Marketing Without a Marketing Degree

Tools to Help You Work Smarter, Not Harder

At CRAFT, we work with professionals who wear many hats—especially in sectors like transportation, infrastructure, and public service. Whether you're an engineer leading a project, a transit operator managing community outreach, or a department head juggling public communications on top of operations, chances are marketing isn't in your job title—but the responsibility still lands on your plate.

We see this all the time in city agencies, DOTs, nonprofits, and small teams where the need to engage the public, share updates, or promote programs is high—but there’s no full-time marketing staff to take it on.

The good news? You don’t need a marketing degree to create effective, professional-looking content. You just need the right tools.

Below are some of our favorite platforms that can help you design flyers, write social posts, schedule outreach, and create videos—without starting from scratch. These tools are intuitive, efficient, and built for people who have a lot on their plate.

Design: Canva
canva.com

Canva is a user-friendly design tool that lets anyone create professional-looking graphics without graphic design skills. It includes pre-built templates for flyers, brochures, social media posts, newsletters, and more. With its drag-and-drop interface and AI-powered design assistant, you can build on-brand visuals in minutes. Canva is ideal for quick-turn materials like detour notices, safety campaigns, project updates, or community meeting invites.

Content Creation: ChatGPT
chat.openai.com

Writing content doesn’t have to be hard. ChatGPT helps you quickly generate draft language for emails, public notices, social posts, meeting summaries, and more. Just describe what you’re trying to say—“Write a clear message for riders about a weekend route change”—and it will provide a solid first draft. Perfect for when you’re short on time or struggling to find the right tone.

Proofing & Clarity: GrammarlyGO
grammarly.com

GrammarlyGO takes your writing and helps polish it for clarity, grammar, and tone. It’s especially useful when translating technical language into something the general public can understand. It integrates into everyday tools like Word, email, and browsers—so you don’t have to copy and paste everything into a new platform.

Campaign Copy: Copy.ai
copy.ai

Need to make something sound sharper or more engaging? Copy.ai generates quick options for headlines, social posts, or campaign language. If you’re trying to make a safety campaign catchier or write an email subject line that people will actually open, this tool gives you fast inspiration and polished alternatives.

Video & Audio: Descript
descript.com

When you need to communicate visually—like promoting a service change, recapping a community meeting, or recording a PSA—Descript makes it easy. It automatically transcribes audio or video, lets you cut and edit as if you’re working in a Word document, and adds captions. It even offers voiceover tools for those times when you can’t record something yourself.

Social Media Scheduling: Buffer
buffer.com

Whether you're managing one channel or five, Buffer lets you schedule and publish posts across Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more. It’s ideal for sharing construction updates, campaign messages, or regular service notices without needing to log in every day. You can queue content in advance, add visuals from Canva, and even track engagement, all in one place.

Wrap-Up: You Don’t Have to Do It Alone
If you’re juggling marketing alongside engineering, planning, operations, or leadership, you’re not alone. This is the reality for many teams that need to do more with less.

These tools can help you get the message out without getting overwhelmed. From public notices to social posts to community outreach, your communications can still be timely, clear, and professional, even without a dedicated marketing team.

CRAFT works with transportation professionals, public agencies, and civic teams to support these efforts with smart tools, simple strategies, and human-centered communications.
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Want help getting started?
Visit www.cocraft.org or reach out for a quick consultation.