Pre-independent India was introduced to several laws during the British rule; one amongst them being Section 377 which came into force under the Indian Penal Code in the year 1861. This law criminalized sexual activities which were ‘against the order of nature’, and stated that, “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the law of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life , or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and may also be liable to a fine”. To make matters worse, most religions consider homosexuality to be a sin and Section 377 somehow gave people the right to condemn the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Other (LGBTQ+) community. Various doctors started referring to homosexuality as a mental illness that needed medication and counselling as well. People were being forced to hide this part of themselves as society didn’t seem to accept them in the way they truly were. The right to love freely was officially being taken away from the LGBTQ+ community and nobody seemed concerned.
As wise men say, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. Most of the people from the LGBTQ+ community and their loved ones didn’t seem to lose hope yet. After a series of unending struggles which included various protest rallies and awareness campaigns, the Supreme Court of India partially struck down Section 377 on the 6th of September 2018 stating that consensual sex between adults of the same gender is no longer a crime and that victimizing homosexuals was unconstitutional, and henceforth, a criminal act.
In my opinion, it is important to remember that the people from this community are also humans and that humanity comes before any religion, caste, creed or race. The Constitution avails equal rights for all and Section 377 questions an individual’s basic right to choose. Section 377 still doesn’t permit same sex marriages even though it may have permitted the right to choose your partner, which creates a whole new problem altogether. Nevertheless, we still need to be sensitive towards our LGBTQ+ brethren and try to keep an open mind at all times. Afterall our secular culture teaches us to be tolerant towards each other.
Religious fanatics argue that we are starting to inculcate the western culture, but looking back at the history of our culture, I personally think that love was never forbidden in any form. I would rather prefer saying that India is still being decolonized in various ways even after so many years of our Independence and calling this progress westernization wouldn’t be appropriate. The 6th of September was truly a day of great joy for me and has made its way into history as its impact will create more attainable milestones for this community. Lastly, I would like to say that we still have a long way to go but striking down parts of Section 377 is one step in the right directionSeeing that you’re here reading this article, we can make a calculated guess that you’re working in a startup. We know how challenging it can be working on a tight budget, but we’ve got good news for you: there are hundreds of free tools you can use to get your digital marketing campaigns rolling.
There’s tools for staying on top of trends in your industry, to understanding your customer’s behavior online to where they live as well.
In this article, we’re going to run through 8 digital marketing tools every startup should know about.
#1 Free news and updates tool
Google Alerts
Many marketers have sworn by Google Alerts. This amazing tool is not only free, but it comes in handy when you want relevant, targeted and credible news. While this tool broadly provides information, where it has significantly impacted digital marketers is in the way this information is curated.
You simply have to type the name of yours or the competitor’s brand and voila! You have all the information you need about the brand.
The main use of Google Alerts is to monitor information about a brand, an industry or a niche that maybe relevant to you.
Everything relevant to your search term will be sent to your inbox.
Let me show you quite simply, how it works:
From the image above, you can see the information provided when the search term ‘Apple Inc.’ is typed.
You can specify the frequency of these alerts – every hour, daily or even as-it-happens.
#2 Free trends tool
Google Trends
Yet another free tool at your disposal is Google Trends. This is a particularly interesting tool because it analyses how often specific keywords or subject phrases have been asked. The tool works by analysing a portion of Google searches and computes how many times that query has been searched for.
The ‘Explore’ feature gives you an insight into the most popular search queries. However, you can type your own query and obtain insights of trends for that specific query.
You can even specify a geographical boundary (E.g., India), a time frame (E.g., Past hour to a year), a particular category (E.g., Arts & Entertainment, Business & Industrial) of results and even where the search term was typed (E.g., Google Search, YouTube Search).
For example, you can only explore for search queries on Google, typed by users in India, within the last 7 days, in the context of business.
#3 Free infographics tool
Canva
Want a quick fix when it comes to designing some infographics to go along with your content or simply to share on social media? Canva is your new best friend! Many startups may not have a designated graphic designer and often look for alternative ways to produce quality creatives.
This easy, drag-and-drop infographic creator for non-professional designers has a user-friendly interface, making it easy to design infographics for your business.
#4 Free grammar check tool
Grammarly
I think all of us have days where writing content is harder than it otherwise is. And when we finally get around to creating the content in a hotchpotch manner, Grammarly is there to save the day.
Just install the tool as a plugin to your browser (compatible with both Windows and MacOS) or to Microsoft Word and you’re good to go. This free, digital marketing tool assists with proofreading and word recommendations. Every writer’s dream.
#5 Free keyword research tool
Google Keyword Planner
Keyword research is one of the most crucial parts of the digital marketing cycle. Online marketers spend a significant amount of time researching for relevant keywords. In fact, much of the success of online campaigns heavily depend on the keywords you choose to invest in, which should actually have have some volume, in terms of search frequency.
Google’s very own Keyword Planner is one of the best tools to get you started. Yes, it may primarily cater to creating online advertisements (since it’s a feature of Google AdWords), but it also helps generate some credible keyword research, without breaking the bank.
Using it is quite simple too. Simply enter your product or service that you offer, your competitor’s URL or product category and the keyword planner generates a whole list of keywords.
It doesn’t end there. With this tool you can not only look for keywords, but also obtain metrics on the search volume of each keyword, get traffic forecasts for a list of keywords, as well multiplying keyword lists to get more keywords.
What’s more interesting is that Google Keyword Planner will not provide a list of keywords, it also provides negative keywords that you should consider avoiding.
#6 Free social media analytics tool
Keyhole
Having a social media presence is absolutely important. Not only does it allow you to post content for your customers, it also allows you to garner engagement with them.
That’s all well and good. But how can we, as digital marketers, measure the success of certain posts or videos on our social media pages? There’s a tool for that.
Keyhole is a free social media analytics tool that provides powerful and high-precision tracking information. The tool provides a wealth of information on the reach of posts; posts that do exceptionally well, shares on posts, those that garner high engagement, etc. Keyhole also provides performance metrics of tweets on Twitter, posts on Instagram and videos on YouTube.
What’s more, the tool also allows you to check up on your competitor’s social media campaign performance. It makes for a perfect platform for market research, as a result.
The simple, user-friendly interface has made this tool an all-time favorite.
#7 Free email marketing tool
MailChimp
Communicating with your customers is paramount, in order to stay current. While social media has its own role to play, digital marketers cannot discount the power of a good email marketing plan.
MailChimp has been my all-time personal favorite for sending mass emails. Simply choose from a wide variety of templates- (from sales to event invitations), that matches the tone of email you’d like to send.
What’s more, you can even create lists of customers (new customers, old customers, remarketing). Sending curated emails to individual lists of customers for specific purposes has never been easier.
The tool also provides performance metrics, in terms of time frames of when your customers look at their emails, subject lines that lead to email opens and emails that direct traffic to your website.
MailChimp is easy to learn and adaptable to most email marketing campaign requirements.
#8 Free website tracking tool
Google Analytics
So you’ve set up your website; added some content and it’s gone live. You’ve even started some basic SEO to increase the visibility of your brand. Now it’s time to check-up on how well your website is doing.
Google Analytics, yup, yet another free tool from Google is one of the most useful tools for measuring the performance of your website. Simply create an account and you’re good to go.
This free web analytics tool provides in-depth analyses of who your visitors are, what they’re doing on your website, how they found your website and where they’re going after visiting your website.
Based on these performance metrics, online marketers find it easy to then make changes to the website.
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