Looking for ways to make your life easier? Running a business can be challenging; you are often time poor and some things get rushed, or not done at all. I hear a lot of business owners say to me “I just don’t get time to do social media and I am not really that interested.” Or they say “I’d like to be able to send updates to my mailing list but I don’t know where to start.”
Thankfully there are heaps of clever tools and platforms available and most have a free version if you just want to test it out or use a basic format. I could go on and on but I’m going to briefly discuss some of the most-used tools in my world. You may have already heard of all or some of them but not had time to investigate, or you have never heard of them and are about to be enlightened! Either way, this brief overview should inspire you to give them a go.
Hootsuite
Social media can become time consuming and at times, it feels like it’s taking time away from actually running your business. Make it easier by scheduling posts to LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram all in one place. You can either schedule the exact same post to all platforms, or tailor each post for the intended audience. Schedule posts for days, weeks or months in advance. All the usual options are there such as adding emojis and hashtags. You can take an hour or two, once a month, schedule all your posts for the month and then you’re done. Phew, job done. Relax and pour yourself a drink, that was easy!
Canva
Not a threat to clever and capable graphic designers who are worth their fee 10 times over. Rather, this is simply a cheap and easy way to create posters, social media images, business cards and more. Upload your logos and mix with their free images. If you have a creative flair and patience, go ahead and have fun playing with designs and layouts. You can download images and use online or pay to order prints.
Mail Chimp
Create beautiful and professional newsletters easily using Mail Chimp. You have probably received several Mail Chimp formats already in your inbox if you have signed up to newsletters over time as a lot of businesses use this tool. There are several steps before getting to the finished product, including sorting your mailing list, creating the template and then design and testing. Mail Chimp automatically adds an unsubscribe link at the bottom with you need to cover the legalities of sending emails and newsletters. Play around with different formats and layouts and create a template to promote your business.
Google Docs
You (the client) sends me (the contractor) an excel worksheet. I work on it, send it back. You use it for something which means the version I have is now out of date. So, then you send me your version. Then I work on it and send it back to you. Uh… computer says no! We could use Google Docs for Word or Excel and both see what is happening in real time. It can be set up so it is private, and only you or I can see the link, and you can pin it to the top of your web browser for easy access whenever you need it.
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If you would like help with any of these tools or would prefer me to handle to whole lot, contact us via the website or email today.