MailChimp – MailChimp offers a free starter service for sending out e-Newsletters to your subscribers. As your subscriber list grows and depending on how frequently you send out e-mails, you may need to upgrade to a paid version. They provide templates for setting up your e-mails and have a drag and drop interface for designing your own. MailChimp recently added more capabilities to aid with branding and more. It’s easy to add an opt-in form to your website for people to subscribe to your e-Newsletter or any other subscriber list you are wanting to develop. It is important to have valid email addresses and permission to send content to those addresses. With too many incorrect addresses, MailChimp can block you from sending emails. This is pretty standard with many of these services. Constant Contact – Another option for email marketing is Constant Contact. They offer a free trial, but ongoing you will need to start with their basic plan which begins at $20 / month. Pricing is based on the number of contacts. Services are similar to MailChimp and a decision between the two usually comes down to personal preference.
Slack – This tool opens up communication and makes it easier to organize and work on items with your team. It allows “channels” to be created which can be organized by topic or project or whatever you would like. It has instant messaging features in it and in many cases it can reduce or eliminate email between team members working on projects. It integrates with tools like Trello, OneDrive, Google Drive, and much more. It is ideal for remote workers as files can be shared, projects can be communicated on and everyone that needs to know what’s going on, can know the status of a project. It starts with a free package but offers upgrades for more advanced features and integrations
Trello – This tool is used to manage projects or even activities. You can create cards and lists and assign to people on your team. They can update statuses by adding comments to the card and as they complete a task they can move it to a completed list. You can manage multiple projects and have the appropriate project team assigned. It is quite flexible and can handle lists, tasks, other To Do items and much more.
Skype / SharePoint / Office 365 for Business – Microsoft provides a full suite of tools to help your business work effectively either in the office or fully remote. With e-mail, calendar, online file storage, the Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), instant messaging, audio and video calls…it has a full solution. It’s not free for businesses, but its cost per user provides a lot of value. Not all features are the easiest to use, but with some training and aid in configuration, it can be of tremendous value.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the tools available in each of these areas. It is meant to highlight key tools that can be used to aid your organization in working remotely and efficiently. We hope that you find this useful. We are currently offering free consultations to small businesses and non-profits. Please feel free to reach out for assistance with any of the above or to recommend tools that work well for you.
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