THE BRAND BULDING TOOLBOX
YOUR TIME IS ONE OF YOUR MOST VALUABLE COMMODITIES. SPENDING HOURS SEARCHING FOR LEADS, MANUALLY POSTING SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATES, OR TRYING TO THANK EVERY SINGLE NEW TWITTER FOLLOWER WILL NOT ONLY DRIVE YOU CRAZY, BUT YOU'LL LOSE PRECIOUS TIME. HAVING AN ORGANIZED Brand building TOOLBOX WILL allow YOU TO EXPOS(UR) GREATNESS™! IT WILL KEEP YOUR GOALS FOCUSED AND MAKE SURE YOU MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME.
THIS LIST OUTLINES A FEW KEY PLATFORMS AND SOFTWARE PRODUCTS THAT I FOUND, AND STILL FIND, VALUABLE IN MY brand building STRATEGY. HOPE YOU FIND THEM AS VALUABLE AS I do.
LinkedIn is an amazing social platform that allows any B2B to harness its power as a marketing tool to grow their business! LinkedIn allows you to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry while simultaneously helping you earn the trust of your digital community. LinkedIn can be utilized like a personal Rolodex - you can find colleagues, recruit employees, seek employment, and it is a top-notch lead generation tool. This is one tool, that as a business owner, you'll want to invest the time in setting up.
A good book to pick-up to start benefiting from LinkedIn ASAP is John Turner's 'Connect - The Secret LinkedIn Playbook To Generate Leads, Build Relationships, and Dramatically Increase your Sales'. You can even download the mobile app so your leads are only ever a click away.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a powerful analysis tool that helps you understand your current and potential customers. Google Analytics offers you insight into their search habits, shopping habits, how well your website or specific web page is performing, where your digital visitors are coming from, how often they visit, and more. A simple code embedded in your site is your ticket to a more focused lead generation plan, increased web traffic, higher customer retention, and increased goal achievements.
One great thing about this software, besides being free, is you don't have to be a computer wiz to utilize all of it's amazing benefits. Google offers an easy certification course as well as a plethora of blog posts and YouTube videos to help move you forward. Google Analytics has a mobile app that lets you stay up-to-date on your traffic quickly and easily.
Bit.ly
Bit.ly is a must have addition to any digital strategy. With the click of a button it shortens all those long, and unnecessary, links to a short bit.ly1234567 so it takes up the perfect amount of space in your Tweet, Facebook post, or email. It also offers amazing analytics to let you know if your linked was clicked on, how many times, and from what source the click originated. This allows you to track if your marketing efforts are working on multiple levels.
Short links are not just aesthetically pleasing, they also make your content easier to share. Bit.ly even lets you customize your link (example: http://bit.ly/SCLUNWRPD) so you have a branded and streamline look across all your marketing channels. The best thing about it is, all you have to do copy & paste, and voila! Bit.ly also has an app so you can shorten links on the go.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a one-stop-shop for all things scheduling, managing, and organizing content for your brand. With the ability to post on multiple Twitter, Facebook, & LinkedIn pages, as well as Wordpress, Google+, and Foursquare, it makes your content strategy a breeze. You can even schedule posts for Instagram (it doesn't yet support automatic posting, so you will have to log in and post the actual content manually, but it does send you a reminder).
Schedule, collaborate, and customize; Hootsuite lets you do it all. With a built in calendar you can see all your post for all your social platforms in one easy to read and use place. Add team members and set tasks so your team is also on top of there game. And customize your analytic reports so you only get what's important to you when you want it. Hootsuite also offers RSS integration that allows you to post directly from the feed.
Hootsuite makes sure you're able to use their tool to it's fullest potential by offering helpful and comprehensive support pages and friendly a customer support team. They even have an app so you can schedule and post on the go.
Pexel
One of the most difficult parts about being a content marketing or a social media manager is finding the right image(s) for the post. We all know that a post without an image is like a line without a hook; it just doesn't work. Many of the well known stock image platforms (I'm looking at you iStock!) charge an arm and leg to get those beautifully captured horizons.
Pexel to the rescue! Pexel not only offers gorgeous stock photos, but they offer it free of charge! You read that right, free! You're able to find almost any image, download it, alter it for your needs, and publish without risk. This is because all of their images are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero, which means the images can be used for personal or commercial use. The collection currently includes over 30,000 high-resolution free stock photos, with at least 3,000 new ones added each and every month.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is the email marketing software you didn't know you needed. I'm sure some of you are wondering why you'd even bother with an email marketing program. Well, here's why: "95% of online consumers use email, and 91% report that they check their email at least once a day." No other marketing platform can compete with email, so, when you can't beat them, join them.
One great feature about Mailchimp is that it is free(er). You can build a list of up to 2,000 names and send 12,000 monthly emails before you're ever charged. For many brands it could take years to build a list like that! Even if you do surpass the 2,000 names (congrats to you show off!), you're only charged $10.00 a month for going over.
Besides the price, Mailchimp offers some great features that will definitely help your brand stand out in a crowded inbox. You can customize your emails to fit your exact needs. Promote your blog, showcase your new fashion line, or send a product update; whatever you need, Mailchimp has a template for you. You can even design an email from scratch or, if you're tech savy, code one. You're able to send bulk emails to large amounts of people and get analytics to let you know what's working and what isn't. Mailchimp also offers a plethora of integrations to make your email campaign top notch.
Bonus: there's an app for this one too!
Canva
In short, Canva is a “no tech or design skills required” content creation tool. No need to spend hundreds of dollars and hours of time on difficult to learn software. Canva offers the novice the chance to become the graphic professional for free - there is a $12.95/month business option. With a multitude of template designs for social posts, Twitter banners, documents, invitations, business cards, presentations, and ads, you're sure to find exactly what you're looking for. If you're feeling a little adventurous, you can create a custom project.
If you opt-in to the business account, you're able to upload your specific brand color palette, you logo(s), and your font(s) for even further customizations. The drag-and-drop features makes creating your next project more than simple. Search for thousands of images, shapes, graphics, and layouts. Canva even allows you to edit photos. Add a filter, crop it, make it brighter, or whatever other design preferences you want. You can even save your creations as templates so you can come back and use them later.
Canva also offers an iOS app that allows you to edit and create projects on the go.
IFTTT (If This, Then That)
With so many platforms and software options (including the ones on this list) it makes sense that you're wondering if there is a way they can talk to one another and streamline your work for you. The answer is, "Yes!" IFTTT, short for If This, Then That, is an automation tool that connects various apps through "recipes." In other words, some type of event in one device or service automatically triggers an action in another.
This recipe, lets you save all your liked (favorited) Tweets to a Google Doc, while another automatically keeps your Twitter and Facebook profile pictures synced. The great thing about this free service is you can use it however you want. Want to sync your smart home device to it? Do it. Want to save that Spotify Discover Weekly playlist? Do that too.
Say, 'good-bye,' to manually thanking all those new Twitter followers, and say, 'hello,' to time saved! This super easy to use gem also comes in app form.
Acuity Scheduling
This is my new favorite tool. Acuity Scheduling allows your clients to quickly view your real-time availability, and book their appointments. No more missed emails or trying to coordinate with multiple schedules. Acuity notifies you via email as soon as a meeting is scheduled and will also sync with your Google, Office 360, iCalendar, and Outlook calendars. This makes staying organized a breeze. Have a team of people? No problem, Acuity offers a multi-calendar feature that allows each person on your team to set and monitor their own availability.
Send customized and branded reminders, confirmations and follow-ups for a more personalized customer experience. Integrate the software with your favorite online services, including Zapier, Quickbooks, MailChimp etc. for greater flexibility and scalability. Prompt new clients with intake-forms to collect all the required information while they are booking an appointment.
While they do offer a free version, there are paid options that may be beneficial depending on your needs. Regardless of which plan works for you, you get a custom calendar code that can easily be sent via email or embedded directly into your website. And they have a extremely user-friendly mobile app now!
Squarespace
Squarespace is my personal favorite as this gorgeous site is made with one it's beautiful templates. Now, with my personal endorsement out of the way, let's get down to why I, and millions of others, love it!
Squarespace allows even the most novice of site 'developers' to create beautiful and functional websites. With an easy to use drag-and-drop system, you can quickly add content into the website, and position it however you want to for each of your webpages. And, if you're want to add some brand specific customizations you're able to add custom CSS to the site (Squarespace won't be able to help much if something goes wrong with your code).
Squarespace fits almost any website need you have. Want a "Under Construction" page, or a unique 404 error page, maybe even a "Coming Soon" page? Their Cover Pages are perfect for that. They also offer multi-page website templates that will bring your brand to life. All of their templates are mobile-optimized and offer responsive design. The design options are endless and you're sure to have a finished product you're proud of.
While there no free option, the prices are beyond affordable and you can choose to pay monthly or yearly. They also offer 24-hour customer service (something you will not get from your web designer/developer).