13 Tools I Use as a Creative to Support My Business
In just the last few years, I’ve sold 50k+ copies of my books and taught over 5000 authors and creatives how to market their passions on social media. Below, you’ll find 13 tools I use on a regular basis to make this happen! Some are social media related, while others are helpful for any type of marketing. I hope you find some new tools to use to sell more with less hassle.
(Affiliate links included in this article. These are all tools I use and love.)
General Sales and Other Basics
Mailerlite (free until 1000 subscribers)
Mailerlite is my go-to email marketing platform. It’s free up until you hit 1000 subscribers, and it has automations, meaning when someone signs up for your list, they can instantly receive a freebie (like this one!) or a reader magnet, like a free chapter or book.
There are lots of email marketing platforms. This one’s great if you’re on a budget or want to try automations.
Inside the Creative’s Content Club, I not only provide a monthly content plan for social media, I also give you 4 weekly newsletter ideas so you never run out of content and always keep your audience engaged and ready to buy!
Runner-ups: FloDesk, BookFunnel and Story Origin
Shopify (free trial & first month for $1)
Shopify is a great place for creatives who want to sell physical and digital items directly through their own shop. It connects to all of your sales channels seamlessly, including some social media platforms, letting you process, ship, and track orders. Shopify is easy to use, has automated email marketing, and can support your business as it grows.
Gusto (3 tiers of paid options)
You may not need this one right away, but this human resources platform helps you onboard, pay, and support anyone you hire to help your business, from personal assistants to content managers and editors (for videos, web content, etc.). With its automated features, Gusto simplifies payroll, ensuring timely and accurate payments. I use this for my own payroll and to pay contractors (talk to a tax professional if it’s right for you!).
ProWritingAid (free with paid option)
ProWritingAid is an online editing software that goes beyond “spell check” in Microsoft Word. Whether you’re self-editing a book, crafting a newsletter, or writing webpage content, ProWritingAid helps you provide a clean and accurate piece of writing. It checks spelling, punctuation, grammar, homophones (like their, there, and they’re), sentence structure and length, pacing suggestions, tone consistency, and so much more!
Squarespace (multiple paid plan options)
Squarespace is my website host of choice. I purchase most domains through Squarespace and find the website design aspect intuitive and fairly simple (I don’t have a website design background, but I am able to make pages pretty easily with Squarespace!).
At minimum, you should have a website with a homepage, containing a couple sentences about who you are/what you create, a photo of you, and links to your products. Of course, it’s better to have more, but if you’ve been putting off creating a website, give it a try!
Runner-ups: Wix, and Carrd.co for simple landing pages. (P.S. You can also make simple landing pages with Mailerlite, which is #1 on this list!)
Amazon Author Page (free)
Yes, this one is geared toward authors and other similar content creators, but the list wouldn’t be complete without it. If you have a book available on Amazon, you should have an Amazon Author page set up!
Head to author.amazon.com. Once your books are linked to you, you can look at sales ranking over time, customer reviews, and set up Book Recommendations. Plus, you can see how many followers you have on Amazon. This is really helpful because when you release a new book, your followers can be notified via email by Amazon.
Log in and play around - I don’t log in every week, but it’s been a helpful tool in my journey!
Elegant Teleprompter (Google Play) (free)
This app was a lifesaver for me when I was getting started with creating videos for social media. It’s no secret that video is more popular than ever, and it can be terrifying to get on video and talk to a camera if you’re not used to it!
But luckily, there are apps that can help if you tend to forget what you want to say or get nervous about speaking on camera. Look for a teleprompter app like Elegant Teleprompter. It allows you to type in your script and will scroll through your script while you’re recording a video on your phone.
With lots of practice, you won’t need it after a while, but I’ve used this for my Instagram stories, TikToks/Reels, and more to help me speak naturally and confidently on camera.
P.S. There are lots of teleprompter apps on iOS and Google Play, so try a few and see which you like best!
Canva (free with paid options)
I’ve used Canva for years to make almost every graphic related to my social media pages, email newsletters, logos—you name it.
Canva is my go-to design app and website for creating social media graphics, and you can even make videos using their stock photo, video, and audio library.
If you need inspiration, they have lots of templates too.
If you don’t have time to create your social media content from scratch but know how important it can be in your marketing (it’s what has led to me selling 50,000 books!), then what if every month I give you templates and social media ideas that have been custom-made for creatives like you?
Join The Creative’s Content Club and every month you’ll get graphic templates, video templates & scripts, trending audios, caption templates, and so much more.
Meta Business Suite (free)
I don’t schedule posts often, but when I do, I keep it simple and use Meta Business Suite to simultaneously schedule posts to Facebook & Instagram. Instagram also allows you to schedule Reels through the app directly, so I’ve been enjoying the convenience of that quite a bit!
Runner-ups: Planoly, SocialBee, Metricool
Media opportunities
Connectively is a great way to find journalists who are looking for quotes and experts to pitch yourself to! This is an example of earned media, aka, “earning” a feature in the media without having to pay for it.
All you do is make a free account, and can browse through the current stories. If one sounds like a good fit, submit your pitch (why you are a good fit for this story, your expertise, etc.) and that’s it!
While there are likely more opportunities for books (especially non-fiction since a lot of topics are centered around business, marketing, tech, lifestyle), there are also great fits for all kinds of subject matter experts. I’ve had my books featured in lists like “Best Gifts for Teen Girls” (which is a good fit for my target audience) and been interviewed for Authority Magazine, Stylist Magazine, and others.
It only takes a few minutes to skim through and send an email pitch. It’s also a great way to practice talking about yourself, your expertise, and your work.
Podcast FB Group (free)
This podcast FB group is a great place to pitch yourself and find podcasts looking to interview people just like you!
When you pitch yourself, include any past speaking experience, as well as a few topics you enjoy speaking about, and who your target market is. You can also look through posts for any podcast hosts looking for guests and comment if you’re a good fit. (Be sure to pitch yourself in the comment. Don’t just say “Me! I’m a good fit!” This happens all the time, and as someone with a podcast, I scroll right by these. People want to know how their podcast will benefit from having you on!)
Matchmaker.FM (free with paid options)
This is a platform that connects podcast hosts with guests. You’ll make a profile with your interests and topics, then be matched with podcasts, or you can look through their library of podcasts.
Don’t limit yourself to just your exact product! If your work is centered around mental health, look for mental health podcasts. If you’re a parent with funny stories to tell and you wrote a book that has parenting themes, look for a parenting podcast. Remember who your target audience is and the topics you’re passionate about that could overlap with your work.
Marketing research
Google Trends (free)
Last but not least, Google Trends is a great place to see what people are searching for and talking about online from the #1 search engine out there! This is a great way to spark social media post ideas, brainstorm email newsletter topic ideas, and get to know your audience better and the words/phrases they use.
To see this in action, check out this video I recently did on Google Trends and other tools for creating content.
Runner-up: Answer The Public is also a great tool for market research. Find out what questions your audience is searching for!
And that’s a wrap on this list of tools! I hope you learned of a new platform or two to incorporate into your routine and make your life a bit easier.
Links included may be affiliate links.