We’ve now passed the one month mark of official lockdown. Some business owners are using this time to have a well-deserved break, some are planning on working on their business & others are still hard at work! I thought I’d put together a quick post with some handy tools that you can use to enhance your business.
I’ve used everything mentioned below and I’m not being paid to endorse these products. They’re all FREE but obviously have paid options.
Kapwing
Kapwing is a great way to create graphics, videos & GIFs. The free version offers up to 500mb file uploads, full access to all tools (including subtitle generator which is in beta), publishing of videos up to 10 minutes long, your content will be stored for 7 days & best of all it’s watermark free (providing you set up an account)!
It’s fairly easy to use and if you have a PNG (transparent image) of your logo, you can create branded videos & graphics with ease. It also offers templates so you can create content fast.
Pixabay
If you’re planning to get creative you might be feeling let down by the imagery you can capture from your self-isolation work station! Pixabay offers a tonne of royalty-free images. Whilst I’m not an advocate for stock imagery, desperate times call for desperate measures! Remember to use these sparingly. The downfall of stock imagery is that your competitors have access to the same library you do.
Mailchimp
If you’ve worked with me before or signed up to anything of mine, you’ll of received an email from me that was sent using Mailchimp. Mailchimp is a drag and drop newsletter builder. You can segment your audiences and see exactly who is opening your mail. Mailchimp also offers the chance to resend your emails to those who haven’t opened them with the click of a button. Mailchimp’s free plan allows you to send email to up to 2000 subscribers.
Trello
Trello is a handy project management tool. Trello uses a three-tier system for managing projects; boards, cards and lists. Most project management software I’ve used in the past comes with some stage of learning but not with Trello. I was using Trello within the first 10 minutes of signing up.
Although I’ve used Trello for a while now, I’ve found it extremely useful keeping track of work during the lockdown. I set myself little “goals” and if I complete these I’ll allow myself some downtime!
Zoom
Zoom is getting a lot of hype at the moment and with good reason! Zoom allows you to host meetings. The free plan only offers 40 minutes and up to three participants within the meeting. However, you can 1 on 1 for as long as you like.
Zoom allows you to share your screen, record meetings and offers the host full control of the meeting. Annoying participant? Mute them! Did someone outstay their welcome? Kick them out!
I currently use the paid version of Zoom, for £11.99 I can have up to 100 participants for as long as I want in a meeting. It’s also handy for out of work! I can host quizzes and have “lockdown drinks” with friends. Basically, I’ve come to accept that my life is now based on Zoom!
Zoom has also had some bad publicity that’s worth mentioning. Sometimes users can guess your meeting ID and jump in unexpectedly. I strongly recommend you keep the “waiting room” option turned on and screen everyone who jumps in. Zoom is now prioritising security over any new feature so I wouldn’t worry too much.
Grammarly
If you’re like me and you type in a rush Grammarly is an absolute godsend. I’ve used Grammarly for well over a year now and if we’ve spoken about blog posts I will of 100% recommended it! Grammarly is an extension for your web browser that spell checks your writing. It will help you make sure your Facebook statuses or blog posts are issue-free and save you from any embarrassment.
Grammarly offers a premium service that also detects your tone of voice and more specific issues.
Otter
I’ve been spending the lockdown hosting a lot of Zoom talks with clients. I’ve also been working on a few projects that are heavily content-based. So when I discovered Otter (just last week) I was extremely excited!
Otter basically converts your speech to text. The free plan offers 600 minutes of free conversions each month and best of all it can actually understand how I talk!
What’s the benefit of this some of you may ask? Well, let’s say you’re hosting a meeting… Instead of taking notes you can record said meeting and then upload it straight to Otter. Otter will then work its magic and convert the meeting into text. You can then pull out the key parts of the meeting. Or if it’s a more serious meeting, you won’t have to write minutes anymore as it will all be there thanks to Otter.
You can also use it to write blog posts! Let’s say you’ve decided to use the time you now have due to lockdown to record a podcast. Your podcast is based around your business, upload your podcast to Otter and BOOM! You now have a blog post (or several depending on how long your talk is)!
With a lot of small business owners having free time on their hands at the moment, now is the perfect time to focus on content creation. These tools should help you utilise this and I’m sure there’s a tonne of free “How To’s” to use them on Youtube. If you get stuck and want a friendly face to guide you through it all feel free to drop me a message to hello@danmcgovern.co.uk! Don’t worry, I won’t judge you if you’re using this time to binge your favourite Netflix shows. Stay safe, stay indoors! And if you have any other free business tools you can recommend feel free to leave a comment below!
