During my career, I have had plenty of opportunities to experiment with and use different programmes and apps, some of which have proved to be incredibly useful (others - not so much!).
Here are some of my favourite apps that help me every day with my marketing business...
Social media
I know these are really obvious, but it's still worth including them, as they are the ones I use the most. Whichever social media platforms you use, you will most likely have the app on your phone. I tend to use Facebook (including the Pages Manager and Ads Manager apps), Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn for my business use, and have also used Twitter/X and Pinterest in previous roles. I like that these apps have analytics that you can use directly incorporated into them; it makes life much easier. I also love that you can schedule and post directly from Facebook, and it will be posted on Instagram as well.
One of the key things to remember is to only have and use the social media that you actually need; you don't need to be on every platform to be successful!
Scheduling
Scheduling apps are undoubtedly a must-have in a marketer's toolkit; they can streamline and optimise different aspects of marketing, saving you time and encouraging you to be more organised. The three scheduling apps I have used are Buffer, Hootsuite and Planoly, and they all have their pros and cons. It may be a matter of cost, or, if that's not such an issue, it will likely come down to a matter of personal preference. For a new business, I would probably recommend Buffer, as it offers a free subscription for up to three channels, which is more than enough for a new business to begin with! All three programmes are fairly straightforward to use, and come with varying degrees of analytics, depending on the package you choose.
Design
I absolutely adore Canva for all my design work, including my logos; I find it incredibly easy to use and the templates are fab for when I need some inspiration. There is a free version you can use, but I believe the upgraded version is definitely worth the money.
I also recommend Adobe Express for design work. I have a lot of experience using Adobe Express and it is quite versatile. Like Canva, it has a free version, but the paid-for version provides plenty of extra features. It is slightly cheaper than Canva, but it is not quite as user-friendly and you cannot change the resolution of your downloads, so I would recommend paying the extra and using Canva.
Visme is also good, and laid out in a similar way to Canva and Adobe Express, making it relatively user-friendly, but you cannot download videos in the free version. Also, the free version never let me actually download anything at all, so I would have had to pay to download any of the projects that I'd created.
I had a look at Design Wizard, but even though they offer a free subscription, you have to pay for each design you want to download, which would undoubtedly become expensive.
Miscellaneous
The key thing to remember in marketing, is that the writing has got to be good! You could have a fantastic-looking website, but if the content is poorly worded or has avoidable grammatical mistakes, it won't fill your potential clients with confidence. This is why I always use Grammarly to double-check my writing. It is free and really easy to use; an absolute must-have!
The Google Analytics and Google Ads apps are also great to have on your phone to give you a quick snapshot of how your website is performing online, although I personally prefer to look at these on my laptop.
Newsletters are something that every marketing professional should use on a regular basis. They are a simple and straight-forward way of telling potential, current and former clients about your business, the services you provide and anything new you may now provide. There are many online newsletter platforms, and website providers often include this option in their subscriptions, but as a stand-alone service provider, I recommend Mailchimp. They offer different levels of subscription, depending on the size of your business and how many people you want to contact. They also give detailed insights into how many people have opened/read/clicked-on linked in your emails, which can be very useful when planning and designing future campaigns.
So, there you go... a snapshot selection of the apps that I find most useful and would recommend for everyone involved in marketing. Obviously, it goes without saying that you need to sample each app for yourself before deciding on the best one for you.
What did you think of my list? Have I missed anything that should be included on the list? Get in touch and let me know!
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