As a business owner, you have access to a huge variety of online channels for sharing your marketing message. But if your business is small and you don’t have a marketing and design team, how do you make your content look eye-catching, interesting and professional?

Business app stores have a wide range of tools for improving your design, photography, video content and email marketing. Many marketing-focused apps are well within the budget of the average small business or start-up, and some are even free!

Here are 6 ideas to get you started:

• Canva or Crello for graphics, design and logos

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  Making your content and marketing collateral look great will give your brand a professional edge. With Canva and Crello you don’t need to be a design whiz to achieve good results. Both platforms offer free design tools and easy-to-use templates for creating high-quality graphics. It’s no replacement for using a talented professional designer, but when your budget is tight you can quickly produce well-designed content that looks the part.
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• Unsplash for free stock photos

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  It’s essential to have quality photos for your website and marketing materials. However, buying stock photos can really eat into your marketing budget. Unsplash is a stock photo site with a difference – professional and amateur photographers share royalty-free photos that you can use in your marketing. In return, you need to credit the photographer in your content or metadata – helping raise their profile.
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• Pixlr for photo editing and image manipulation

  It’s important to edit and save your photos in the right sizes and formats for social media and web usage. Pixlr is a godsend if you’re doing the editing yourself. It’s a free online photo editing tool that works like a cut-down version of Adobe Photoshop. You can quickly crop, resize, edit and polish your photos to achieve top results.
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• WordPress or SquareSpace for websites

  A good website is crucial to marketing your business. It’s your shop window, your content hub and the place where most potential customers will go to check out your brand. WordPress and SquareSpace both offer hassle-free, template-driven ways to set up a professional looking website for your business. If you want to start customising the site and adding specific functions, then working with a web developer is a good idea – but you can easily set up a basic, functional website on your own with minimal time and effort.
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• Adobe Spark or Biteable for editing video

  Video is fast becoming the channel of choice for content marketing. Adobe Spark Video and Biteable both offer templates, fonts, transitions, and ways to personalise your video content. If you’re shooting on a budget and using your mobile device, some careful use of these editing tools can turn out some top-notch videos that add life to your website, content marketing or social media posts.
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• MailChimp or Constant Contact for email campaigns

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  Email marketing solutions like these give you the foundation for sending out well-designed, professional marketing emails and newsletters. Just set up your branding, add the content and manage the campaign through the provided tools. Email marketing helps you keep in touch with your loyal customers and followers.

Making your business and brands stand out is a challenge in the crowded small business market. We hope these tools can help with your marketing.

We can help with your business planning and knowing your numbers!