**Post edited on 10/13/2020 – Add new collaboration tool – Ziflow

                                                        **Post edited on 10/13/2020 – Add new collaboration tool – Teamwork

Digital marketing involves a lot of moving parts — and a lot of team members wearing multiple hats. Collaboration is crucial to projects’ success.

Unfortunately, old-school apps and systems don’t lend themselves to collaboration. Have you ever worked on a digital marketing team where everyone was juggling multiple versions of files, getting hung up in the review process, or running out of space on their hard drive? I have.

That’s why I recommend these tools that will streamline your workflow and cut out the need to check a bunch of different apps or spend way too much time organizing email. Even better, most of these apps are web-based, helping you keep everything safe in the cloud.

Adobe Creative Cloud

The power of the Adobe Creative Suite has been transferred to the cloud and given a unified approach that enables collaboration. The apps, which include Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, now integrate with each other and allow easy sharing and commenting among team members.

You can gather your colors, fonts, and assets in “Libraries” that your entire team can access, and you can also track versions of files.

Pros:

• Includes a comprehensive suite of apps for virtually any design project
• Allows easy communication across apps
• Offers tutorials and other resources

Cons:

• Is initially challenging to learn

Airtable

Airtable markets itself to digital marketing teams, and once you discover how flexible and powerful it is, you’ll want to use it to organize everything in your life. The concept is “spreadsheets on steroids” — Airtable offers a classic grid view, but instead of having data in rows, allows you to expand each “record” into an interactive document with customizable fields.

For digital marketing teams, this functionality is great because team members can attach images, PDFs, and even videos to records, then sort and filter them by customizable criteria. It’s a great way to build a content calendar, organise assets, or track project status.

Pros:

• Includes templates for content calendars, marketing plans, and other project management tools
• Is highly customizable and allows you to have different “views” for each set of data
• Is based in the cloud so that your data is always safe
• Offers a mobile app

Cons:

• Can be very confusing at first, even with templates
• Places some of its best features behind the paywall

Asana

Asana is a project management app that many digital marketing teams will find appealing, not only for its attractive design but also for its robust task management and customizable project views.

Unlike a lot of classic project management systems, Asana offers “Conversations” that enable teams to quickly chat about tasks, files, and plans.

Pros:

• Offers task dependencies, milestones, and Gantt charts
• Integrates with third-party apps
• Allows clients to communicate with your team

Cons:

• Takes time to set up

Bit.ai

Most digital marketing teams have a lot of content that they need to track, and you just can’t do that easily if the documents are scattered across hard drives or email accounts. Enter Bit, which allows you to gather your assets in one place and track engagement with them.

Even better, Bit allows team members and clients to work together on documents in real time. Your team has access to “Workspaces” that will notify them when documents are created or changed.

Pros:

• Features a customizable, attractive interface
• Offers document templates and the ability to make documents interactive
• Permits you to track views, reads, and other engagement metrics on your documents

Cons:

• A mobile app is not available.

Brief

For digital marketing teams, the ability to get answers and share files quickly is crucial to getting projects done, especially under tight deadlines. Brief allows team members to do just this.

Brief features the ability to turn any message into a task and provides a central place for chat, to-dos, and file sharing. For digital marketing teams, Brief can facilitate file review, collaborative copyediting, and video conferencing.

Pros:

• Enables you to turn any message into a task with one click
• Includes hubs to organize your teams, chats, tasks and files
• Has a user-friendly, elegant interface
• Allows you to share files of any size
• Offers exceptional-quality video and audio calls through integration with Zoom
• Is free for teams

Cons:

• Has few integrations so far

Chanty

Like Slack, Chanty is a messaging service with a dash of AI. If your team is on the talkative side, Chanty can save you time through predictive texting. Because it allows you to share and comment on files, it’s a great collaboration tool as well.

Chanty keeps tasks and conversation threads in the same place so that you don’t have to bounce between apps, but its real power for digital marketing teams is that it allows you to view rich media and code blocks right there in the app, which is great for reviewing content

Pros:

• Allows you to search all conversations, tasks, and files
• Is simple and easy to use
• Includes a mobile app

Cons:

• Has few third-party integration options

Dropbox

Dropbox is a well-known file storage solution, but its secret superpower is that it’s also a collaboration tool. Team members can comment on documents and request changes, and now Dropbox has a service called Paper that allows for cloud-based document creation and collaboration.

Of course, Dropbox is also great for digital marketing teams because it can store all the large images and videos that you need and makes them easy to access across your devices.

Pros:

• Includes desktop notifications, a web-based platform, and a mobile app
• Uses Office Online to allow fast editing of Word documents and PowerPoints
• Offers version tracking and document recovery in case of mishaps
• Is affordable

Cons:

• Places some of its features, such as Dropbox Rewind, behind a paywall
• Takes time to sync large files or folders

Evernote

Don’t let the name fool you: Evernote can do much, much more than take notes. It allows you to share notes, in which you can embed images and PDFs. This makes Evernote great for digital marketing teams who need to bring different types of content together.

Evernote offers “Work Chat” to let you quickly discuss notes with your team, and you can always share notes outside your team. Evernote syncs quickly across multiple devices to facilitate easy collaboration.

Pros:

• Includes ample storage space even on the free plan
• Offers ability to organize notes by notebooks and tags
• Features powerful internal search

Cons:

• Only one person can edit a note at a time.
• Requires paid upgrade for more synced devices and storage space

Facebook Workplace

Facebook is used by digital marketing teams around the world, for obvious reasons. But did you know that it offers an intranet-like portal to help your team get organized? If you’ve ever been in a Facebook group, you know that you can share files or links and comment on them, as well as create polls and events. Facebook Workplace is like that, but a bit more robust.

For example, you can suborganize your teams, create company-wide updates, and use bots to automate the process. Facebook Workplace is great for digital marketing teams because it integrates with Facebook pages and regular groups that you’re likely already using.

Pros:

• Allows more structure and work-oriented features than regular Facebook
• Allows multi-way video calls

Cons:

• Doesn’t offer third-party app integration

Google Docs

For digital marketing teams who do a lot of copywriting, Google Docs is a great solution. It provides fast, cloud-based document creation and storage, but its real superpower is that, unlike in many other apps, team members can work on a file simultaneously.

Google Docs is just one part of the “G Suite,” which helps teams collaborate in a variety of ways.

Pros:

• Saves automatically and syncs quickly
• Allows you to upload and export files
• Offers a flexible commenting system

Cons:

• Can be a little buggy when it comes to advanced document formatting or image embedding

Google Drive

Like other cloud-based file storage solutions, Google Drive syncs quickly and allows team members to share files with clients or guests. It displays “action items” such as comments or suggestions in the main file view so that you can see at a glance which items need attention.

Google Drive includes quick links to Calendar, Tasks, and Keep (notes), so it can be a quick, flexible project management system for digital marketing teams.

Pros:

• Allows you to share files as view-only, comment-only, or edit-only
• Is simple and easy to use
• Has desktop, mobile, and web-based apps

Cons:

• Does not offer a chat or messaging feature

Google Keep

Google Keep is a notes app that allows you to label, pin, and share notes, as well as add reminders and export to Google Docs. Keep can be a great way for digital marketing teams to discuss their Google Docs outside the confines of the comment section.

For example, users can add drawings and images to notes, which are easily accessible in the sidebar of Google Docs.

Pros:

• Simple, easy-to-use interface
• Allows you to archive old notes
• Includes mobile apps and a Chrome extension

Cons:

• Offers limited options to organize notes

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is a video conferencing and screen sharing program that enables collaboration even among people working remotely, which is common for many digital marketing teams.

GoToMeeting also allows you to record meetings and store the recordings in the cloud. And to make instant collaboration better, you can share your screen and “draw” on your files, which is great for discussing designs.

Pros:

• Has desktop, mobile, and web-based options
• Allows each user to have a personal meeting room
• Integrates with calendar apps

Cons:

• Is not free, and to have more users, you must have a higher plan
• Needs a stable, fast Internet connection to work well

Hightail

Digital marketing teams typically have a lot of high-resolution images, large PDFs, or even videos being shared among them. But emailing the files (if they’ll even send) can lead to confusion: “Which version is this?” “Where is that file?” Enter Hightail, which can share and store large files and allow team members to preview and comment on them in the browser.

Hightail is fast and has some useful features for short-term storage and secure sharing.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Uploads and sends files quickly

Cons:

• Requires paid tiers to send more, or very large, files

InVision

InVision is a design tool, but don’t worry, your entire team will end up using it. It allows your designers to create interactive prototypes that team members and clients can review and comment on.

InVision is easy to use and allows you to quickly share visual ideas among your team, gather feedback, and send designs to clients for review.

Pros:

• Allows you to organize prototypes and see what they’ll look like on different devices
• Includes a digital whiteboard for team brainstorming
• Offers a full-featured free plan

Cons:

• Has limited workspaces unless you upgrade
• Does not include a chat function

MindMeister

MindMeister is a flexible brainstorming app that can help digital marketing teams sketch out project plans, brainstorm campaign ideas, or even draft infographics.

Although it includes templates, MindMeister is so intuitive and fun to use, you might just find yourself mapping out what’s in your house! You can easily obtain feedback on your maps, which makes MindMeister a great collaboration tool.

Pros:

• Allows you to color-code maps and attach files
• Can convert your maps to presentations
• Is cloud-based

Cons:

• Requires paid upgrade for more maps and certain other features

Monday.com

Like Asana, Monday.com is a full-featured project management system, but it doesn’t offer task dependencies. However, it allows you to create different dashboards so that you can see what’s happening at a glance. If your team is juggling a lot of projects, Monday.com is a great option.

Monday.com also lets you estimate the time that tasks will take, which makes it useful for evaluating your team’s workload.

Pros:

• Suits a variety of project management methodologies
• Includes a mobile app
• Is flexible and customizable.

Cons:

• Requires higher tier for more users.
• Does not include chat or task dependencies.

Slack

Slack is fairly famous among digital marketing teams for its fresh design, fast file sharing, and bots that automate a lot of tasks.

Slack does as promised and helps reduce your email. It also helps your team organize its communication via channels, which you can divide up by project, topic, or whatever you’d like.

Pros:

• Has desktop, mobile, and web-based apps
• Offers extensive message search
• Has a huge app directory of integrations and bots

Cons:

• Requires paid upgrade to keep entire history of messages

Trello

Trello is a Kanban-style productivity app, but it’s flexible enough that digital marketing teams can use it to collaborate in a variety of ways. You can track tasks by status, you can upload digital assets and organize by project, and you can also map out marketing campaigns by moving the digital cards around.

Trello allows due dates and reminders to be added to any card, and its directory of “power ups” allows teams to expand the functionality of the cards and integrate other apps.

Pros:

• Intuitive, easy-to-use interface with customizable backgrounds
• Is fast-loading, which allows for quick collaboration
• Permits you to attach even large files to cards and comment on them

Cons:

• Requires paid upgrade for more “power ups” and boards

Zoho

Zoho is a full suite of apps that includes email, marketing software, CRM, and many other useful apps. For digital marketing teams looking to centralize their software with one provider, Zoho likely has an app for them.

Zoho includes essential tools for collaboration such as a chat app, Cliq, and a web conferencing app, ShowTime. Its email is unique in that team members can tag other people in emails to instantly share messages with them.

Pros:

• Offers an app for every crucial business function.
• Combines calendar, tasks, and email
• Is available in both web-based app and mobile apps

Cons:

• Is cumbersome to set up
• Is expensive

Ziflow

Ziflow is an enterprise-level online proofing solution that helps creative agencies and in-house marketing teams centralize all of their creative review and approval processes.

The platform provides robust workflow automation, annotation tools, review groups, triggered actions and a host of other powerful features designed to help creative agencies and in-house marketing teams better manage creative content from ideation all the way to completion.

Pros:

• Over 1,200+ supported file types, including live websites, design files, video, and more.
• Detailed annotations, markups, and version comparison enable precise stakeholder feedback.
• SOC2 compliance and audit records for enterprise-level security.
• Set different user permissions and control access across projects, teams and clients.
• Integrates with other popular project management and creative tools such as the Adobe suite.
• Provides 24/7 customer support, as well as a large library of onboarding resources.

Cons:

• Folders, advanced branding and archiving not available on starter plans.

Teamwork

Teamwork is a feature-rich project management platform that agencies will love. Despite its many powerful features it is easy to navigate and boasts an excellent user interface.

Teamwork allows for a panoramic view of tasks and projects for real-time monitoring in a variety of forms including dashboards, boardviews, charts and project health status updates.

Pros

• Powerful time tracking features
• Easy to use and navigate despite its many powerful features
• Manageable client permissions such as access to time tracking and invoicing
• A variety of viewing options for real-time project/task tracking
• Workload management features for effective task management and distribution

Cons

• Free version is limited to 5 projects
• Some features being restricted to higher pricing tiers

Troop Messenger

Troop Messenger is fundamentally a team chat app, but it is considered the best in the business and works beyond competitors. It offers users all the required features to avoid the crucial tasks scattered between multiple platforms. Troop Messenger is suitable for all domains, including digital marketing companies, irrespective of industry. It is the most secure communication tool that the defense, government, political, international space stations, corporate companies, and others employ, considering its world-class security practices that save your data from every cyber threat.

It offers Zapier integration, so you can connect with any tool you currently use. It is designed to enhance your team communication and boost work collaboration.

Pros

• The on-premise or self-hosting delivery model is available.
• Supports air-gap networks
• Advanced search filters
• Bulk messaging
• Video messaging
• Zapier integration

Cons

• No chat option in the conference.

Conclusion

Digital marketing teams require fast, secure communication and file sharing, easy commenting and brainstorming, and the ability to connect with remote team members and clients. Having one of these web-based collaboration tools can help streamline your team’s workflow and make you more productive.

All businesses, whether they be small scale or large scale, need advertising to ensure good returns! Many people hesitate in allocating money for advertising because they believe that it costs too much. This is a wrong belief. Marketing should be a priority that every business should invest in. In the world people live in today, there are basically two types of marketing – online and offline. Out of the two, there are many tools you can use. Here is a list of the most effective online and offline marketing tools that seem to be forgotten because they are outspoken by radio, SEO, banners etc…

Offline Marketing Tools

Offline marketing, often referred to as traditional marketing, is a very cost effective way to advertise your business.

1. Flags and Banners – Whenever there are events in your area where people who are potential customers would participate, do not fail to place banners or flags around. Make it as eye catching as possible. Most of all, place all the important information in the most creative and simplest manner that you can.

2. Brochures – Making a brochure for your company will be useful in two ways. First, it is an advertising tool. Second, it will save you some time in explaining frequently asked questions to customers. Your brochure should invite readers to check out what is on the inside and every detail must be listed in an -easy-to-read manner.

3. Catalogs – This doesn’t have to be a lot of pages. As long as all services and/or products are displayed in a bright manner, then it should be good. The catalog should be friendly enough that readers will know every important detail with each product.

4. Classified Ads – Although newspapers and catalogs are traditional, many people still and will always refer to it when looking for specific services or products. Never fail to sign up for it. The newspaper editors will strategically post in under the right section and potential customers will see.

Online Marketing Tools

Online marketing has been widely used ever since everyone started to refer to the internet whenever in need of something.

1. Blogs – Creating a blog is not as difficult as before. Moreover, you can create one for free. Blog sites will assist you step by step on how to create one. If you want your own domain, you can pay for it for a low price.

2. Leads and Email Generation – Almost everyone has their own email address. If you know where to look for the email addresses of your target market then go ahead and send them some emails regarding your promotions and discounts. The best way to get them to purchase your stuff is by attaching a printable coupon that they can use for discounts in your shop.

3. Reviews and Forums – People who buy online will check reviews first before buying. It is imperative that you get your satisfied customers to post reviews online and rate your products and services. This will surely breed positive results on your business.

The tools listed above are sure to work. Furthermore, they are the most inexpensive. Thus, you will not need to sacrifice a lot of money for advertising and marketing alone.

About the author:

With over five years in writing, Maya Johnson specializes in business journalism. Her writing covers various areas in finance, marketing, money markets and investment. Her texts are helpful to everyone who runs a business, from the small-scale businessperson to the established business owners. She is currently working for an Australian branding company, specialized in branded marquees . When not thinking about her job, she spends time with her husband and two children.