Admin Tools, Software & Apps To Make Your Job As A Marketer Easier
Regardless of your job title, be it data analyst, copywriter or social media manager, working in digital marketing often means juggling multiple streams of work at once.
Nonetheless, it’s likely you’ll encounter the same, monotonous tasks and processes you always do – some of which are time consuming and detract from the task at hand. Add into the mix the stuff that simply makes you human, perhaps you had a bad night’s sleep or tend to experience a waning attention span, and this can impact on how effectively you work.
With this in mind, the aim of this post is to introduce you to some of the everyday apps, software and tools which will, hopefully, make your job as a digital marketer that little less challenging.
Read on to discover our pick of the best admin tools for simplifying daily tasks, protecting your time and helping you feel more motivated, healthy and productive.
Top Tools For Project Management & Organisation
We’ve all been there; you have 101 things to do and don’t quite know where to start. At SiteVisibility, we have to wear multiple hats on any given day and can be working with a range of clients from opposing sectors. That might mean producing a ranking report, creating blog content or discussing SEO strategy – all for different clients with varying objectives and needs.
So how can we stay on top of all these different streams of work coming our way?
Well, luckily Trello is a handy list making application that helps you organise your projects in a simple, helpful and visual way. What’s particularly great is, rather than a singular list, you can create separate ‘boards’. These can then be labelled for different purposes or teams.
If you’re an in-house marketer this might involve separating your tasks between SEO, content, PR and offline priorities. Alternatively, you might simply arrange ‘boards’ according to specific tasks, such as blogging, event planning or product launches. Either way, in order to manage your workflow and keep on top of things, Trello can be very useful. Colleagues can chip in too, by making comments and adding attachments to your board. It’s also extremely user-friendly and intuitive to use. It’s a free app but there are paid options available allowing you access to additional features such as stickers and customisable backgrounds.
See below for an example of how it can be used:
Similarly, Process Street is a workflow management software designed to simplify the way teams handle recurring tasks and processes.
We use Process Street here at SiteVisibility to document most matters within the business, from processes such as proofreading to the onboarding of new clients or employees and even step-by-step guides to undertaking marketing tasks.
It’s particularly ideal for documenting step-by-step processes, which new employees can easily follow in order to get to grips with internal procedures.
Top Tools For Password Management
A simple Google search of ‘digital marketing tools’ produces endless results – see case in point below.
Of course, digital marketing tools are brilliant and make our jobs much simpler. Whether you need to understand if people have engaged with your outreach email (Yesware), how users behave on your website (Hotjar) or want to conduct a backlink audit of your website (SEMrush) – there really is a tool or app for everything. In fact, while we’re at it, allow us to remind you of the top 40 content marketing tools you’ll need this year.
That said, the more tools and apps you use, naturally, means the more passwords you need to create, remember or store somewhere.
But who’s got the energy or inclination to faff about or fritter time away locating password sheets or making failed attempts to log in to tools? It’s frustrating and can disrupt your workflow.
A password management tool like LastPass or Dashlane essentially acts as a password wallet, remembering all your passwords in one place so that you don’t have to. It saves you trying to locate various files you have floating about which contain all your passwords. Even if you have one master password document, tools like LastPass or Dashlane are a much more secure storage option. There are free and paid for plans available, with premium versions generally offering additional benefits such as file storage and security alerts.
Top Tools For Team & Client Communication
There are times when having a conversation across the office or sending an email to a colleague doesn’t quite cut it. Perhaps you want to say something in private or in a less formal manner.
By now, most offices are aware of Slack. It’s essentially MSN messenger meets chatroom meets the water cooler. Undoubtedly, it’s not suitable for every workplace but it gets a big thumbs up from us here at SiteVisibility.
We find it a quick and easy way to share and discuss ideas, as well as keep everyone in the loop. For instance, there are often occasions when some members of the team are either at a client meeting or working from home. Slack is easily accessible when they’re not in the office or able to have a conversation. Teams can talk as a group in a ‘channel’ or even send direct messages.
In particular, we like the sense of community and camaraderie it promotes amongst our team. Any chat of after works drinks usually start on Slack. Feeling a bit of a lull in energy or working on something tedious? Funny memes or observations posted to our ‘random ‘ Slack channel never fail to boost everyone’s spirits. A photo (or two) of Saxon the office dog is always a crowd pleaser too!
In terms of client communication, GoToMeeting is our, well, go-to-meeting software of choice. It allows you to host meetings with clients when they can’t physically make it to your office. You can share you’re a view of your desktop with them, allowing you to physically show them what you are talking about. It’s also possible to record meetings.
Saying that, Slack does now offer voice, video and screen sharing too, which is extremely convenient, and can also be used to touch base with clients, customers or contacts. Both apps offer standard starter plans as well as more expensive options with extra features.
Top Tool For Scheduling Meetings In Your Calendar
When it comes to booking a meeting with multiple team members, at SiteVisibility, it’s generally a matter of manually looking in everyone’s Outlook calendar and deciding on the best time and date.
Calendar takes any manual process out of the equation when it comes to arranging a meeting. With every use, this software gets better at making recommendations for meeting times as it utilises AI and machine learning. Gradually, it provides a unique experience tailored to you and your work routine and any risks of a meeting being booked with pre-existing meetings are eliminated. Graphs and charts are also used, in the app’s analytics dashboard, to break down where, how and who you’re spending the working day with. Interestingly, the paid version offers a feature called ‘places’ which aims to address the 30 minutes that 40 percent of employees, apparently, waste every day searching for a location to meet. Indeed, the calendar will automatically recommend a local meeting location. The app can be synchronised with a Gmail or iCloud email account.
Top Tool For Organising ‘Read It Later’ Resources
You can just call me the bookmark queen.
During the working day, I’m constantly stumbling across articles that, rather than disrupt my immediate workflow, I’ll bookmark and return to at a later date. It can be anything from resources I want to revisit as part of my monthly training time or an article about a marketing tactic I think would be suitable for a client.
Pocket offers a central location to store articles, videos and other content for easy viewing later. Unlike bookmarks though, it’s not merely a storage place for links and content can be downloaded for offline consumption. It’s ideal if, like me, you spend a lot of time stuck on a train during your morning commute or if you’ve used up all your data. It’s easy to use (you can save directly from websites and social platforms), it has a glossy interface and once you’re finished with an article, you can simply archive or delete it.
Top Tools For File Sharing
Google Drive (which includes Google Docs, Spreadsheets and Slides) is a cloud sharing service making it super simple to store, share and edit various files. Its brilliance lies in the fact it saves your documents, spreadsheets or slides automatically, and there’s no need to send any email attachments. Simply send a link to the intended recipient and voila! Plus, team members, or clients for that matter, can work collaboratively and quickly – adding or responding to comments in files shared with them. On top of that, a free account permits you 15GB storage. Not too shabby.
Most of us are aware of Dropbox too. A basic, free account entitles you to 2GB storage – making it a great supplementary option to use alongside Google Drive. However, paid alternatives to this are available. Take the standard account, which costs £12 per month and offers 5TB of storage. For bigger businesses there’s an advanced account option, which costs £18 per month, entitles the user to as much storage space as needed AND allows the transfer of files up to 100GB. The great thing about Dropbox is that several third party apps can be integrated with it, including Salesforce, Office 365, Jira, Trello, Gmail and Slack.
Top Tool For Email Decluttering
There’s nothing quite like inbox dread – that feeling of getting into the office in the morning, realising your inbox is full to the brim with emails and not knowing where to start. Generally, it’s at its peak after you return from annual leave but if you’re a busy bee it can be a regular occurrence. For this, we recommend SaneBox. This nifty little software analyses your past and ongoing email activity to deduce which emails matter to you and those that don’t. Any emails deemed less important, or ‘distractions’, are automatically assigned to a separate SaneBox folder in your inbox. In essence, the value in this is that it allows you to prioritise your most critical emails and return to less important ones at a later date. It even notifies you when someone hasn’t replied to your email – prompting you to follow up.
Top Tools For Your Health
Whilst there’s plenty of enjoyable things about a career in digital marketing, its generally office based.
Therefore, this can often involve being sat down and staring at a screen for a large part of the day. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t considered great for your eye health, can exacerbate existing sight problems and may well impact on how effectively you work.
F.lux is a great software which adjusts the display colour of your screen according to location and time of day, offering a little bit of respite for the eyes (and supposedly helping you sleep better). Specifically, it’s designed to reduce eye strain during night-time use. If you’re the type to be checking emails late at night, or even in the winter months when it’s still dark getting to/from the office, an altered screen display is beneficial. Plus, a night of uninterrupted sleep means you’re more likely to wake up feeling refreshed and productive for the workday ahead!
Similarly, sitting down all day has been proven to be detrimental to your health. Only recently, we decided to purchase a standing desk for the SiteVisibility office. Standing desks are shown to have a positive influence on mood and energy levels, which in turn may boost productivity levels. A 7 week study revealed that those using a standing desk, compared to those who are desk based, report less stress and fatigue. To boot, a standing desk is also thought to help lower the risk of weight gain, high blood sugar levels, heart disease and reduce back pain. Below, is our Digital Marketing Manager Rachel modelling our standing desk.
Top Tools For Your Productivity
As a digital marketer, we spend a large amount of time attached to our computers.
It can be so easy to think ‘I’ll just have a quick Facebook break’. In reality, if we’re truly honest with ourselves, it’s sometimes not quite a ‘quick break’ is it? Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram or Facebook are like a social vortex that sucks you in and tests your self-discipline! Before you know it, you’ve congratulated a couple on their engagement, posted a photo of your dog, stalked the profile of your workmate’s-best friends-sister and you’ve lost some of your valuable time.
StayFocused is a fantastic, free Chrome extension you can use to restrict the amount of time you spend on ‘time wasting websites’, be that Facebook, Twitter or any other website, and set how long you want to block it for. Finally, there are various ‘white noise’ apps available which, as you would expect, block out sound. The science suggests high levels of noise impairs thinking, whilst a low level ambient of noise can increase creativity, memory and concentration. Noisli provides free ‘white noise’ on their website, or their app can be purchased from the App Store or Google Play.
Final thoughts
So, there you have it, our top tools, software and apps for making your job as a digital marketer that little bit easier! Are there any essential tools for marketers you think should be added to the list? Perhaps there are better alternatives to what we’ve suggested? Why not leave a comment below or tweet us your thoughts at @SiteVisibility?
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