Our Favorite Marketing and Copywriting Tools

There are always a lot of moving parts to a wedding or creative business. From ways to send contracts and keep your tasks on track to organizing your files and perfecting your website, it’s only a matter of time before you end up with a list of favorite tools that help you do your job well. And, Gillian and I are no different! So today, we wanted to share some of our favorite marketing and copywriting tools with you. Read on to learn about all the reasons we love them and see if they’re the right thing to add to your own business toolbox! 

Tayler’s Favorite Marketing Tools

Flodesk

Email marketing is an important piece of a strong marketing strategy for a lot of businesses, and when it comes to one of the marketing tools duking it out for the top spot, Flodesk is it! I have spent a pretty long time using of other email marketing platforms like Mailchimp as well as Convertkit (yes, multiple—this is what happens in my line of work!) but never felt like those platforms were easy to use. Sure, Mailchimp made it relatively easy to create email newsletters but they weren’t well designed and setting up tags and automations is a pain in the ass. On the other hand, Convertkit is a tagging and automation powerhouse, but you cannot for the life of you create a newsletter that isn’t slightly offensive to anyone with a design eye. With Flodesk, it’s different.

Flodesk comes loaded with tons of really well-designed email templates (it also allows you to create your own) and setting up email capture forms and automated workflows is easy-peasy. They also have great analytics tools and a new shoppable page feature called Checkout!

Later

People regularly ask me how I manage to get so much sh*t done every week, especially when it comes to how I manage to consistently share on 3 different Instagram accounts. And, while social media is not my full-time job, I still think utilizing a scheduling tool is the best thing I’ve done for myself—and my sanity.

When I first started working as a marketing consultant, there weren’t a lot of great social media schedulers out there. Yes, they existed, but they were clunky as hell and you still had to manually publish everything after pushing a notification to your phone. (Some days I would have to set an alarm for 6:30am to hit publish for a client because that was when their peak traffic was—no thank you!) So, you can imagine my excitement when, after trying out 3 different platforms, I finally found Later.

Later is an easy to use social media marketing platform that allows you to connect multiple accounts under 1 login. This makes it really convenient when you are scheduling Instagram posts, stories, pins (first comments too) for your business. Plus, they have built-in analytics and a decently robust free tier that is perfect for people who only need to schedule about 10 posts a month.

Enji

Okay, I might be biased on this one but I have to give my startup Enji a spot on this list! Because even though you all are the inspiration behind it, I use it every. single. day. And it really keeps me on top of my marketing shit.

If you haven’t heard me talk about Enji before where have you been?! It’s a suite of marketing tools for small businesses that sets you up with pretty much everything you need to wrap your arms around marketing. You can create a marketing strategy in minutes, get tons of marketing ideas and tasks, plan marketing campaigns, track your metrics, organize (and send!) all your brand files, and there is an AI copywriter to boot! So yup, pretty much everything you need to create marketing plan and do it.

You can try it all out free for 14 days and then it’s just $29 a month. Think of it as the cheapest (and smartest) way you can do a better job at marketing.

Gillian’s Favorite Copywriting Tools

Google Docs

I tell anyone who will listen (and, let’s be real, even those who won’t)—about my love-affair with Google Docs. From super-smart outlines to easy-to-use comments for collaboration, Google Docs offer a number of features that make my job as a copywriter easier. I probably use the comments feature more than anything else—especially when it comes to serving up additional copy options for clients. (If I have multiple ideas for an optimized headline, I’ll drop a comment in the doc with a few additional options for you to peruse. Or, if I’m trying to strike the perfect balance with your brand voice and am worried a certain line I wrote might feel too buttoned-up or too-playful, I’ll drop a secondary option via comments in the doc for you to check out as well.)

Other than comments, though, I absolutely love looking at the version history feature. I often write and then delete things...and then wake up in the middle of the night thinking “Oh sh*t—I shouldn’t have deleted that!” Enter “Version history” to save the day (File>Version History>See Version History)—it allows me to look at what I typed when and restore an old version of the document if necessary.

PRO TIP: Hover over the “Add-ons” menu in a Google Doc and choose “Get add-ons”  to browse the wide array of whip-smart add-ons the G-Suite Marketplace offers. From the “sorted paragraphs” add-on that makes alphabetizing a breeze to the “docusign” add-on that allows you to easily add a signature to any Google Doc (and even an “Easy Bib” add-on that allows you to quickly add an error-free bibliography to your doc), there are a number of free-of-charge, time-saving upgrades you can add to your Google Docs menu.

Thesaurus.com

That’s right—I said it. I have zero shame in my thesaurus game. I write anywhere from 10,000-30,000 words a week—and sometimes, my brain is just begging for help as I try to come up with a new, creative way to essentially say the same thing. If I’m in a bit of a rut or feeling like I’ve used the same adjective more than 2-3 times across a single website, I’ll turn to my trusty word wizard thesaurus.com to help me come up with some fresh options. I always recommend clients do the same when writing for themselves—whether that’s crafting a social media caption or writing their LinkedIn bio.

Grammarly

If you’re someone who doesn’t fancy yourself a grammar ninja, Grammarly is for you. A free online writing assistant you can easily add to your internet browser, Grammarly acts as a built-in grammar check for everything from email composition to tweeting. My favorite part? Their “tone detector” feature allows you to choose how you want to sound (formal, friendly, worried, optimistic, welcoming, etc.) and then helps you ensure the email or message you’re composing falls in line with that desired tone. It’s wicked smart, crazy effective, endlessly approachable—and you should probably add it to your web browser, like, yesterday. Am I worried it will take my job? No, not at all (read: a little).