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Corporate Branding
Projects, whether large or small, take a certain amount of work—but wouldn’t it be better if there were tools designed specifically to make your projects easier? We have great news for you. These tools exist, and you shouldn’t plan another project without trying out these awesome programs.
Cost:
Free for limited use, with Standard plans charging $6.67 a user and Plus plans charging $12.50 per user. There also are custom Enterprise Grid plans that allow you to find the right amount of Slack services for your needs.
Level of difficulty:
This breezy chat application offers intuitive group chats, team channels, and one-on-one chats—just like major social messaging apps.
Features:
Slack is a highly functional team instant messaging application that makes it easy for your team to remain connected and chat. With a web-based, desktop, and mobile app available, Slack is meant to fit the way your team works.
Your team can send one-on-one messages, start group chats, or join pre-established team channels, so it’s easy to organize your Slack workspace as needed. Slack offers emojis, attachments, and integration with other common apps your team may use, like Google Drive.
Functions:
Robust instant messaging features that are designed to boost your workflow and connectedness.
Best used for:
Quick messages or ongoing discussions that would clog up emails, keeping remote or distant team members involved, and offering another way to communicate.
Cost:
Free plans are available for most users, with the Business Class starting at $9.99 per month when paid annually and Enterprise Class available starting at $20.83 per user per month.
Level of difficulty:
Easy to use and flexible enough to cover many uses.
Features:
Trello uses a Kanban board-inspired system to create lists and cards for organizing just about anything you could imagine, from multi-team projects to your vacation plans. Cards can host attachments, be labeled, be assigned due dates and checklists, be commented on, and be moved between lists and boards. It’s easy to create a task-tracking system that works well for your team. You can also enhance your boards with power-ups, such as calendar views and automated tasks.
At its core, Trello is a digital version of an index card and corkboard system, but with plenty of thoughtful touches, this system has been evolved to be a comprehensive, easy-to-use, shareable project management system. It also has an Android, iOS, and Kindle Fire app that syncs instantly with your team’s boards, so you can keep up, even when you’re on the go.
Functions:
Task management, tracking, and providing a one-stop spot for your team to compile ideas and execute them.
Best used for:
Teams of all sizes looking for a flexible, visually appealing project management system to track, assign, and manage tasks.
Cost:
Free with a Gmail account, up to 2GB. Business plans are available starting at $10 a user for G Suite, or $8 a user plus $0.04 per GB used for the Enterprise plan.
Level of difficulty:
Easy to upload, organize, and share files since it’s designed for teams.
Features:
Google drive offers secure, easy-to-use cloud storage options that work great for teams. Desktop and mobile apps make it easy to save and access stored files from anywhere. You can sync files automatically, so you’ll never have to hunt for a file you’ve forgotten on another device. Your data is secured with Google’s state-of-the-art encryption, but sharing is simple, and you can control who is able to edit, view, or comment on documents.
Google Drive also integrated seamlessly with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides so your team can enjoy a completely flexible and cloud-based office suite, or they can blend their preferred programs with the convenience Google Drive offers.
Functions:
File sharing, secure cloud storage, automatic syncing across devices.
Best used for:
Staying connected and keeping files accessible, whether you need them on-the-go or want to share them with your team.
Cost:
Limited free plan, with team plans starting at $250 per month when billed annually. Individual paid plans are available, ranging from $20 to $125 a month when paid annually.
Level of difficulty:
Simple enough to get started, but it might take some experimenting to find what works best for you.
Features:
Zapier is designed to help automate hundreds of little tasks to make it easier to keep track of your workflow. It integrates hundreds of apps, and you can create “zaps,” a specific action triggered by an event—like sending you an email to notify you of a change to a Trello board you use. You can link together apps and zaps in whatever way works best for you and your team—fantastic for making sure that the little details don’t get overlooked.
The point of Zapier is to free up valuable mental energy by automating small tasks so you can focus on what’s important.
Functions:
Automation for small tasks to make your workflow simpler and better than ever before.
Best used for:
Freeing up your team’s time to focus on bigger tasks, while ensuring that smaller tasks happen seamlessly in the background.
Cost:
Free for up to 10 participants, and then $10 per month when billed annually for up to 100 participants.
Level of difficulty:
Simple to use, whether you’re organizing a call, dialing in, or even receiving a call to join a conference.
Features:
Created by Dialpad, UberConference is an easier way to handle conference calls. This unique system can dial out to add new members, offers custom call-in numbers, and makes it simple to organize a group conference call—without fiddly PINs or dialing issues. UberConference also integrates with an online app, so it is easy to share your screen with others on the call. This program also offers mobile apps, simple controls for volume of individual callers, social profiles of callers, and so much more.
Functions:
Headache-free conference calls and screensharing options, so your team, clients, and partners can remain connected—no matter where they are.
Best used for:
Teams who need a comprehensive solution to Skype meetings or obnoxious conference calls.
Cost:
Limited free trial plan, and options based on your social media and user needs. The Professional plan for 1 user starts at $29 a month, with Team prices at $129 a month for 3 users and Business plans at $599 for 5 to 10 users, as well as custom Enterprise plans.
Level of difficulty:
Hootesuite is easy to use and makes juggling your social media needs simple and quick.
Features:
You can connect multiple social media platforms to Hootsuite, which can push out posts on a schedule, provide analytics on posts, monitor posts and notify you when they need attention, create workflows for your team, and integrate with more than 250 apps to make your social media efforts easier than ever before.
Functions:
Quite simply—social media management, made easy.
Best used for:
Teams and entrepreneurs looking to up their social media marketing efforts, while making it easy to maintain and utilize social media to your brand’s advantage.
You’ve got a lot on your plate as a business owner, but our team is here to help. Bell + Ivy is a unique marketing and public relations agency, dedicated to simplifying the challenges of getting your brand out there. Let us take care of your business’s marketing needs, so you can focus on what matters—the success of your company.
