In 2023, Dogeared Digital has been your trusty companion in the constantly evolving world of digital marketing. This year has seen a lot of changes, with new innovations in the field popping up every single day. We've kept our finger on the pulse of all the best free tools that help you reach your full potential.
From ingenious AI innovations, to practical website solutions, to email optimizers, and beyond, our newsletter, The Nibbler, has brought a treasure trove of free tools right to your inbox. Whether you're a visual maestro, a productivity planner, or just seeking some nifty gems, our roundup has something for every marketer. Let's take a stroll down memory lane and rediscover the 50 free content marketing tools that have been empowering your content creation and marketing strategies throughout the year.
- Tools for AI
- Tools for Your Website
- Tools for Social Media
- Tools for Email
- Tools for Productivity and Planning
- Tools for Visuals and Audio
- Tools for Everything Else
- Final Thoughts
Tools for AI
AI has been a cornerstone of innovation in content marketing, and our 2023 recommendations have showcased some of the most versatile and game-changing tools in this arena. Whether you're enhancing ChatGPT's capabilities, diving into the depths of effective prompts, or streamlining your idea generation, these tools have redefined how we interact with AI in our daily marketing tasks.
WebChatGPT: Overcome ChatGPT's limitations with the WebChatGPT browser extension. Once installed, it allows ChatGPT to access real-time Google results, expanding its capabilities and ensuring more comprehensive and up-to-date responses to your prompts.
Snack Prompt: Snackprompt is an archive of user-tested and approved AI prompts for all sorts of uses. This tool is a treasure trove for those looking to find the right AI input for their specific needs. Whether you need to generate creative content or solve complex problems, Snackprompt offers a curated selection of prompts to boost your AI experiences.
Holler: Holler.ai generates helpful single-question surveys to gauge the pulse of customers and colleagues. This tool offers direct insights into what matters most for your product and industry, enabling you to chat with their AI bot for tailored insights.
YouAI: YouAi gives you access to tons of powerful, trainable AIs that help you execute unique tasks. Use them to summarize documents, write blog posts, plan your finances, and more. This tool is a versatile AI solution for marketers looking to automate and enhance their workflow.
Copyleaks: Copyleaks is an AI content detector tool that distinguishes between AI-generated text and human writing, helping marketers ensure the authenticity of their content.
Tome: Tome turns your ideas into engaging outlines with just one prompt. Think of it as the bridge between the concept in your mind and the final product, giving you a plan to articulate your ideas. It’s perfect for kickstarting your creative process and crafting content that captures your audience's attention.
Perplexity: Perplexity takes the stress (and exorbitant amount of time) out of data-searching. Simply write a prompt for the information you're looking for, and Perplexity gives you facts with reliable sources. This is especially handy when you're looking for reliable data to build and verify a compelling marketing campaign.
Personal.ai: Personal.ai builds you a personalized chatbot based on your tone, knowledge, and opinions. This tool offers a unique way to maintain customer engagement, providing a consistent and personal touch in your interactions, even when you're not available.
Andi: Andi is an AI chatbot that streamlines web browsing, providing quick and curated answers. This tool is great for users who need to find information fast, offering a more efficient way to navigate the vast abyss of the web.
Taskade: Taskade combines AI with traditional productivity tools, enabling you to create mind maps, to-do lists, and expandable notes. Organization and task management has never been simpler, more efficient, or more dynamic. If you love visually organizing your thoughts and projects, this one's for you.
Ramp: A compelling mission statement is crucial for powering important brand decisions. Ramp's Mission Statement Generator simplifies this process. Just input key information about your business, and Ramp uses AI to create a mission statement that resonates with your brand's values and goals.
Tools for Your Website
Throughout the year, we've highlighted some of the most effective tools to enhance your website's functionality and user experience. Covering every step of your website's lifespan, from inception to user behavior analysis, each tool is designed to optimize your online presence. These tools empower you to craft a more engaging, efficient, and informed website experience.
Strikingly: Build a beautiful, mobile-responsive website without any coding experience with Strikingly. They offer tons of customizable templates to choose from so your website or subdomain will represent your brand. And they offer a free subdomain with 5GB monthly, so this is an accessible choice for businesses of all sizes!
Microsoft Clarity: This completely free tool from Microsoft gives you valuable insights into your website's performance. Track key metrics like rage and dead clicks, session duration, conversion rates and more so you can optimize your website to be the best it can be. Plus, it integrates easily with Google Analytics so you can have all your data on one dashboard.
Lucky Orange: Gain insights into your website's user behavior with Lucky Orange. The free plan includes dynamic heatmaps, session recordings, and surveys, allowing you to analyze user interactions and optimize your website for better engagement.
Similar Sites: The Similar Sites Chrome extension lets you quickly identify websites similar to the ones you're visiting, broadening your perspective on potential competitors and industry trends. It's a straightforward, efficient way to gain insights and discover new connections in your market.
CanIRank: Can I Rank? is your AI-powered guide to better SEO. It gives specific tips on boosting your site's rankings, making SEO less of a mystery. This software has also been proven to be really effective in generating more traffic and clicks.
Wappalyzer: Wappalyzer lets you peak into the tech stack powering your website, giving you insights into CMS frameworks and server softwares. It's especially useful for those looking to understand the tech behind websites and discover potential new software solutions.
Tools for Social Media
Our 2023 recommendations focus on empowering your social media strategy with innovative solutions. Whether it's mastering the art of engagement, keeping up with trends, or enhancing your content's visual appeal, these tools are designed to elevate your social media game to new heights.
Sparktoro: Take social listening to the next level. Input some simple information about your target audience (like what they frequently talk about), and Sparktoro tells you the hashtags they use, the accounts they engage with, the websites they visit, and much more.
TikTok's Creative Center: Stay ahead of the curve with TikTok's Creative Center. Access up-to-date insights on trending audio, hashtags, and creators, complete with analytics. It’s an essential resource for marketers looking to leverage TikTok’s dynamic platform effectively.
SCRL: Enhance your visual storytelling skills! SCRL is a mobile app that lets you create seamless Instagram carousels, allowing you to tell rich stories with your visuals. Just choose a template, add your photos, adjust the layout, and add text if you want.
CapCut: CapCut is an easy to use, accessible video editing app. Especially popular among TikTok users, it offers AI and stock assets to enhance video projects. This is an ideal for those with minimal editing experience who want to create engaging and creative videos.
Later: Later enhances your Linkin.bio page with full customization options, allowing you to align it closely with your brand's style. A beautifully branded Linkin.bio page is key for creating a seamless transition between social media and your website, improving the visitor experience.
Tools for Email
Time has shown that email is a lasting cornerstone of professional communication and marketing. So optimizing your email strategy is more important than ever. Our selection of tools focuses on streamlining your email management, decluttering your inbox, and enhancing your email marketing prowess. These tools are designed to help you navigate email marketing more efficiently, ensuring that every email sent or received contributes to your overall productivity and marketing success.
Boomerang for Gmail: This tool lets you manage your email smartly and easily with features like one-click calendar bookings, email scheduling, and reminders. You can also say goodbye to your overpacked inbox, because Boomerang will remove emails from your inbox and only remind you of them when they need your attention.
Cleanfox: Streamline your inbox with Cleanfox. This tool helps you declutter by unsubscribing from unwanted emails in bulk. It's a simple yet powerful solution for maintaining an organized, efficient email environment.
Milled: Milled keeps you in-the-know on the latest trends, industry shifts, innovations, and best practices in email marketing. This tool is particularly useful for marketers looking to refine their email marketing strategies with cutting-edge insights and examples from the forefront of the field.
Apollo: This sales intelligence database has over 265 million contacts and provides an essential toolbox for lead scoring, email tracking, and task management. On the free plan, you can send up to 250 emails per day and access sequence automation, audience filters, and more. Apollo is a powerhouse for email marketers and sales professionals looking to streamline their outreach and lead generation efforts.
Tools for Productivity and Planning
Our 2023 toolkit for productivity and planning is designed to streamline your workflow. These handy tools will help you enhance decision-making, revolutionize content calendar collaboration, and generally organize, well, everything. These tools help you clearly lay out your thoughts and manage tasks more efficiently, ensuring you stay on top of your game.
Untools: Untools offers strategic frameworks for decision-making, problem-solving, and better communication. Equip yourself with the right tools to make impactful decisions and enhance your strategic thinking in various business scenarios.
Planable: Revolutionize your content calendar collaboration with Planable. Preview posts as they will appear live and provide feedback directly on the mockup. This tool is a must-have for ditching spreadsheets and streamlining your content planning process.
SimplyMeet: SimplyMeet.me revolutionizes meeting scheduling by allowing the integration of up to three calendars on its free tier. This tool eclipses others by offering a seamless and comprehensive scheduling experience. It's ideal for busy marketers who juggle multiple calendars and need a unified solution to manage their appointments and meetings efficiently.
Bionic Reading: Bionic Reading offers a unique reading experience by bolding specific letters in words to guide your eye through texts faster. This Chrome extension is a productivity enhancer, transforming any web text into bionic format. It's a serious gamechanger for marketers who need to consume large volumes of text quickly while maintaining comprehension and focus.
xTiles: XTiles offers an all-in-one productivity board where you can build a custom board filled with actionable graphics of your ideas and projects. It's an exceptional tool for marketers who are most organized when they can visualize their strategies and plans in a dynamic and interactive space.
Slab: Slab allows you to organize your favorite resources, ideas, and research all in one place. This knowledge base and wiki software integrates with your favorite productivity tools like Slack, Google Docs, Canva, and more, making it a versatile solution for consolidating and accessing your important information.
Consensus: Consensus.app is like a fast-track pass for research. This AI search engine quickly finds accurate info from reliable sources, saving you loads of time cross-checking data across different sources.
Speechify: Speechify doesn't just turn text into speech; it can read it to you in the voices of your favorite celebrities. These familiar and beloved voices are a great tactic not only for making your content more fun, but also more accessible.
Tools for Visuals and Audio
Visuals and audio play a pivotal role in capturing and retaining audience attention. We've curated a selection of tools designed to give your brand a vibrant and engaging edge. Whether you're a seasoned designer or just starting out, these resources will help you craft compelling, eye-catching content that resonates with your audience.
Age-Positive Image Library: The Centre for Ageing Better gives access to thousands of free stock images depicting older adults. The media representation of people in all stages of life shows those in their golden years that they are valued and recognized.
Adobe Podcast: There's no more need to buy fancy, expensive audio equipment! This handy tool allows you to easily enhance your audio to professional podcast quality.
Kittl: Step aside Canva! Kittl makes graphic design easy and fun with tons of fully customizable templates. Use it to create unique graphics for social media, logos, products, and much more.
LucidPix: Create, edit, and share 3D photos across your social media and marketing channels with LucidPix, available for iOS and Android. This app brings a new dimension to your visual content, enhancing engagement and giving your brand a cutting-edge appeal.
Dribbble: Dribbble puts work from the world's best designers on display. Get inspired for any project across various categories like branding, mobile, web, product, and more. It’s a hub of creativity and innovation for marketers and designers alike.
Templatemaker: Templatemaker is your go-to for creative, customizable design templates. Whether it’s for quirky packaging or unique decorations, this tool is perfect for adding that personal touch to your brand's look.
Revive: Bring run-of-the-mill photos to life! Revive is all about adding some fun to your photos with features that make them sing and talk. It’s a great way to create engaging content that stands out.
Animaker: Animaker offers a user-friendly platform that lets you create creative, branded animated and live-action videos. It's equipped with a huge library of stock videos, customizable templates, and a character builder. If you're wanting to add an animated flair to your content, Animaker makes it simple.
Bensound: Bensound grants you access to a variety of royalty-free music from popular artists. This resource is fantastic for anyone looking to add compelling and recognizable music to their videos or posts, without worrying about royalty fees or licensing issues.
Prequel: Prequel is a powerful app for editing photos and videos, boasting over 800 free effects and filters. It enables users to creatively enhance their content, offering a vast range of styles to make each and every post visually striking.
Tools for Everything Else
Just because these tools defy categorization doesn't mean they should be cast aside. From crafting brand guidelines to simplifying data management, these tools are the unsung heroes that support and enhance your overall marketing strategy in unexpected yet significant ways.
Text Blaze: Text Blaze allows you to save and reuse text "snippets" with custom keyboard shortcuts. This extension is perfect for crafting consistent emails, social posts, and more, saving you time and ensuring consistency across your communications.
Branding Style Guides: Explore complete brand guidelines from the world’s most renowned brands with Branding Style Guides. This resource is invaluable for creating your own branding bible, offering insights and inspiration from the best in the business.
WorkForms: Simplify information collection with WorkForms from Monday. This tool makes gathering information from colleagues, users, and customers a breeze, streamlining the process and enhancing collaboration.
Rows: Rows takes the headache out of data management. It's Excel without the complexity and thousands of formulas, making it super easy for marketers to organize and analyze data.
Rewatch: Rewatch categorizes and keeps track of key moments and notes from your video calls. With a capacity of 15 free recordings per month, it's a really helpful tool for teams to review and revisit important discussions, ensuring nothing gets lost in the shuffle.
Yotpo: Yotpo is a versatile platform for managing customer loyalty programs, from showcasing reviews to running email campaigns and offering rewards. It's designed to simplify the often confusing process of building and maintaining customer loyalty.
Session: Session transforms ordinary video meetings into engaging, branded experiences. It's ideal for hosting everything from workshops to interviews, allowing full control over the look and feel of your live sessions. This tool elevates virtual interactions, making them more memorable and impactful.
Final Thoughts
As we close out 2023, Dogeared Digital has been thrilled to guide you through the innovations that have revolutionized the field of digital marketing. The tools we've introduced The Nibbler have been selected especially for you to empower your creativity, streamline your processes, and elevate your marketing strategies. Here's to a year of growth and success, and to the endless possibilities that await!
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