop for free images, Pixabay.
They offer over a million images sourced from hundreds of photographers and graphic artists.
There is one disclaimer you must be aware of with virtually all free images:
Please be aware that while all Images and Videos on Pixabay are free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes, depicted items in the Images or Videos, such as identifiable people, logos, brands, etc. may be subject to additional copyrights, property rights, privacy rights, trademarks etc. and may require the consent of a third party or the license of these rights – particularly for commercial applications. Pixabay does not represent or warrant that such consents or licenses have been obtained, and expressly disclaims any liability in this respect. source
Free Fonts for Commercial Use
Bored with the same old fonts?
Google has a collection of almost 1,000 free fonts ready for you to add to your webpage, or download to use in graphics.
Search by categories and more.
If you love typography, I predict you’ll have a ton of fun!
Click here to check out Google Fonts.
Free Pinterest Tools
Free Pin templates
There are Pin templates in the design tools mentioned above, but here’s a source for unique, free, Pinterest-optimized templates monthly!
If you use Canva, you’ll love these fresh takes on Pin images instead of the same-old same-old Canva templates (yeah, those get a bit overused).
The Perfect Pins Toolkit contains the following:
- Customizable Pin templates for use in Canva.
- New templates released monthly!
- Pin Awesomeness checklist, so your new Pins perform!
- How to Write Great Pin Descriptions guide.
Click to get your FREE Pinterest Perfect Pins Toolkit from Tailwind.
Free Pin scheduler
Did you know that you can schedule Pins for free on Pinterest?
It’s not a robust scheduler but it will save you some time if you don’t Pin a lot.
To use Pinterest’s Pin scheduler, you must upload your Pin image to Pinterest. Click the plus sign and select Create Pin.
Be sure to fill in the title, description, and URL.
Then click Schedule at a later date and select your date and time. You can only go out 2 weeks.
Click to go to Pinterest’s Pin Builder.
Get more Pinterest traffic with free Pin shares
Please don’t use any non-approved methods to get repins or saves of your Pins.
3 methods to avoid:
- Any tools or apps that aren’t approved Pinterest Partners.
- Facebook groups for repins that require members to Pin all.
- Pinterest group boards, because they’re mostly ineffective.
Methods 1 and 2 have gotten accounts closed.
4 great ways to get Pinterest repins and Saves:
- Add a free Pinterest Save button to your site.
- Use a call-to-action on your blog post to “Save for later.”
- Include a “Pin it for later” link in your blog newsletter.
- Use Tailwind Tribes.
Tailwind Tribes are groups of like-minded Tailwind users who band together to share each others’ content.
By collaborating in a Tailwind Tribe, everyone enjoys a continuous stream of content from people they trust, saving them time while improving the quality of the content they share.
And, when Tribemates share each other’s content from the Tribe, they all get exposure to highly relevant new audiences. It’s a win-win.
While your Tailwind trial will only publish 100 scheduled Pins automatically, you can continue to use Tailwind Tribes free forever by Saving the Pins you choose from Tribes manually.
Sign up and try Tailwind Tribes now.
Free Facebook Tools
I don’t have much specific to Facebook, but of course check out the free graphics and video tools to make a great visual impression on FB.
My big tip for you here is how to schedule Facebook posts for free.
I hope to find more tools to add soon.
Free Instagram Tools
Free guide to Instagram success
You know you’re on the road to Instagram success when you reach 10,000 followers.
Seem like an impossible dream?
Not so if you use The Complete Roadmap to 10K Instagram Followers!
This comprehensive guide from Tailwind walks you through all you need to know, like:
- Defining your target audience.
- Crafting a compelling profile.
- Creating a game-changing content strategy.
- Taking your visuals to the next level.
It’s really everything you need, and it’s completely free!
Click to get your complete guide to 10,000 Instagram followers.
Free Instagram scheduler
If you want to post once per day or less, you have a couple Instagram-approved schedulers.
Later‘s free-forever plan allows 30 Instagram posts per month to 1 IG account only.
Similarly, Planoly allows 30 uploads per month for 1 IG profile.
Both offer many more features in paid plans, but you can use the free plan as long as you like.
Free link in bio tool (Smart.bio)
Turn Instagram followers into traffic and customers with Tailwind Smart.bio.
You’ll need to sign up for a Tailwind for Instagram free trial to set it up, but Smart.bio is free forever.
One exceptional feature is that, when you use Tailwind to schedule your Instagram posts, you can have Smart.bio add a related link at the exact same time.
Sign up for Tailwind for Instagram and set up your Smart.bio now.
Free Instagram Stories creator
The clever folks at Word Swag sent me this app to try out.
To turn your photos into a video story:
1. Select up to 8 images. Use your own or access over a million free photos!
2. Enter your text.
3. Choose your favorite photo and text style. From attention-grabbing to cool and understated, our designs have you covered.
4. Tweak colors and add our TV-quality music or your own. Hand-picked options for each style ensure you always look and sound great.
That’s all it takes! You’re ready to impress your followers.
You can also make square animations for the IG feed. It’s quite fun and attractive!
The free version doesn’t include all the templates, and will show a watermark, but it is free – forever!
Download Story Swag on the App Store here.
Free Video Tools
Free Video Editing Tools
If you own a smartphone, you know you have the power of video in your hands. But if you’re using video for your business, you’ll probably want to polish it up a bit.
Video editing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.
YouTube has its own free editing tool complete with video and audio clips – take a look at www.youtube.com/editor.
If you’re a Mac, iPad or iPhone user, take a look at iMovie in your (free included) apps.
For Android devices, there are a range of free video editors including:
→ VidTrim
Windows Movie Maker was the best-known free video editor for the PC, although it hasn’t been updated in some time, so may no longer work for you.
Free Video Creation Tools
You’ve got your phone to film, but what about videos from stills?
My favorite tool for this is Adobe Spark Video. It’s so easy!
- Click to create a new video.
- Add a title.
- Choose a template, or pick Start from scratch.
- Choose a theme for font and color.
- Add each photo or video clip (many free ones to choose from).
- Add text and/or voiceover for each slide.
- Add music from their library to your video, if desired.
The free-forever version doesn’t allow branding, and will have a watermark – like virtually all free apps!
Use Adobe Spark Free version here.
If you choose to “go pro” there’s a 20% off deal through May 31, 2020, only at this link.
Get Adobe Spark for 20% off here.
Either way, Adobe Spark allows you to create professional Posts (like social media images), Pages (web pages), and Videos too – in a snap!
If you already have a slide presentation created, record a narration and convert your presentation file into a video using screencasting software.
Jing is easy to use and free for videos of up to five minutes.
More Free Marketing Tools
Free marketing ideas monthly
Could you use inspiration for your blog posts, promotions, social media marketing, and more?
I provide a free content inspiration calendar monthly!
I recommend you start by reading the pertinent month’s blog post to get the broad picture.
Links to every month’s post can be found on the social media holidays page.
In my free member area, you’ll find content inspiration calendars for two months you may be planning at any given time.
Enjoy!
How to create PDF files for free
PDFs (Portable Document Format) have been around a while now. This format is widely used for text-based documents such as reports and e-books that can be read on virtually any device.
Many businesses use this format for printables, checklists, worksheets, and planners.
A short, one-to-six page PDF makes an awesome “content upgrade” – a freebie you give away to build your email subscriber list.
A longer one, with valuable info from your niche expertise, is perfect to sell to your readers and followers!
Check my Resources page to see my PDF free and paid products.
Gone are the days when you needed Microsoft Word plus PDF converter software! You can now create your document and convert it to PDF format in one application for free.
All you need is a Google account (a Gmail account is fine) and to go to Google Drive.
Now you’re in Google Drive, click ‘My Drive’ and choose ‘Google Docs.’ Click the arrow to see a choice of starting from a blank page or a template.
Type your content, add any images you would like and then go to ‘File,’ then ‘Download as’ then ‘PDF document.’ Easy.
Another option I’ve used is Open Office, which is free software you can download to your computer. It works way better than Word for Mac – and it’s free!
How to create a slide presentation for free
Let’s stay with Google Drive, because alongside Google Docs you’ll find Google Slides, which is Google’s equivalent of PowerPoint.
Erase your memories of boring speakers reading a bullet-pointed list off a PowerPoint slide, because presentation files can now be valuable pieces of online content. Just save your presentation file, upload to Slideshare.com, and then share or embed it in a blog post or web page.
But back to Google Slides. Simply go to Google Drive, click ‘My Drive’ and this time choose ‘Google Slides.’ Again you have a choice of starting from a blank page or a template.
Create your presentation and download in your choice of format, including PowerPoint or PDF. You can even download in JPG format, which makes it easy to turn your first slide into an image for your blog post or a video.
And yes, you can also create a slide presentation with Open Office!
Free email marketing tools
Building your email list is important, so you can stay in touch with your peeps in times like these!
Mailchimp‘s free plan is good for beginners who want to grow their audience and create campaigns while testing out some of their tools and features. It includes all the basics you need to start marketing.
The Free plan includes up to 2,000 contacts and 10,000 sends per month, with a daily send limit of 2,000.
Mailchimp is good to get started, but many bloggers I know want to switch from it when they can afford to (as opposed to upgrading). Trust me, switching providers is a pain, so build your list with one you like and will stay with.
ConvertKit is my provider, and they recently expanded their free plan to help you out in these difficult financial times.
They changed the Free plan to include the ability to send email broadcasts to 500 subscribers, and provide access to Creator Pass, two courses filled with the teaching and tools needed to build a business doing work you love.
This offer will be available for new and existing free plan customers until at least April 30th.
Free tools for bloggers
Want to write more compelling headlines?
You should! Only 60% of people who click into an article end up reading past the headline.
CoSchedule to the rescue!
I love their free headline analyzer.
It’ll help you craft a headline that includes an effective balance of common, uncommon, emotional, and power words. And so much more!
Need help with keywords?
Marketing whiz Neil Patel offers a free keyword research tool.
There’s always a free-forever version, but at the time of writing this, he’s opened the full plan to everyone for the time being.
You’ll find tons of info on his blog about how to use it.
Try Ubersuggest free keyword research tool.
Which Free Marketing Tools Will You Try?
You don’t need a large budget to create, schedule, and promote stunning content. Just a clear idea of what your audience wants to know, a little creativity, and some free tools.
We covered:
- Free graphic design tools, including photos, fonts, and infographics.
- Free Pinterest tools, including templates, scheduling, and mini course.
- Free Facebook and Instagram tools for scheduling, Stories, and bio.
- Free video tools for creation and editing.
- Free tools to make ebooks, PDFs, and slide presentations.
- Plus email and blogging tools.
Scroll back and review if you missed one you need!
If there’s another free tool you use and love for business, let us know in a comment.
Then share this post, so others can enjoy free content creation tools.
Rahul Dubey says
A clear vision, a sprinkle of creativity, and some nifty free tools – that’s the winning recipe. Thanks for the comprehensive roundup, covering everything from graphics to videos and even diving into email and blogging.
Louise Myers says
I’m glad you enjoyed the list of free tools for digital marketers!
Amber says
Thanks for sharing this list of tools! I already use a few of them (like Canva, for sure a favorite of mine) but will definitely be looking more into the other ones you’ve listed.
Louise Myers says
So glad to hear you found it useful.
Nichole says
This was the best free tools pin I have checked out on Pinterest ever. Plus you skipped the whole read about your life and career for 30 min. before you get to the info. Thank you. Appreciate. 👏👏👏
Louise Myers says
YW Nichole, glad you found it helpful.
Albert says
Hi can you help me choose which is best to use as tool for content creation? Smartphone or digital camera? i found and read online they suggest DSLM for video capturing, is this good?
Louise Myers says
Sure, but if we’re talking budget friendly, you can’t beat the device you already have in your pocket.
Claudia Lach Herrera says
Thanks my friend. I just stopped on snappa, it looked really wonderful and I immediately begin to make a fb post. So, I didn’t saved it and I forgot a detail. When I modified and tried to download it again it se t me to pay or do anything else. 10 usd dollars a month. Not at all free, is the most limited tool I ever saw. I let you the date.
My regards
Claudia Lach Herrera
Louise Myers says
Hi Claudia, I see that the free plan now only includes 3 downloads a month. That is definitely very limited.
James says
Thank you so much for detail list of content creation tools.I used article builder for text content but I was searching good content creation tools for images and videos.You share the great list of tools which will help me into my business.
Randy says
Hi Louise –
Just came across your blog – great content!
I just wanted to note that your link to Windows Movie Maker points to a known scam and is NOT the genuine installation page for this software. My understanding is that the installation files remain available elsewhere.
Hopefully you will be able to update your link ASAP to prevent any readers from inadvertently installing malware on their systems.
Louise Myers says
The link you posted as a known scam was actually not the one I had in the article. There’s no shortages of links online to download this software, and since there’s no way for me to determine which is valid, I’ve removed the link from the article as well as both URLs from your comment.
Prathik says
To simplify content creation and overcome writer’s block, I would also recommend a content curation tool like DrumUp. What do you think?
Louise Myers says
I haven’t tried it.
Rosemary says
Louise, you’re simply the bomb! I trip over newbies all the time whose #1 worry is graphics. I usually send them to your blog anyway, but will keep this link in particular to get them off and running in no time. You’re a blessing, Girl!
Louise Myers says
Excellent! Thank you Rosemary 🙂
Chris Jericho says
This information helpful for many people and good explanation in details.Thank you for sharing this wonderful blog .