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Business, Constant Contact, Email Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Tech Tools

3 Favorite Time Saving Digital & Marketing Tools

I love it when I read about a new tech tool that someone raves about, but I’ve never heard of.  I immediately jot down the name, what it’s good for, and who recommended it. Sometimes if it’s so fascinating to me (I have ADHD), I’ll go right to it. And other times it gets transferred onto a list in Trello. Let’s see if these 3 Favorite Time Saving Digital & Marketing Tools make your list.

Check out more of my favorite tools.

 

This brings me to the first of my favorite digital & marketing tools!

#1. TRELLO (digital tool)

After five years, I’m still exploring all the features of this fabulous digital tool. It’s perfect for my needs right now. And did I mention it’s free?  At least the version I use is.

What it is.

Trello is a digital organizing tool that resembles bulletin boards. It’s also a task board. It’s a project management system. Let me explain.

Workspaces

You create workspaces (pages). And for each workspace, there are boards (columns). You 

assign your boards’ titles. Each board has a card underneath that you assign a task or a note, whatever you choose to do. You can drag your boards and your cards around the page. You can even copy a board to another workspace and move a card to it too. If you don’t want to start a workspace from scratch, you can search the templates that may already have the boards you want.

Boards

Trello boards can be used for flow charts, reminder lists, to-do lists, and “I need to look into that later” back burner list, that can be called up anytime.

Functions

Trello digital tool workspace and boards view

  • Name your boards whatever you wish.
  • Keep private boards.
  • Shared boards with others.
  • Color code boards and tasks.
  • Add attachments, files, and photos to cards.
  • Pretty boards and cards with photo screens.
  • Star important boards.
  • Delete boards.

The most fun I have with these boards is moving the cards around. 

Here’s an example of how I use Trello

Let’s say I have a board named for a client and I name the main board my clients name. And I have tasks to do Monday through Friday for that client. I create boards next to one another, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And at the end, I have a board named Done.  If that Monday task doesn’t get done on Monday, I can just drag it to Tuesday. When I do complete the task, I drag that task card over to the Done board. Oh, the satisfaction of seeing that Done board fill up!

 

Another of my favorite digital & marketing tools!

#2. Buffer (marketing tool)

I’ve been a fan of Buffer for eight years. They have several plans from Free to Business to Pro plans.

What it is.

Buffer is a marketing tool but also a social media scheduling and content planning system.  I use it to manage my clients’ content and my own as well. Over the years, they’ve added platforms and as of this writing, they allow postings for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube shorts.  I have to say, I’m a big fan of the drag-and-drop system because I just realized my next tool also uses drag-and-drop. But let’s go over some of the cool features that I use and are really helpful.

Create Content Once

First of all, you create content once and post it on all five platforms with one click by choosing “share now”. Now, you won’t want to be sharing them all at the same time. That’s ill-advised when using social media for business purposes. But…you can.

A better option is to set up your dates and times for each platform and have the content pushed out at those designated times. More details are below on this feature.

Easy on the eyes

Visually, this publishing tool is so easy on the eyes.  It’s notBuffer digital and marketing tool interface complicated and you don’t even need a tutorial to learn how to use it. It’s that simple!

Here are some cool things you can do besides posting. You can preschedule, ok I think that’s a given. But you add a schedule that you want. Let’s use this example. I want the same post of mine to go out to Facebook on Monday, Instagram on Wednesday, LinkedIn on Friday, and Twitter on Saturday. You set up the schedule in advance just once and every time you create that piece of content and put it in the funnel, it enters a queue and is sent off on those days and times like magic, that’s right…like magic.

Want to throw a lot of content into Buffer, go ahead.  You can see all of your posts and photos when you scroll and you can change the order of the days by dragging a Monday to a Wednesday or vice versa. Want Buffer to shuffle your content, you can do that too.

Create Drafts

Not ready to schedule your posts, create drafts instead. You can edit them after saving them. And when you’re ready to share your drafts, you can schedule or send them immediately.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Go to Buffer.com to learn more.

 

Lastly, the most used of my  favorite digital & marketing tools!

#3 CONSTANT CONTACT (marketing tool)

You may be aware that I’ve been a Certified Partner with this brand. I’m approaching my 10-year anniversary soon! I’m able to offer a service to my clients that saves them both time and money while helping them grow their businesses using this resource.

What it is.

Constant Contact is an Email Service Provider (ESP) and a digital marketing tool. They have many more features than email marketing but I want to focus on that. First of all, they have a proven track record of success and helping small businesses grow for over 25 years. I like a solid company to partner with.

They have a simple drag-and-drop editor (as mentioned above) with a 3-part dashboard for creating email campaigns. Build-Images-Design. And hundreds of templates, most of which are done for you!

BUILDConstant Contact email service provider digital tool editor and email template
This area has “blocks” which are design placeholders you drag into a template for your content. Once the blocks are placed, you fill them in with content. The content I’m referring to is headlines, photos, text, buttons, social media sharing, etc.

IMAGES
This is your library of photos that you’ve uploaded into your account or want to upload into it and add to your emails.

DESIGN
This is your branding portal. It features backgrounds, borders, fonts, and buttons. You choose the colors, font types, and sizes here.

The Constant Contact software is extensive but it’s simple to use once you start using it regularly. Just like any new system you try has a learning curve. The advantage for you is that I’m a Constant Contact Certified Partner and can get you up to speed quickly, helping you with shortcuts. Even better, I can create, design and send your emails or you!

These three favorite time-saving digital and marketing tools might be just what you need if you want to be more productive, organized, and consistent with your marketing efforts.

Constant contact marketing tool logo

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Business, Constant Contact, Email Marketing, Social Media, Tech Tools

Favorite Time-Saving Digital Tools

Don’t you love it when you read about a new tech tool that someone raves about, but you’ve yet to hear of?  I do!

I immediately jot the name down, what it’s used for, and who recommended it. Sometimes if it’s so fascinating, I’ll go right to it and other times it gets transferred onto a list in Trello.
 
This takes me to my first favorite time-saving digital tool!

 
#1. TRELLO
 
After two years, I still don’t know or use all the features of this fabulous tool. Whatever I am using it for, it is perfect for my needs right now. And did I mention it’s free?  At least the version I use is.
 
What it is.
 
It’s a task board. It’s also many task boards. There’s the main page with the boards you create. You assign your boards’ titles. Each board has a card. You can drag your boards and your cards around the page.
 
Use the boards like flow charts, reminders, or to-do lists. I have an “I need to look into that later” back burner list, that I can call up anytime. You can name your boards whatever you wish. You can assign private or shared boards with someone else who uses Trello. You can color-code your boards and your tasks. You can add an attachment, a file, and photos. You can make your boards pretty with photo backgrounds from their library or you can upload your own. You can star important boards and delete boards. The most fun I have with these boards is moving the cards around by dragging and dropping them.
 
Here’s an example. Let’s say I have a board named for a client and I name the mainboard my client’s name. And I have tasks to do Monday through Friday for that client. I create boards next to one another (left to right). Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And at the far right end, I have a board named “Done”.  If that Monday task doesn’t get done on Monday, I cat drag it to Tuesday. When I do complete the task, I drag that task card over to the Done board.
 
Oh, the satisfaction of seeing that Done board fill up!

 
#2. BUFFER
 
I’ve been a fan of Buffer for five years now. They have several plans from free to business to Pro plans.
 
What it is.
 
It’s a social media scheduling system. I use it to manage my clients’ content and my own as well. Over the years, they’ve added social media platforms. As of this writing, they allow postings for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  I must say, I’m a big fan of the drag and drop system because I just realized my next tool also uses drag and drop. But let’s go over some of the cool features that I use which are super helpful.
 
First of all, you create content once and share it to all four platforms with one click. Now you won’t want to be sharing them all at the same time. That’s a no-no when using social media for business purposes. But…you can.
 
This publishing tool is so easy on the eyes. It’s visually pleasing.  It’s not complicated and you don’t even need a tutorial to learn how to use it. It’s that simple!
 
Here are some cool things you can do besides posting. You can preschedule, ok that’s a given. But you add a posting schedule that you want. Let’s use this example. I choose a post to send to Facebook on Monday, Instagram on Wednesday, LinkedIn on Friday, and Twitter on Saturday. You set up the schedule once in advance. Each time you create a piece of content and put it in the funnel, it enters a queue. And then it sends off on the schedule you created like magic, that’s right…like magic.
 
Want to throw a lot of content into Buffer, go ahead.  You can see all posts and photos when you scroll. And you can change the order of the days by dragging a Monday to a Wednesday or vice versa. Want Buffer to mix up your posts after adding a lot of content to your account queue? They’ll shuffle them into a completely random order and send them out.
 
#3. CONSTANT CONTACT
 
First of all, I’m a partner so I know a lot more about the features of Constant Contact. And I delve into them more often than the average person.
 
What it is.
 
Email marketing is my jam, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t include an email marketing service on this list. There are several reasons I love using this software.  There are so many cool things that Constant Contact does outside of email marketing. The best part is it’s all inside the dashboard so it’s easily accessible and integrated.
 

Let’s go through some of the features one by one.  Starting with the obvious. Their core product is email marketing.

And below that is a list of  all their services:
 
Email – Create professional emails to send to targeted groups of your subscribers. And get more sales! The drag and drop feature is user-friendly.
They have hundreds of customizable templates and done for you holiday templates.
A library of paid and free stock photos is available so you don’t have to go outside the platform to search.
Share your emails to social media platforms so those who aren’t already on your list can get access.
Use the Facebook sign up form to entice new subscribers onto your email list.
One more thing I’ll mention. Text To Join. You can use this feature to capture emails. It’s not texting subscribers with messages. It’s an automation tool that you set up once with a keyword of your choice. New subscribers enter the keyword you give them. They receive an automated request asking them to join your list. After they enter their email address, they get an automated thank you email. Now, they’re on your list. Cool, huh?
 
Automation – Send premade emails automatically. When users click, join, or buy on a trigger you create. Time saver!
 
Social Post – Get the word out on your social media networks. Use the built-in scheduler inside the dashboard.
 
Ads – Create Google ads and social ads inside the dashboard with easy setup options. Remove a lot of the guesswork. Constant Contact moves you through a flow.
 
Events – Find out who’s coming to your event using registration forms and payment collection. Create, promote, and manage your events.
 
Surveys – Create and send. Get fast feedback and use it as market research for better emails.
 
Landing pages – Mini websites to host forms, opt-ins, products, sales, and coupons.
 
Stores & Websites – Sell from your emails using e-commerce capabilities. Use their simple web builder to create your custom website.

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