Today we’re all competing for brand attention: getting someone to notice our brand and our business. That means we need to stand out from our contemporaries and there’s no better way to do that than to embrace a little creativity!
Social media gives us many channels to get our message out, but the competition is fierce. With many of these mediums being highly visual, it follows that we should be trying to make eye catching updates.
There are two barriers to getting great looking content: talent and tools. It’s a common misconception that talent is innate – you either have it or you don’t. Talent can be developed through hard work and practice and having the right tools can certainly help that journey. Today, I’ll focus on some great tools to help you with content creativity that don’t cost a penny.
Designing Graphics
Graphic design is a fascinating field, and whilst we may not all be supremely talented graphic designers, there are tools that can help us get a decent result. I mostly steer people toward the excellent Inkscape (https://inkscape.org/) application, available for free on Windows, Mac and Linux. It is very much a Designers dream but takes a bit of learning. With resources like YouTube, you can quickly find great tutorials to get you going. I personally love the channel “Logos by Nick” (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQXp_fcqwPcqrzNtWJ1w9w) which I find to be an excellent way to learn.
Beyond Inkscape, there are alternatives more naturally suited for processing photos or retouching existing artwork. The curiously named GIMP (https://www.gimp.org/) has long been an alternative for more expensive options like Adobe Photoshop. It’s not the friendliest software, but the features are plentiful, and the price is right! As with Inkscape, it’s free on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Video
Video production has become much more available to all of us thanks to amazing technology we now take for granted in our smartphones. It’s easy to record great looking video, but it’s the post-shooting polish that comes from editing that really makes your videos stand out. Maybe add some titles, cut bits you don’t want and show alternative footage to help tell your story; this is where video editing comes in.
If you’re just getting started, I usually recommend the freely available OpenShot (https://www.openshot.org/)—which works on Linux, Mac and PC. If you already have a Mac, however, then iMovie is also available and is terrific. As you get more creative and look for more powerful features, DaVinci Resolve (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/) is a good option. It’s available in both a free and paid-for variant – the latter having more features for the pros. The free version however boasts an incredible number of features and can handle even highly complex projects. The learning curve is steep, especially if video editing is new to you, so I would certainly recommend watching some tutorial videos to help get you familiar with the concepts and tools within the application.
Audio
Podcasts are popular, increasingly so as many of us are working remotely and looking to connect with our customers in new ways. I’m a huge fan of the Audacity (https://www.audacityteam.org/) application for recording and editing audio. It will help you quickly cut out unwanted parts, add music and effects and make your audio sound great.
Putting The Tools To Work
Practice. Practice. Practice. None of these tools will instantly make you a creative professional – but with time and patience, you will soon learn how many of the ideas you see all around you are made real.
I frequently watch tutorial videos on all of these software packages (and ones like them) to help me understand how to do something. You’d be amazed at how many great ideas you’ll have simply from watching these tutorials.
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