Marketing tips
Marketing Tools: What I Use for Clients and My Own Brands
By Jantien Vanderbeke. Updated 27 October 2026
The best marketing tools are the ones you actually use every week. As a freelance or in-house marketer, you need one tool per job: one to plan, one to create, one to send emails, one to track SEO, one to report. Most of them have a free plan that takes you surprisingly far.
These are the tools I work with, for clients and for my own brands, grouped by task. I test new tools on my own brands first. What works there, I bring to clients.
Which marketing tools do you need?
You need one tool per task, and you can start most of them for free:
| Task | What I use | Free to start? |
|---|---|---|
| Planning and projects | Notion | Yes |
| AI assistant | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini | Yes, with limits |
| Design | Canva | Yes |
| Social media planning | Metricool, Meta Business Suite | Yes |
| Email marketing | MailerLite, Brevo, Klaviyo | Yes, with limits |
| SEO and GEO | Google Search Console, DataForSEO | Search Console yes, DataForSEO pay per use |
| Reporting | Looker Studio, Google Analytics | Yes |
Free plans change often, so check the current limits before you commit.
Planning and projects: Notion
Notion is where my strategies, content calendars and client projects live. I use it as the hub for client work such as NANA and RealSmart, and for my own brands. You can switch the same data between a table, a calendar and a board, invite clients as guests, and share pages publicly.
Other good options: Monday (I used it for Creaplan) and Asana (my tool at Novy, my first employer). Pick the one your team or client already uses.
AI assistants: ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini
An AI assistant is now the tool I open first. I use Claude for strategy and audit work and to build websites, ChatGPT to build an AI way of working for Creaplan, and Gemini for my own brands. The free versions are enough to start. Pay once you use it daily.
Want to know how to use AI without wasting hours? Read AI in marketing.
Design: Canva
Canva is my go-to for visuals, for my own brands and for clients such as Colruyt Group and Spotto. Templates, brand kits, video, presentations and AI image features all sit in one tool, and you can work on designs together with a client or team.
Social media planning: Metricool and Meta Business Suite
Posting regularly helps your reach, and scheduling ahead saves you hours.
- Metricool: I plan and report social media for my own brands with it. One calendar for several platforms, plus reporting.
- Meta Business Suite: free, and enough if you only post on Facebook and Instagram. You schedule posts and stories, answer comments and messages in one inbox, and see insights.
Email marketing: MailerLite, Brevo and Klaviyo
- MailerLite: my own newsletter and workshop waitlist. Easy to start with a free plan.
- Brevo: email automation for NANA.
- Klaviyo: email marketing for Colruyt Group and Vivo. Strong for e-commerce.
If you want content that keeps working, automate your emails around the customer journey. I explain how in content marketing.
SEO and GEO: Search Console and DataForSEO
- Google Search Console: free, and the first place to look. You see which searches bring people to your site and where you rank.
- DataForSEO: keyword research and AI visibility checks, pay per use. I used it for the website structure of NANA and in my SEO & GEO workshop.
- Semrush, Mangools, Peec.ai: SEO and AI visibility tracking for Spotto.
Reporting: Looker Studio and Google Analytics
- Google Analytics (GA4): free web analytics. I set it up and report on it for Woody and Grafica.
- Looker Studio: free dashboards. I built Woody's central reporting dashboard in it.
My tip: one tool per job, used every week
Start with the free plans. Use one tool per job for a month. Upgrade only the tool you open every day. The full list, with where I used each tool, is on my tools page.
FAQ about marketing tools
What are the best free marketing tools?
Notion for planning, Canva for design, Meta Business Suite or Metricool for social media, MailerLite for email, and Google Search Console, Google Analytics and Looker Studio for SEO and reporting. All have a free plan.
Which AI tools do marketers use?
General AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, plus the AI features inside tools such as Canva. Learn one well before you add a second.
How many marketing tools do you need?
One per task: planning, AI, design, social media, email, SEO and reporting. More tools mean more logins and more time switching.
Do I need paid tools as a freelance marketer?
Not at the start. Free plans take you far. Pay for the tools you use every day, or when a client's volume asks for it.
Want to get more out of your tools?
How you set up and combine your tools makes the difference. In the Upskill workshops you learn to use AI in your content, SEO & GEO and reporting, on your own cases. Half a day, max 4 people.