My 6 fave apps & websites I cant live without
These are my absolute fave apps and websites that I use on a daily, that I absolutely can not live without. I mean, literally, my life revolves around these time savers. If given the choice between these apps and my husband…. well, let’s just say it would be a close call.
1. Canva
The magic solution you’ve been looking for, to handle all your marketing design needs. This website has an adaptable template for everything! You can create personalised instagram posts, buttons for your website, slideshow headers, flyers, online brochures - anything you can think of and some things you didn’t know you needed.
The great thing about it is, that you download in a variety of methods, PDF for printing, low res jogs for website or a high res EPS.
An extra great thing for us Aussies, is that it’s an Australian company. So in addition to having templates for American holidays such as Thanksgiving, there’s plenty of imagery and templates that relate to Aussie business needs as well.
2. Typeform
Building your online tribe is all about generating engagement, and getting people who love you, to interact with you. Typeform’s online quiz’s are amazing for this. They allow you to collect information from your potential clients while making it fun.
I personally use it as an extra touch point, once someone has expressed an interest in us. A means of keeping in touch If a client has enquired with us about our wedding packages, they will instantly receive an
In fact you can take the quiz yourself now, and see what your favourite style of photography is.
3. Tave
If you’ve ever met me in person at the WPPI Conference or Nikon event, chances are I tried to sell you on the virtues of Tave. No, I’m not an Ambassador (well, not yet anyway.. will keep you posted if that changes) But I am, completely in love with this Studio Management System, it has completely changed my life.
Yes - It is a big set up, but totally worth it. Here’s just a few of the awesome things it can do for you.
Send automatic emails for basically every type of appointment, client and reason you can dream up!
Diarise your study so that every person knows exactly where they should be and when.
Build questionnaires, so that clients can fill in their details for you, saving time and costly mistakes.
Store information about your clients so you can personalise every experience with them.
Create templates for regularly used quotes and emails, so that team members can personalise correspondence, while maintaining your studio’s look and professionalism.
Pour you a glass of red wine (Ok, just kidding, but maybe the next update will!)
And because I believe in this software sooooo much, I have downloaded all of my personal email templates that I use for Inlighten Photography, that you can use to save you a tonne of time and effort. Not only are these templates quick to use, their designed to be friendly and engaging with your clients. Building your tribe is what’s its all about.
4. Later
If you’re like me, then your ideal time to post on instagram also happens to be the kids bedtime! I guess it makes sense, come the end of the day, it’s time to unwind with a bit of social media scrolling.
Later has been a life saver for me. It allows me to not only schedule my posts in advance, it also has the ability to store each couples list of suppliers. This means that each time I post another shot from a couples wedding, I can go back and re-use the caption I saved the last time - Genius!
The multiple views mean I can also see on a calendar when each post will occur, and in a different view, see how my page looks overall.
Finally - they have an absolutely brilliant newsletter that is chock full of ideas and tips on how you can use social media better. Social media is changing on a daily basis, and I have learnt so much in real time from this newsletter, it’s worth signing up for their free subscription just this alone. (I personally pay for a larger subscription, but it’s worth it)
5. Seldex
We order the majority of our printed products through Seldex, and because I’m a huge believer in printing photos, I feel like we’re on their site every day. With a modern and on point selection of fonts, book fabric options and a super easy ordering interface, they are a huge part of us being able to achieve “time profitability” and the freedom to live our best photography life.
Plus, they also know the value of Clients being able to “Buy what they see” and offer discounted studio samples. There is no better tool for selling albums, than having beautiful albums your client can touch and feel.
6. Filmmaker Pro
Filmmaker Pro is my newest app obsession and I’m in love! We all know content needs to be regular and authentic. And tbh, in the past I’ve fallen into the trap of trying to make every video look perfect and professional, to the point that they stay as a draft and never get released because the video is no longer relevant.
Thanks to this powerful little app, I’ve been able to cut multiple clips together, add music, add text, speed up sections, overlay our photos, and even export in 15 second pieces ready for Instagram Stories - All on my phone while waiting in a queue. Not kidding.
My tip - If you want to remove the audio from your clip and replace with music - don’t seperate your audio from your visual until the very last step. If you change your mind, it can be tough to line up the sound and clip again once they’re seperated and cut, but super easy to do as a last step.
I hope these blogs are helping you with practical, time saving guidance you can put to work in your business immediately.
Is there something you’d like to learn more about?
Let me know in the comments below and I’ll share with you everything I know - and more!