5 Free tools to improve your marketing today
In our ever-adapting world, marketing has become both more challenging and easier than ever before. Content creation is now just one GPT prompt away, while Instagram algorithms seem to change daily. In this wild world, I’ve leaned heavily on tools that can help you cut through the noise and make better marketing decisions. The best part about these tools is that they are completely free. With just a few extra minutes of your time, you can improve your marketing game at no cost.
So whether you are an artist, management, a guitar manufacturer, a local record store or instrument retailer, or a music tech company ready to change the landscape of music, here are some tools you can utilize today to guide or strengthen your efforts.
1. Discover Search Trends with GLIMPSE
Glimpse is a Google Trends plug-in that gives you some SEMrush-type data without the $250 bucks a month cost. There is a paid version of GLIMPSE, which at this point I should probably just buy because of how much this tool has given me, but for FREE you get 10 queries a month.
Search a keyword in Google Trends and see the actual search volume, related queries, geographic details and more. It only charges credits on individual searches, when you are doing comparisons you get the standard Google Trends. So here’s the trick, select the query that you know will be the constant and get the numbers from it, then when you compare other queries to it you can figure out the scale of the other queries. For example:
- Query: Papa Johns’s
- Result: 100 million searches a month
- Compare: Papa John’s, Domino’s, Pizza Hut
- Result: (see image) a line chart showing consumer interest against each other.
- Learning: If Papa John’s had 100 million searches, Pizza Hut is crushing it with 25-30% more.
Use this on your competitors, or when you’re looking at bringing a new product to market. If you’re under the impression that SEO, search volume, or trends like this don’t matter to your music niche, you’re wrong. Understanding customer or listener behavior is key to positioning your brand/business in alignment with their lives.
2. Elevate your brand design with canva
I feel like this is less than an obvious and more of an honorary mention. Canva has changed the game for business and brands trying to get their foot in the design door. With thousands of preset templates and new free features being launched daily, whether you’re a pro designer or just getting started - you should have a Canva account.
It’s no longer just a visually stunning gig poster or an engaging EPK, Canva now has motion graphics, animation, and so many more tools that you can nearly compete with any major design software without any of the training of a big design software. So whether you are exploring a theme for your social media posts, or looking for graphic elements to utilize in your GTM campaign, canva has a wealth of resources and presets to simplify and improve your visual brand.
3. Spy on competitors with google's ad transparency center
AdsTransparency.Google.com, check it out! You can see all of your competitors' advertisements. While some metrics will show in your google ads if they are competing for similar keywords, the ads transparency center gives you a good look at their creative, messaging, and amount of ads. Maybe this will inspire you to step up your game, chase a SKAG strategy, or give you the confidence you need to know your ads are competitive.
Again, this may feel like a tool that isn’t worth while to the average music brand or musician, but understanding the commercial messages that your customers are faced with every day gives you the opportunity to be a breath of fresh air.
Imagine while you are searching advertisers in your market you discover every single one of them uses a generic keyword like “shoegaze.” When you search that keyword in google trends, you find that it is not getting substantial traffic and another related keyword like “Deftones” is.
By implementing that language into your organic and paid media, you now are set to drive more traffic than your peers.
4. uncover visual trends with meta ad library
This is similar to the Google Ad Transparency Center, but it focuses on all Meta properties (Facebook, Instagram, Threads). Meta ads are generally more visual or are video based. Understanding the visual language of your musical market is a great way to associate or differentiate your brand.
5. stay ahead with google alerts
Get connected to the entirety of the industry without a load of subscriptions or social media follows. Utilizing Google Alerts, you can get notified anytime there are updates (press releases, news, trending content) in your music market.
Whether you want to be a thought leader and share your opinions early on these developments or want to act quickly on market changes, Google Alerts will keep you informed. Many brands use this feature as fodder for their blogs, as it brings up trending and relevant stories.
conclusion
If you’re a local record store, guitar maker, concert promoter, or other music business professional, these tools can give you the edge you need to stand out. Try one today, and let me know how it impacts your marketing!
If manpower, money, or strategic challenges feel like they have a relentless grip on your marketing feel free to reach out. We can start with a free marketing audit and grow from there.