How to build a free tool for marketing

What are the steps

1. Pick a daily choreHubSpot's free Email Signature Template Generator builds a signature from ready made templates.
2. Score something people worry aboutCoSchedule's Headline Analyzer rates a headline's ability to drive shares, traffic and SEO value.
3. Keep it free on a public pageBoth are free tools on their own public pages, so search can find them.
4. Open source it if your buyers are developersResend promotes React Email, its open source email tool, with a quick start guide.
5. Link to your paid product from the resultPut the next step next to the output, not before it.

How do the options compare

Where do these numbers come from

1. HubSpot Email Signature Generator
2. CoSchedule Headline Analyzer
3. Resend React Email post

Which real examples show it

HubSpot

1. Give away a tool for a daily chore

Everyone needs an email signature, so the tool earns search traffic from people far beyond HubSpot's buyers today.

1. Find a small chore your buyers do often
2. Build a free tool that finishes it
3. Put your brand on the result

Full breakdown · Source

CoSchedule

2. Score something people already worry about

A score turns a vague worry into a number, and people come back to beat it.

1. Find a piece of work people second guess
2. Score it with clear rules
3. Show how to raise the score

Full breakdown · Source

Resend

3. Promote your open source tool with a guide

Teaching the free tool builds trust and a path to the paid product.

1. Pick your best free tool
2. List what it works with as checkmarks
3. Attach a short how to
4. Link the docs

Full breakdown · Source

Perplexity

4. Open source the engine behind your product

Open sourcing internal infrastructure proves technical depth and gives developers something to use today.

1. Pick an internal tool others would want
2. Clean it up and pick a permissive license
3. Explain what it does in one paragraph
4. Link the repo in the post

Full breakdown · Source

What else do people ask

Related answers