4 Zero-Cost Marketing Automations That Run Your Business 247

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I spent a decade in corporate tech watching “Marketing Ops” teams burn millions of dollars on software that nobody knew how to use.

When I left to become a solopreneur, I had a realization.

The tools don’t make the business. The systems do.

You don’t need a $50,000 Salesforce contract to scale your reach. You need a way to stop doing “robot work” so you can do “creator work.”

If you’re still manually uploading every post or checking your inbox every 10 minutes for new leads, you’re not a business owner. You’re a bottleneck.

This is the definitive guide to breaking that bottleneck for $0.

“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” — Warren Buffett

1. Native Social Scheduling: The “Set it and Forget it” Consistency Engine

Most creators fail not because their content is bad, but because they are inconsistent.

They post five times in a week, get “burnt out,” and disappear for a month. The algorithm punishes them, and their “bag” stays empty.

Automation is the cure for burnout.

The goal is to move from “Daily Chores” to a Production Line System. You stop thinking about “what to post today” and start thinking about “how to fill the queue for the month.”

Meta Business Suite: The 75-Day Content Fortress

If you aren’t using the Planner in Meta Business Suite, you are working too hard. This is a native tool, meaning it’s more stable than any third-party app.

• The Workflow: Sit down once a week (I like Sunday nights). Open the Planner.
• The “Active Times” Cheat Code: When you go to schedule a post, Meta suggests “Active Times.” These are the exact windows when your followers are online.
• The Story Automation: You can even schedule Stories. Most people think Stories have to be “live.” Wrong. You can batch 10 “behind the scenes” clips and schedule them to drop every 4 hours.

Pro Tip:
Use the “Duplicate” feature. Had a post that crushed it? Duplicate it, tweak the caption, and schedule it for 45 days from now. Zero new creative labor.

Buffer: Your Multi-Channel Command Center

Buffer is the “OG” of scheduling. Their free tier is perfect for the scrappy solopreneur because it handles the “Big Three”: LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Mastodon or Instagram.

• The “Queue” Logic: You don’t pick a date for every post. You set a “Posting Schedule” (e.g., 9 AM and 5 PM daily). You just drop content into the “Queue” and Buffer automatically slots them into the next available time.
• The Start Page Advantage: Buffer’s free “Start Page” is a secret weapon. It’s a microsite that acts as your link-in-bio. Since you’re on a $0 budget, this replaces the need for a $20/month Linktree Pro or a complex website.

RecurPost: The Evergreen “Library” Strategy

This is the advanced play. Most content is “Evergreen” — it’s just as valuable today as it will be in six months.

• Content Recycling: Instead of a linear schedule, RecurPost (using their “Try for Free” model) lets you create “Libraries.”
• The “Set and Forget” Loop: You put 20 “Value” posts into a library. You tell the tool to post from this library every Tuesday and Thursday.
• Infinite Growth: Once the tool reaches the end of the 20 posts, it starts over at the beginning. You are literally building a “perpetual motion machine” for your brand.

“A database is a gold mine. Automation is the shovel.”

2. Lifecycle Email & CRM: Building a Relationship Machine on Autopilot

If you’re relying on “Organic Reach,” you’re at the mercy of Zuck and Elon.

You need an email list. But more importantly, you need that list to talk to your customers when you aren’t there.

This is Middle of Funnel (MoFu) magic. This is where “Followers” turn into “Buyers.”

The “Free-Forever” Stack: HubSpot CRM + Brevo

The biggest mistake solopreneurs make is picking an email tool that charges per subscriber.

As soon as you hit 1,000 subs, they start hitting your credit card. We avoid that by using a “Send-Based” model.

• HubSpot Free CRM: This is your brain. It stores 100,000 contacts. It tracks every “High-Intent” action. If a lead clicks your “Pricing” link, HubSpot records it.
• Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): This is your voice. Their free tier gives you 300 emails per day. For most solopreneurs, that’s 9,000 emails a month for $0.
• The Logic: Keep all your data in HubSpot. Connect it to Brevo. You now have a world-class marketing engine for the price of a cup of coffee (free).

The “3-Email Welcome Sequence” (Your Silent Salesman)

The moment someone joins your list is the moment they are most interested. Don’t waste it. Use Brevo’s automation builder to set this up:

1. Email 1 (The Instant Value): Triggered “Immediately.” Deliver the lead magnet. Tell them who you are. Set the tone.
2. Email 2 (The Case Study): Triggered “24 Hours Later.” Show them a result you’ve achieved or a problem you’ve solved. Build authority.
3. Email 3 (The Soft Pivot): Triggered “48 Hours Later.” Ask a question. “What’s your #1 struggle with [Topic]?” This starts a conversation and identifies “Hot Leads.”

Smart Segmentation: Hyper-Personalization for $0

Use HubSpot’s “Life Cycle Stage” to automate your messaging.

• The Trigger: A user fills out your “Discovery Form.”
• The Automation: HubSpot automatically moves them from “Subscriber” to “Lead.”
• The Result: You can now send a specific automated email to “Leads” only, offering them a discovery call. You aren’t “blasting” your whole list; you’re being a surgeon.

“Automate the predictable so you can humanize the exceptional.”

3. Strategic Middleware: The “Digital Glue” of Your Business

This is the section that scares people, but it shouldn’t.

Middleware is just a bridge. It says: “When THIS happens in App A, do THAT in App B.”

If you can use a “If/Then” logic, you can automate your entire back-office.

Make (Integromat): The Power User’s Dream

If you want to stay on the $0 tier forever, Make is your best friend.

While Zapier limits you to 100 tasks, Make gives you 1,000 operations.

• Visual Logic: You can see your automation like a map.
• Filtering: You can add a “Filter” that says: “Only send this lead to my CRM if they have an ‘@gmail.com’ address.”
• Complex Scenarios: You can have one trigger (like a new sale) result in five different actions (Send a Slack message, update a spreadsheet, add to a CRM, send a ‘Thank You’ email, and create an invoice).

2 High-ROI “Zaps” for Solopreneurs

Even on Zapier’s free tier, these two will change your life:

1. The “Social-to-Sheets” Archive: Every time you post on LinkedIn or X, have Zapier save the text and the link to a Google Sheet. Why? Because in 6 months, you’ll have a searchable database of your own content to repurpose. This is “Skill Stacking” your data.
2. The “New Lead Alert”: Connect your website form to your phone via a Push Notification (or Discord/Slack). The faster you respond to a lead, the higher the conversion. Automation ensures you never “miss” a notification.

Webhooks: The “Digital Handshake”

Here’s the thing: Not every app has a direct connection. This is where Webhooks come in.

Think of a Webhook as a “listener.” You give App A a specific URL from App B. Whenever App A does something, it “shouts” to that URL.

Why this matters for $0 budgets: Many apps charge for “Premium Integrations.” But almost all of them allow “Webhooks” for free. It’s the “backdoor” to pro-level automation.

“You are the average of the five RSS feeds you follow.”

4. Automated Content Discovery: Thought Leadership Without the Homework

You can’t be an authority if you don’t know what’s happening in your industry.

But you also can’t spend 3 hours a day on Twitter/X “researching.” That’s a trap.

Automate the “Input” so you can dominate the “Output.”

Feedly + Inoreader: Your $0 Intelligence Agency

RSS is a technology that “pulls” content to you.

• The Folder Strategy: In Feedly, create folders for “Competitors,” “Industry News,” and “Aspiration Brands.”
• The Keyword Filter: Use the free search tools to highlight specific words like “Automation,” “Web3,” or “Real Estate.”
• The Social Feed Trick: Use Inoreader to turn a specific person’s Twitter feed or a YouTube channel into an RSS feed. Now, you can see their updates in your dashboard without the “distraction” of the social media algorithm.

The “Multiplier Effect”: RSS-to-Social

This is how you stay “Relevant” while you’re on vacation.

Using dlvr.it or IFTTT, you can create a bridge between your “Best of the Web” feed and your social profiles.

• Metadata Mastery: Don’t just share the link. Use dlvr.it to automatically append “via @Source” and relevant hashtags.
• Category-Based Posting: You can set it so that only articles containing the word “BREAKING” get posted instantly. Everything else goes into a queue for you to review later.
• The ROI: You are providing 24/7 value to your audience by curating the best stuff on the internet. They see you as the “Expert Filter.”

Your “Get Your Bag” Action Plan

Reading this took 10 minutes. Implementing it takes a lifetime of freedom.

Do this TODAY:

1. The Time Audit: Identify the one marketing task you do every day that makes you want to quit. (Is it posting? Is it lead tracking?)
2. The 1-Tool Challenge: Pick ONE tool from this list. Just one.
3. The 2-Hour Window: Block 2 hours this Thursday. Don’t “try” the tool. Install it. Connect it. Run a test.
4. The Freedom Loop: Once that one task is automated, do not fill that new free time with more “busy work.” Use it to build your next product or talk to a high-value client.

You escaped the corporate grind to be free. Stop building yourself a new prison.

Level up. Automate. Get your bag.

Responses (7)

Talbot Stevens

What are your thoughts? 🐴HorseThroat🐴

[

Jan 26

](https://medium.com/@HorseThroat/automations-that-run-a-business-24-7-sound-like-freedom-but-this-leans-on-the-habit-of-treating-9e6f13c52bb9?source=post_page---post_responses—3e4b5d598c55----0-----------------------------------)

Automations that run a business 24/7 sound like freedom, but this leans on the habit of treating systems as the reason money appears instead of explaining why anyone would buy in the first place, so readers focus on wiring tools together, feel close…

19

==The tools don’t make the business. The systems do.==

systems are key!

17Siamakcallimisam

he

[

Jan 22

](https://medium.com/@siamakcallimisam2023/very-good-and-usefull-article-looking-for-more-the-same-as-this-one-1e7f2b6b9a74?source=post_page---post_responses—3e4b5d598c55----2-----------------------------------)

very good and usefull article looking for more the same as this one

5

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