There’s no doubt that people’s lives are becoming busier than ever. As such, it is getting more and more difficult to keep track of deadlines and things to do. This is especially true if you work in a fast-paced environment, such as an online marketing services company. This is where productivity apps come in marketing companies. As so many people have too many commitments, priorities and work, time management is crucial to maintaining a healthy work-life balance. So, below, we have listed a few popular apps – most of them running on a freemium business model – so most people can download and use them to gain more control over their time.
What is a productivity app?
So, what is a productivity app, specifically? Much like its name suggests, a productivity app is a software or program designed to make either an individual, a team, or a workplace more efficient. They take on many forms – either being apps for mobile devices, websites you can use, to even extensions you can download on your internet browser.
No matter how they look or their format, these programs’ main selling point is to improve your organisation, focus, or make sure tasks get done faster. So, there are plenty of options to choose from, with at least some being able to suit your personal or business needs.
Todoist
Todoist is one of the most popular to-do list and productivity apps right now, and it’s not hard to see why. It offers an extremely clean interface, which makes it intuitive for users of any level. It also doubles as a product management app, where teams and businesses can use it to create, manage and track certain tasks and projects that need doing. You can use this app to jot down simple tasks much like texting, with the app automatically interpreting it and creating a task based on what you have initially written. For instance, if you write “send marketing plan by tomorrow 4pm”, then Todoist will instantly create a reminder for you. You can also set labels, filters, tags, due dates, and priorities for your tasks.
Currently, Todoist is available on desktop (for macOS, Windows and Linux), as well as mobile (Android, iPad, iPhone), as well as extensions on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Its free plan features all the necessary tools needed to support task management, such as inviting collaborators. Its cheapest pricing tier is its Pro tier, which is $4 a month when billed annually, and $5 a month when billed monthly.
Calendly
If you often are required to schedule meetings either with clients or co-workers, then you should consider using Calendly. This is because the time taken to book multiple client meetings, or several calls is one of the most time-consuming parts of running a business. Fortunately, Calendly aims to solve that issue. The software aims to streamline this process, so instead of multiple back and forths required to schedule a suitable meeting time, businesses can simply just send their customers or clients a link to their Calendly and choose the best time at their convenience.
When you first sign up, Calendly will ask you if you wish to sync your calendars with their app. From there, you can enter your availability preferences and any preferred time slots. While Calendly’s free version is slightly limited, you can still use it to create one event type. The program is also available on web iOS as well as Android.
That being said, if you want to give potential customers multiple options for an event type, you will likely have to choose between one of the paid tiers. Calendly’s cheapest paid option is its essentials tier, which is $8 a month when billed annually and allows unlimited event types, live chat support, and lets you connect two calendars. Its most popular plan, the Professional tier, is $12 a month when billed annually, and allows you to receive text notifications, and view analytics and insights, in addition to integrations with PayPal, Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Stripe, to name a few.
Slack
Slack is one of the most famous instant messaging and team communications apps, and it’s not hard to see why. Users can use it to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media, and create private chats or channels. It doesn’t matter how many people are in your company, Slack allows you to easily communicate and connect with one another.
Communication can be either through groups of users or through channels. These channels can be named after a team or a topic (for example, you could label a channel as ‘content marketing’ for the content marketing team.) This means you can ask members of your team directly, rather than sending emails back and forth all the time, streamlining your business operations.
Currently, Slack’s free tier allows you to access the most recent 90 days of message history and lets you integrate with apps like Google Drive, Office 365 and more. Its cheapest paid tier, Pro, is $7.25 a month when billed annually, and provides extra features like unlimited integrations, audio and video screen sharing with up to 50 people, as well as better security. Overall, Slack is a great app to use to make in-house communications a lot more efficient, direct, and less confusing.
Trello
Trello, developed by Atlassian, is often lauded as being one of the very first project management software tools. It specifically focuses on being Kanban-style format, making it intuitive for anyone to grasp at any skill level. Its Kanban format is also a great way to help individuals and teams keep track of any important deadlines and tasks. Whether that is making a to-do list for a particular project, or managing an editorial calendar, the app can be laid out exactly as you see fit.
Users create vertical boards with cards in them. Each card lets you add various elements pertaining to a particular project, such as a checklist, labels, tags, descriptions, and other files. You then drag and drop a card into a particular board after a task has been completed. This way, it makes it very easy to keep track of what needs to be done and delegate tasks accordingly.
Trello’s free tier allows for unlimited cards, up to 10 boards per Workspace, unlimited storage, and unlimited power-ups per board. Its next tier, Standard, is $5 if billed annually, and provides unlimited boards, advanced checklists, and saved searches. Its most popular tier, Premium, is $10 if billed annually, and provides different views such as Calendar, Timeline, Dashboard and Map, in addition to board collections and priority support.
