The Rise of Free SaaS Tools as Lead Magnets (& How Marketers Can Take Advantage) – InstantFollowerz

As Wiz’s head of marketing Tom Orbach says, “Mini tools are 10 times more powerful than free trials.“

For the last 20 years, tech marketers have been giving away eBooks and PDFs. I think Orbach would agree that this era is coming to an end.

Thanks to AI, no code, and outsourcing, the smartest tech marketers are now giving away mini software tools… absolutely free.

This is something I like to call a ‘free marketing tool’.

Here’s how it works.

What is a free marketing tool?

In MBA parlance, free tools are called “loss leaders”. A loss leader is a free mini product that drives customers to buy a larger product.

For a perfume company, it could be a free perfume sample at the mall. For my hometown gas station, Wawa, it was free coffee every tuesday 2024. Now, in tech, it’s the norm to give away free tools to get your foot in the door for paid ones.

But how do you figure out which mini tool(s) to make?

There are two main ways:

1. Look for low-weight, high-volume keywords.

The goal here is to capture some traffic that might be interested in your paid software.

You won’t rank for the top keyword in your niche overnight, but mini tools are like mini bets. Each mini tool gives you a better chance to rank higher for your most important main keywords.

Use tools like Ahrefs to find keywords that are low difficulty with KD around 0-5 with as much volume as possible. Even just 1000 searches per month is a good start.

For example, the keyword ‘SOCIAL MEDIA manager jobs‘ has a keyword difficulty of 0 and 7,200 searches per month. If you’re an AI resume writer or a recruiting platform like Indeed, you can start a free AI resume writer specifically for SOCIAL MEDIA managers looking for work.

Here’s another example: the keyword ‘Instagram giveaway template‘ has a keyword difficulty of 5 and 500 searches per month.

If you’re an image creation platform like Canva or an advertising agency that helps brands give Instagram giveaways, you can create a free AI Instagram giveaway template generator using something like OpenAI’s DALL-E model hours Midjourney.

2. Look in your product for features that could be free tools.

Do you have any existing features that could be free tools?

For example, if you’re a personal finance app, maybe it’s a compound interest calculator. Or if you’re into video editing software, maybe it’s a free video converter. The options are endless.

Pro tip: Obviously, don’t give away all the secret sauce of your software. But most times, you’ll be able to find at least one feature that you can offer for free.

What does this look like in practice?

Let’s take me as an example.

I run a meme marketing software called Memelord Technologies.

Late one night, I couldn’t sleep. So, I dug deep into keywords on Ahrefs and saw that the keyword ‘memes png‘ was light weight and high volume (0 keyword difficulties and 4,000 searches per month!).

I already made an AI background remover for memes, so I took that feature and ran it Free Meme PNG Maker It’s the exact same feature — we’re just giving it away for free.

And of course, I pay a little API fee every time someone uses the tool, but I’m already seeing free signups (and no promotion!).

Source

Here is another personal example.

I saw that keyword too ‘marketing memes’ it was low in keyword difficulty and relatively high in search volume (2 keyword difficulties and 1200 searches per month).

So what did I do? I’ve created a tool for marketers to get meme inspiration: a basic, no-code, searchable and filtered gallery meme marketing examples.

Like the creator of the PNG meme, I’m already seeing submissions from this free tool using just real SEO – no promotion needed.

But I am not the only example.

Newsletter platform Beehiiv launched a free LTV calculator to calculate the lifetime value of your subscribers. HubSpot Meetings a free AI search engine which helps you evaluate your brand’s performance in AI search results. Wiz is running free QR code generator.

And I have good news: You don’t have to be a VC-backed company or a big brand to make free tools.

How marketers can get started

I’m a beginner free tool builder and I first learned about this marketing tactic when I was the head of growth at Product Hunt.

I saw these crazy solo founders and realized that you don’t have to have a million dollar budget to make free software anymore. (In fact, solo hackers and startups may have it easier because there is less oversight, little or no red tape, and minimal need to prove a definitive return on investment.)

Marc Lou is one such solo software founder and a big proponent of free tools.

“I’m a developer and I like to build apps,” he explains. “But I also need marketing to pay the bills. Free marketing tools are a symbiosis. It consists of launching free and viral mini-apps to promote your main startup.”

Source

Lou recommends the following guidelines for best results:

1. The tool must be free — that’s how you create a viral loop.
2. One feature is enough. It has to be super simple.
3. The name should say exactly what the tool does. That’s how people remember and search on Google.
4. The experience must start on the home page. Visitors should not log in or click on links.

Matt Merrick is another free DIY hacker tool.

“Over the years I’ve made over 100 free tools. And every time I’m amazed at how well they perform,” Matt told me via DM on X.

“The process is simple: I start with a keyword related to the site I’m working on (like ‘color’) and ask ChatGPT for free tool ideas. I only target keywords with low competition and high search volume to rank quickly and increase traffic.

Free tools naturally attract views, backlinks and domain authority. My page Niche Tools has 20+ free tools and is starting to rank bringing in free sales.”

Merrick has dedicated his entire career to marketing tools for free.

Why?

Because we are entering the era of free marketing tools.

Free eBooks are so The 2010s, 2020s and beyond are all about free software.

So let me ask you: What free tools can you build?

Think about that for a moment. Take some time to review your product and look for free feature ideas. Go to Ahrefs keyword generator (another free tool) for search optimization.

Then, grab a Red Bull, go build some free tools, and run them!