6 Essential Tools for a Successful Marketing Firm
If I’ve learned anything from being an intern at Fiore Communications, it’s that it takes a lot of hard work and effort to run an efficient marketing firm. Overseeing client relations, placing advertisements and managing social media are just a few of the everyday jobs. So, it can be easy to find yourself becoming overwhelmed and less organized than you’d like.
Increasing productivity to meet fast-approaching and ever-accumulating deadlines is essential to the success of any marketing firm. Thankfully, there are online programs and services that make it a little easier.
Canva
Part of producing engaging and informative content for clients’ social media is creating and sharing graphics. Canva makes this simple. This free graphic design tool allows you to create eye-catching graphics for a variety of platforms. We like to use it when we need a quick graphic for Facebook or Instagram. Even if you are not primarily responsible for design, Canva makes creating these graphics super simple.
MailChimp
It’s important for businesses to stay connected to their clients. MailChimp is an email marketing tool that allows you to easily draft, schedule and send targeted emails and email newsletters. They offer a number of different templates to fit your message and click-by-click analytics to track the success of your campaign. These analytics provide valuable information such as the number of emails delivered, opened and clicked, as well as what kind of devices readers are using to open the emails and who is sharing them on social media. All of this information can be used to make more effective content in the future.
Basecamp
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed with your daily tasks and long-term assignments. Basecamp is a project management tool that sorts your assignments, or “to-dos,” by client, topic and due date, allowing you to easily stay on top of your work, and check in on what others are working on. Not only can Basecamp help keep a company organized, but it promotes teamwork in the workplace. Think of it as an in-office social media platform; coworkers can create profiles, send direct messages, comment on assignments with any updates and applaud each other on completed work.
TICK
TICK is a time-tracking software service and app that logs daily office hours, helping you stay within specified time budgets for each client. Tick ensures efficiency and profitability by giving you the ability to use running timers that serve as a constant, yet subtle, reminder of how long you’re spending on a certain task. It can be used on computers, tablets, cell phones and smart watches, so it’s perfect for team members who are frequently on-the-go for meetings or work remotely. It also integrates seamlessly into web apps and services you’re already using, such as Basecamp.
Hootsuite
A strong social media presence is critical to the success of a marketing campaign. That’s where Hootsuite really comes in handy. With Hootsuite, you can schedule posts across all of your clients’ platforms. Rather than spending time navigating to each individual social media platform, Hootsuite allows you to take a look at the big picture. You can plan and schedule social media campaigns weeks in advance, and use the time saved to work on you next project.
Slickplan
Planning a website requires a lot of moving parts that can quickly become confusing. Slickplan is a tool that’s just a fluid as the website design process. This website planning system helps you craft workable sitemaps to use as a visual aid. Pages of the website can be easily moved and shifted to meet changing ideas and demands. Creating a sitemap saves time by making the design process more straightforward. If you change your mind or come up with a new idea, the plan can be updated at any time, ensuring everyone remains on the same page.
If you’re not using them already, try a few of these services with your own team or business to increase your overall productivity and do the very best for you company and your clients.
