“Hi, does anyone know the best software or app I can use to create content for videos and ads for marketing my start-up?”
As the CEO and Founder of my start-up, Suggesterfy, I’ve had to learn many business terms, most that I’d only ever heard of on tv while my husband was watching Paul Murray on Sky News. Words such as “Acquisition”, “Revenue” and “Monetisation”, were all a foreign language to me until I decided to embark on this start-up journey.
The word that I found most offensive and difficult to truly understand was “Budget”.
I’ve never been good with boundaries, I’m not one of those women who keeps receipts and knows where each and every dollar is spent. I’m impulsive. I like shiny things. I always make quick decisions and deal with whatever consequences may come, later.
Being responsible for the success of Suggesterfy, I’ve had to learn to look at budgets. Currently, Suggesterfy is bootstrapped, (this means all the money being put into the business, is coming from my own pocket). I am certainly hoping to gain some funding from some generous angel investors that share my vision, but for right now, every dollar spent is coming from my little bank account.
This is damn scary. This means for every subscription I sign up for, every app I download, and every piece of stationery I need to buy is paid for by me. And with start-ups, there is a lot of “stuff” that you need! CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, Email Automation Software, Graphic Designers, App Development, Company Registrations and Trademarks are just a few of the items that need to be used before I can even make my dream a reality.
But by far, the hardest thing to get my head around is Marketing.
Marketing.
Marketing Budgets
Marketing calendars
Marketing plans
Content for Marketing.
I have lost more sleep over the word “Marketing” than over anything else so far in this start-up journey of Suggesterfy. There is no magic calculator that can tell me how much of the overall budget should be spent on marketing. It’s the start-up version of the question, “how long is a piece of string?”
I’ve Googled it. I've asked other people I know who have successful businesses how much of the budget needs to be allocated for marketing, and there is no formula. No straight answer. Because marketing is mammoth. Marketing is everything you need to create brand awareness, to show the world who Suggesterfy is!
So, without having an exact marketing plan, I decided that I would undertake full control of all the marketing until there is enough money to start spending on paying someone to do it for me.
I consider myself a ‘fairly savvy’ social media user. I know that the content on Linked In must be much more conservative than the content used for Tiktok! How hard could it be?
THE HARDEST THING I’VE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE!!!!!! (and I have three children!)
There are so many options, and so much information to sift through, it has all become too overwhelming to know what products will work best for me!
I need to make videos that look like Steve Jobs made them himself.
I need to make ads that showcase Suggesterfy as if it’s going to be shown at the Superbowl.
I need my graphics to look sleek, professional, and clean, not like my 7-year-old son has created multiple worlds in Minecraft!
So I need Software.
Design Software. Content Creation Software.
As a budding Marketing Content Manager (and CEO, and Founder, and Boss Lady), it’s safe to say I have free-trialled/downloaded/subscribed to more products to create content than I can even remember. Most of the time I’m reminded of something I have purchased because I receive an email telling me about an update or a new pricing tier I could upgrade to. So to save all you others out there who are also in the same boat as me, I’m going to give you my top 10 best content creation tools. Naturally, if Suggesterfy was alive when I started this journey, I could have just asked the trusted community for what they recommend……..
(*If only I had Suggesterfy, I would ask my trusted community, “What’s the best product to use for content creation?”)
10. Promo.com – https://promo.com
I lusted after this one for ages. The “promo” pics of promo.com are fabulous. So, after much deliberation on the costs of it, I signed up for 3 months. Unfortunately, when I started to use it, I realised that the amazing variety of templates they have on offer is far more suited to eCommerce companies. As Suggesterfy is a mobile app, I learned that I need a tool that will assist with mock-ups, rather than promotions. Their customer service was incredible, and they issued me a refund once I realised their software wasn’t going to work for me.
9. Create Studio – https://createstudio.com
This is a fun way to make a video! They have a desktop tool, (which always pleases me for those times I'm stuck at the hairdresser without WIFI), and you can make animations/explainer videos with various cartoon characters. You can animate anything and even create custom animations. They have just released CreateStudio Pro, which has even more features packed in. Admittedly I’m still fumbling my way around this platform, but they do have many tutorials you can watch if you have time.
8. Steve Ai – https://www.steve.ai
Steve.ai is a new addition to the content creator tools world and it's fun to use! With Steve.ai you can write a script and their AI genius software will create a video for you based on what you have written! You can also record your own voice and create animations! With this software, it’s easy to create videos in minutes.
7. Viddyoze - https://app.viddyoze.com
Viddyoze is a simple site where you upload your logo and create quick easy promo videos. Its super easy to use, the only downside for me is that it’s quite expensive and to use some of the best templates, you need to upgrade your plan.
6. Offeo - https://offeo.com
Offeo is a partner with Facebook, which means you can use Offeo to create all your social media ads easily. They are also affiliated with Shutterstock so no need to spend time looking for the perfect stock images, they have them all right there. I had a play around with their AI tool, and all I did was upload one picture and Offeo generated a whole bunch of social media content I could use to schedule or post immediately!
5. Media Modifier - https://mediamodifier.com
Media Modifier was the mock-up generator I had been searching for! They have thousands of mock-up templates, and each one looks like the gods of graphic design have personally worked on your project. Its super easy to drag and drop your images into their mock-ups, the hardest part is deciding which mock-up to use. With Media modifier you can create print products, logos, apparel, anything!
4. Place it- https://placeit.net
Envato is one of the world’s leading marketplaces and communities for creative assets. Many people recommend Envato to source inspiration for designing websites to mobile app UX/UI. Place it is Envato’s easiest to use, content creation tool. Just like other platforms you can create mock-ups, videos, logos, clothing and even branding for your band’s demo album, or a YouTube channel. I also like that because Place is curated by a community of very clever creative people, there are always new templates being added so the content never gets stale.
3. Renderforest - https://www.renderforest.com
Renderforest has a huge part of my heart and soul. I have lost many hours creating things I never wanted or knew I needed on Renderforest, because the end results always look so polished! Renderforest has so many things you can create, the list is almost endless. Its an especially great product for anyone who needs to create websites, or animated videos. When I began to design my website, I wish I had known about Renderforest. The website templates alone make me wish I had another 10 businesses to create!
2. Artboard Studio - https://artboard.studio
I’m completely obsessed with this software. With Artboard Studio it is so simple to create Mock-ups of virtually anything. I discovered this product through my daughter who was using it for some school stuff, they have a very generous student discount and helped her set up her account with ease. What I love about it is the graphics in the pictures look great, and when you modify each template with your own files, the end result doesn’t look like someone has slapped a sticker on top of a picture, it looks professional.
1. Canva – https://www.canva.com
Old faithful. Tried and true. The OG. There’s nothing that comes close to the ease of use, the number of templates they have, and how quick and simple it is to navigate. As much as I looked around, and tried and tested other things, I always come back to Canva. (And I also quite like that Canva was started by a fellow Aussie and female!). They also have heaps of tutorials available now so you can really feel like a pro graphic designer!
So, my readers, these are my tools of choice to create videos and images for content creation. If Suggesterfy was live and launched it would have saved me hours and hours of searching and trialling so many different options.
Luckily, our app is in development, and it won’t be long before anyone who needs to find software can just enter the question “what video creation software is the easiest to use for a beginner?” or “how can I make videos for social media quickly and that look great?”.
In the meantime, I love feedback, so if you would like to share what has worked for you, or you just want to say “hello”, contact me on our social channels, or just send me an email at hello@suggesterfy.com.
Sharing more soon,
Dee xxx
