Apps and websites we like

27 Jan Apps and websites we like

With more than three million apps on Google Play Store alone and one billion plus websites, finding tried and true online tools can be tough. Here are some of our favourites for work, play and home.

Mailchimp

We love EDMs (electronic direct mail) and can’t stress the importance of using this channel enough. It’s hard to look past Mailchimp for ease of use, cost (free for under 2000 subscribers) and effectiveness. The analytics are gold – you can see who has opened your newsletter and how many people have clicked on your links and much more. Get in touch if you want help setting up your template or making sense of your analytics.

Blog inspo

If we’re stuck for ideas for a post or blog for clients, we think about common questions our clients ask or hit Google. Google Trends shows us what people are searching for today or pop in key words (like marketing) to see what people are asking about that topic. Try inputting your profession or a key task at work and see what answers people are seeking. Or just be nosey and look at trending searches for insights into what kiwis are looking at online.

Proof reading

We have a dedicated proof reader at TGM to check every written word that goes out the door, but if we are second guessing ourselves over the spelling of certain words or whether it is ‘past’ or ‘passed’ we turn to Grammarly to give us a helping hand. It’s also a useful browser extension to have installed so you can check as you go if writing isn’t your thing.

Wayback machine

Convinced something on your old website would be useful but can’t for the life of you find it in your files? Or just want to have a laugh about what was cool in web five years ago? Wayback takes a snapshot in time of websites and archives it. Just plug a URL into Wayback’s search, pick a date and take a cruise down memory lane. Waybackmachine takes a snapshot in time of websites and archives it.

Photos

While our preference is to engage photographers to supply imagery we know time and budget isn’t always on our side. We have access to paid stock images, however you might want to look at Unsplash or Pixabay for images for your social media or Mailchimp EDMs. Just remember anyone can use the same images so you risk someone else using them in their marketing too which can be confusing for your clients.

Photo tools

It’s our trade after all and nothing beats Photoshop for touching up pics, removing spinach from someone’s teeth as well as clearcutting, cropping and resizing. If your task doesn’t warrant getting us involved try Pic Resize to resize large images and this one to create clear images with no background.

Presentations

We love designing bespoke presentation designs for our clients and our preferred platform is Visme.  Fortunately, the platform has lots of templates you can use and adapt for your next presentation if your project doesn’t run to bespoke design.

Slack

We like Slack for the way it brings teams together who are working on different projects. Goodbye unwieldy email threads and hello channels where everyone can see what’s going on and access the info they need. This communication tool frees up email, is great for remote teams and saves time.

Useful apps

Coach Any – if you manage sports team, fairness can be the bane of your life when it comes to subbing players on and off. Choose a sport, duration and plug in your players and let app Coach Any do the work for you.

PayMy Park – we’re always surprised how many people don’t use this app; it allows you to pay for your parking from your phone. Goodbye searching for coins, getting parking tickets or overpaying for parking again.

Pure fun

For pure fun, we love On Adventure with Dad on Instagram. This Dad is a Photoshop whiz. He replies to his wife’s queries about whether the baby is ok with wildly photoshopped images of his baby daughters manning the barbecue, skydiving or being taken away by seagulls.

If you enjoy fashion, check out Fashion in New York on Instagram for some totally unique looks – both the people and the streetscapes.

Tired of traditional news, check out Good News on Instagram. Like the name suggests, the page only publishes good news.

Lastly, an oldie but a goodie, Humans of New York is worth a follow if you like real life stories and insight into other people’s lives.

We’d love to know your favourite apps and websites, message us and we’ll compile a list and share them.

 

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