The Best FREE Content Marketing Tools for Non-Profits

A lot of people don’t realise that non-profits have to market themselves, just like every other organisation in the public eye, in order to create awareness around their cause. The end goal for the majority of non-profits is to drive consumer consideration with the aim that they go on to donate.

I don’t know about you, but until I recently started to volunteer for a charity on all things digital and content marketing, I had NO idea of the number of incredible resources that are out there to support small non-profit organisations. And what’s even better is - they are absolutely FREE!

So, with zero marketing budget and limited resources, how can non-profit organisations disrupt the market and ensure their voices are heard? Well grab yourself a cup of tea and keep reading to learn about what amazing free content marketing tools are out there for anyone to use…

Free Tools to Produce Content

First and foremost, a good content marketing strategy includes a robust content creation plan. Creating informative and engaging content is what helps push the consumer seamlessly through the metaphorical marketing funnel (Awareness > Considerations > Conversion). There are several really great content creation platforms that all offer a standard free account option:

# Canva

This is THE content creation tool to use for any non-profit organisation. Canva allows you to produce consistently, well-branded content for all types of channels. From social to blog, to business cards to presentations – it has every template and size imaginable!

# Crello

Simple and uncomplicated in nature, like Canva, Crello is incredibly easy to use with its drag and drop interface. It also includes thousands of great templates for things like social media posts, flyers and even animated graphics.

# Inforgram

A great free tool for non-profits to create stunning infographics that help boost visitor engagement on any website or blog. Never have to stare at a blank screen again by taking advantage of Infogram's abundance of impressive infographic templates available.

Free Tools to Share Content

Now that you have produced some killer content, it’s time to share it across different marketing channels. For non-profits where resources is scarce, using a free sharing tool that has the ability to schedule content in advance is a must. Here are some of the best out there…

# Hootsuite

This is a well-loved sharing platform that can help manage all your social media accounts, track mentions, respond to user interaction, and schedule multiple posts. Hootsuite's free plan allows non-profits to link up to 3 of their social media accounts to advantage of its offerings.  

# Mailchimp

Great for keeping your donors up to date via emails; Mailchimp is free to schedule and send content to up to 2,000 subscribers on your email marketing list. Use a variety of designed templates to help create an effective and informative email campaign for your non-profit organisation.

# Google Ads Grant for Non-profits

Okay – so this may not be a content sharing platform as such, but it’s too good not to talk about! Google Ads Grant for non-profits is an incredible initiative that offers non-profits the chance to advertise their mission on Google for FREE – so it’s similar to sharing content, right? If eligible, non-profits can spend up to £7,500 ($10,000) a month on text ads (PPC) that will appear on Google search results pages! Click here to find out more about this amazing opportunity.

The BEST Free Tool to Track Content

For me, it’s a no brainer that Google Analytics is the best free content and website tracking tool out there. And what’s great, is that there are no clauses or hidden costs to catch you out. Now I know it’s not the easiest of tracking tools to get to grips with but there is an abundance of free video tutorials on YouTube to help get you started on how to interpret the data. Google Analytics is specifically useful to learn what content on your non-profit website is performing the best. You can also track website referrals from your social media campaigns. This enables you to identify the type of content your audience wants to see on social.

Take-away Tip!

Once you start looking for free content marketing tools online, you’ll soon realise that there are more than enough free resources to help get you started. My best piece of advice is to do as much research as possible! This is to ensure you are using the free tools that are most suited to your non-profit’s mission and the supporting team behind it.

Written by Maddy Swift