Operations
Dubsado is the ultimate platform for automating your back-end. It is THE MOST comprehensive CRM tool that I have ever encountered, and I don't see myself ever switching. It gets your prospects and clients from Point-A to Point-Z in an extremely high-touch yet automated way - wowing them at every single step. Scheduling, forms, proposals, invoices, workflows, reports - it seriously does it all.
Try Dubsado! Use code: alinadubsado when you subscribe!
Ooh do I love a good project and task management system - ClickUp is what we use over here! I've tried SO many of these programs (see below) but ClickUp really changed the game by taking the best parts of each of their competitors and rolling it into one. There are so many integrations, capabilities, and fun tools within this program, it makes teamwork and goal tracking fun, and I discover new ways to utilize this virtual home-base every day!
Try ClickUp!
If you just need a place to brain dump tasks that need to get done, Asana is by far the easiest to use program out there. Before switching to ClickUp, I used Asana for almost 10 years - and it is fabulous! No learning curve, just boxes to check and a great place to keep everything organized.
Try Asana!
Monday.com is great if you have multiple people working on the same projects, and in a certain order. I like the priority markers, and it's simple to tag each other and ask questions or send updates.
Try Monday.com!
CONTENT CREATION
Canva is my go-to for easy graphics and quick social media designs. There's an endless supply of templates, and if you have the Pro version, you can create your own templates, preload your branding, organize things into folders, and have teammates all be able to access your company's templates and previous designs whenever they might need them.
Try Canva!
Kapwing is an awesome and easy program for video editing. My favorite feature is that allows you to upload a video and automatically generate subtitles, which you can then edit to make sure they are timed right and legible when layered over your video. I always use this for social media videos, as their subtitles are sometimes inaccurate, timed wrong, and don't look great. There's a ton of other tools they offer that I haven't tried yet - so, to be continued!
Try Kapwing!
Otter is a phone app that has saved me hours upon hours! It is a voice recorder that automatically transcribes any recording into text. I've used this to transcribe voice memos, important meetings and discussions, and even an entire 6-week course which was hours and hours of voice recordings. The thing I love is that you can choose how you want to export - you can choose whether or not to include time stamps for different sections (great for Youtube tutorials), enter the names of different speakers (great for interviews), or just one whole fluid text (great for bloggers who speak better than they write, like me!)
Try Otter!
Pixelmator is for you if you are a Mac person, and want to take your designs a lot further than what these free programs offer. It's like a super easy to use and cheaper version of Photoshop, and I've used it almost every day for about 10 years now! Love this program!
Try Monday.com!
Email Marketing
MailChimp is for anyone starting out with email marketing and prefers to get going with a free platform. It is tried and true, incredibly easy to use, and just works! As soon as you are ready to create automated email chains and really step up your email gain, I suggest switching to one of the below.
Try Mailchimp!
Flodesk is a new platform that I am absolutely obsessed with! If you are interested in pushing out visually striking, incredibly designed emails, their templates will blow you away! I had to check it out when I got an email in my inbox that definitely did not look like the rest. Automations, workflows, and opt-ins are a breeze, too!
Try Flodesk! Use code ALINASCARCELLA for 50% off for life!
ConvertKit is definitely the leader in chain automation and audience predictability. The segmentation parameters and integration are unmatched! If you are serious about converting and making sure each subscriber sees exactly what they are most likely to buy, this is it!
Try ConvertKit!
Active Campaign is a great step-up from MailChimp, and allows you to easily create automated chains, and has a very straightforward design process.
Try Activecampaign!
Not sure which program is right for you?
I'd love to hear about what you have in the works and point you in the right direction!
Social Media
This social media post scheduling tool does it all! You can write a post once and Buffer will automatically send it out to all of your different platforms. You can even load it in, choose your platforms, and then tailor the captions for each platform super quickly! Add your hashtags in the first comment area and it'll post that too! The upgrade I love most here is their Analytics, they are so much easier to see all in one place and only show what really matters.
Try Buffer!
TailWind is another great scheduling tool - and is the go-to when scheduling PINS! If you are trying to grow your Pinterest account, you need to have Tailwind. You can of course schedule your pins in automatically optimized time slots, but you also will get lots more reach by taking advantage of Tailwind Tribes, which are groups of users with similar interests who are committed to sharing each other's content. Win-win!
Try Tailwind!
This program is a gamechanger when it comes to staying on top of engagement on Instagram! We all know that consistent engagement is absolutely key to being in favor of the algorithm, and the more genuine interaction you have the better. Dollareighty is a Google Chrome extension that delivers you 90 targeted posts to comment on, which you choose the parameters for. Get done in 30 minutes what would otherwise take hours and hours of scrolling just to find the right people. Seriously, try it.
Try DollarEighty!