If you’re wearing 14 hats as an entrepreneur and hanging on by a thread, this one’s for you. I’m rounding up the best marketing tools for small business—the ones that keep your brand consistent, your content on schedule, and your sanity intact. No fluff, no tech bro jargon. Just tools that help real small businesses get seen, grow, and sell.

Here are the types of marketing tools every small business owner needs—calling out my favorites for you to try:

• Social media scheduler
• Email marketing platform
• Website platforms
• All-in-one marketing software

Ready to learn about all the software I think you should try? I made it skimmable so you can get what you need fast 😉 And there are some affiliate links in this article. I’ve included them so you can snag a discount on any tools you want to test.

The Best Social Media Scheduler for Small Business

For small business owners, social isn’t just “post and pray.” It’s about showing up consistently with content that’s actually helpful (read: not posting just to post). But trying to do that in real time every day? That’s the fast track to burnout.

Schedulers turn the pressure dial way down. You can plan ahead, batch your captions, and schedule posts when it works for you—so you can get back to running the business.

Our Favorite: Enji

Best for: Small business owners who want a simple, do-it-all scheduler that plays nicely with the rest of their marketing.

Who Uses It: We utilize Enji for our in-house marketing needs, as well as for all of our monthly creative marketing clients.

Our favorite features:

• Strategy-to-calendar workflow (plan, then schedule without switching tabs)
• Built-in AI caption help for faster batching
• Visual calendar with drag-and-drop rescheduling
• Can take one piece of content and make it work across multiple platforms

Pros:

• Clean, intuitive interface—easy for clients to jump into
• Helps you stay consistent with a real plan, not just a queue
• Light learning curve; great for “I do my own marketing” folks
• Great support team!

Cons:

• Power users might want deeper analytics exports
• Smaller ecosystem than the legacy “mega-tools” (which can also be a pro, tbh)

Try Enji’s social media scheduler and get a discount when you use my referral link

The Best Email Marketing Tool for Small Business

At this point in time as a creative marketing studio for 11 years, we have all but two clients that haven’t converted to Flodesk. Flodesk lets us create gorgeous, on-brand emails without wrestling a complicated, clunky or outdated builder. The visual editor, built-in forms/landing pages, and simple automations make staying consistent super easy. Plus, we love that they offer flat-rate pricing which means your list can grow without surprise fees.

Best for: Design-forward small businesses (service-based, creatives, e-commerce shops) that want beautiful emails, simple automations, and flat-rate pricing without getting lost in settings.

My favorite features:

• Drag-and-drop email builder with modern templates + your brand kit (custom fonts & colors).
• Forms, landing pages, and automations — no extra apps needed.
• Visual workflows for welcome + next step sequences that are easy to tweak.
• Light, readable analytics so you can spot wins without a data degree.
• Optional Checkout to sell digital products/services.

Pros of the software:

• Extremely on-brand emails (hello, custom fonts) with a super intuitive editor. 
• Predictable, flat-rate pricing with unlimited subscribers and sends (we hate tiered pricing).
• Built-in list-growth tools (forms/landing pages) and straightforward automations.
• Plays nicely with popular tools via native connections and Zapier (including Shopify).

Cons of the software:

• Limited A/B testing; split-testing fans may feel constrained.
• Fewer deep, out-of-the-box ecommerce/CRM integrations than enterprise-style platforms (you’ll lean on Zapier for some workflows)

Signup for Flodesk using our exclusive link and get 50% off your first year (ok, that’s major savings you don’t want to ignore).

The Best Website Platforms for Small Business

We love Showit and Shopify—we just use them for different client projects. Showit is our go-to for services and storytelling: total design freedom, no code, perfectly on-brand. For ecommerce, we build on Shopify only—reliable checkout, sane inventory, shipping that scales, and an app ecosystem that grows with you. We work with you to choose the one that fits your goals so you get a site you can actually update and a store that can actually grow.

Showit

Best for: Service-based businesses, personal brands, and creatives who want total design freedom without touching code.

Our favorite features:

• True drag-and-drop builder (put things exactly where you want them).
• WordPress blog integration for strong blogging + SEO.
• Separate desktop + mobile canvases so you can fine-tune each experience.
• Easy template starting points you can actually customize or you can work with a design studio like us and we build our clients custom designs that are unique and original to their brand.

Pros:

• Feels like designing a mood board—great for brand-heavy sites and portfolios.
• No dev required for layout changes (swap photos, add sections, publish—done).
• WordPress blogging gives you growth-friendly SEO and familiar post tools.

Cons:

• Not built for full ecommerce (you’ll embed buy buttons or use lightweight carts).
• Managing separate mobile layouts is powerful—but adds a step.
• Advanced blog tweaks happen in WordPress, so you’re using two tools.

If you’re wanting to get started on Showit, this link gives you the first month of your Showit subscription fee for Free (but let’s be honest, you know you probably want a little help in designing that new site of yours!).

Shopify

Best for: Product-based businesses (from “just launched” to scaling) that need reliable checkout, inventory, and shipping—all under one roof.

My favorite features:

• Rock-solid checkout that converts, plus built-in payments and discounts.
• Inventory, variants, and collections that make product management sane.
• App ecosystem for subscriptions, reviews, bundles, and more as you grow (with the use of Apps).
• Beautiful, mobile-ready themes you can customize with sections/blocks.

Pros:

• Ecommerce is the star—fast, secure, and ready for promos and sales.
• Scales with you: add POS, local pickup, multi-location, and more when you need it.
• Tons of integrations (email, shipping, accounting) to keep operations streamlined.

Cons:

• App add-ons can stack up in cost (be choosy!).
• Deep theme edits may require a developer (like us!).
• Blogging is fine for basics, but not as flexible as WordPress.

The Best All-in-One Marketing Tool for Small Business

There’s a reason that we transitioned all of our monthly marketing clients over to Enji throughout the past year — it’s because it’s designed specifically for the small business owner who do their own marketing and want to plan, do, and review it in one place. Now, business owners can jump in and do it themselves (we use it for our own marketing), or they can hire agencies like us here at Marra Creative Studio, and by giving us collaborative access, we can help plan and manage their content for them keeping it streamlined and easy to use (thank goodness!).

Enji

Best for: Small business owners who DIY their marketing and want strategy → content → analytics in one hub. Basically you need the tools, but not the overwhelming corporate jargon that goes with it.

My favorite features:

• A strategy builder that turns into a real content plan that’s easy to execute.
• Calendar + scheduler that keeps you consistent (did we say consistency?).
• Light analytics/KPIs to see what’s working— again, without a data science degree
• Brand library and repeatable campaign templates

Pros:

• Designed for “wear-all-the-hats” owners—simple and focused
• Keeps everything organized and on-brand
• Easy for clients or team members to collaborate

Cons:

• Not a replacement for enterprise-level analytics or ad platforms
• Fewer third-party bells and whistles (again: could be a pro)

Review: If you’re overwhelmed by disconnected tools, Enji keeps the main thing the main thing—plan your marketing, batch content, schedule it, and check results without bouncing between five apps.

How to Choose the Right Marketing Tools For You

The “best” tool isn’t the one with the most features—it’s the one you’ll actually use. As you test and compare, keep these in mind:

• You should be able to afford it. Don’t overspend on software. A modest monthly cost that saves you hours is worth it; bloated plans you never touch are not.
• Look for integrations. If your tools can talk to each other, you’ll work faster (and avoid copy-paste chaos).
• Test before you buy. Use the free trial—and actually use it. If you need more time, ask. Most companies will extend a trial.
• Make sure it fits your brain. The best marketing tools feel intuitive to you. If you’re constantly hunting for buttons, it’s probably not your tool.

You don’t need every tool—just the right few. Start by picking one scheduler, one email platform, and a website that can grow alongside your growing brand. Give each a real two-week to one-month test drive (ok give the website more effort than that), then keep what makes your work easier (and ditch what doesn’t). If you want help deciding between options for your specific business, or are ready to hire a small team of creatives to help you wear a little less hats, then reach out to us and let’s chat!