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Time is our most valuable resource. And since we can’t create more time, we can decide how we spend it. Utilizing technology and other great software can help you feel like you’ve got more time in a day to spend doing the things you love. Remember why you started designing stationery in the first place? When you utilize the right tools, you get to do more of what you love and less of what you don’t.
Today, we’re talking about some of the best tools for running a stationery business that are essential for your toolkit. When utilized well, these can help you save time and level up your business for years to come.
Design Tools
Sometimes, the very thing standing in the way of creating beautiful stationery is finding the right tools to help you get the job done. Here are a few design tools to help you create beautiful products, marketing materials, and everything you need to showcase your brand.
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe has been around for quite some time, and over the years, they’ve really built incredible tools for creatives everywhere. Many stationers choose to use Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop to create their greeting cards and invitations. Not only do you have complete creative freedom within their suite, but it’s also easy to download designs or send them to printers. There is a learning curve if you choose to go this route, but there are hundreds of YouTube videos that can help you learn what you need to know.
If you’re not ready (or feel a bit intimidated), Adobe has a beginner-friendly version called Adobe Express. It’s a great way to jump into the Adobe world and learn as you go. This platform gives you the opportunity to easily design videos, GIFs, graphics, PDFs, and more with a wide range of editing capabilities. You can also choose from editable templates or design your own art from scratch.
Canva
If the Adobe Creative Suite isn’t for you, Canva is your best option. It’s a great platform for creating simple yet beautiful designs for your business along with marketing materials. Many stationers appreciate Canva because it’s intuitive, easy to learn, and doesn’t require a significant investment of time before you can start creating. With thousands of templates, drag-and-drop functionality, and built-in collaboration tools, Canva makes it easy to design social media graphics, marketing materials, presentations, and even simple stationery products. It’s also a great option for designers who want to quickly create content for their business without switching between multiple programs.
Organization, Invoices, & Contracts
These tools help make running a business so much easier. Not only do they help you get organized, but they can help you manage contracts, invoices, and even inventory.
Dubsado
If there’s ever a point in your workday where you wish you could expand the time or even clone yourself, then you’ll love Dubsado. This tool is a great solution for any stationer who wishes they had a team of people around them (but don’t). Dubsado is a client management system that can be set up to track inventory, invoices, customers, and workflows. If you sell custom wedding invitations, you could set up Dubsado to collect leads, schedule a consultation, send a proposal and contract, collect a questionnaire, send a proof, and even send invoices. Dubsado is the new right-hand tool that keeps you on track and in process, making you look organized and professional to every client that comes your way.
AirTable
Many stationers, artists, and crafters use this platform to organize their inventory, customer lists, invoices, and supplies. For example, let’s say you’re a greeting card designer and you introduce new designs every season. You could use AirTable to keep track of each card, how much inventory you have on hand, and can even set up notifications to tell you when you’re running low. Many stationers choose to use AirTable to keep track of their workflows, marketing channels, designs, finances, markets, wholesale orders, and more. AirTable is a powerful database that allows you to customize and create anything.
HoneyBook
Many stationers utilize HoneyBook to help them manage their clients, invoices, and tasks. Just like Dubsado, HoneyBook helps you automate tasks, schedule meetings, collect payments, send invoices, and more. Stationers choose to use HoneyBook along with AirTable to create a seamless system that keeps track of their every need.
Accounting
As a creative, you’ve lived most of your life using the right side of your brain. And that’s great. But it also means that doing the tasks that require use of your left brain is a bit harder than you want to admit. By utilizing a tool that can track your finances, take care of invoicing, and even help you with business taxes, you’ll be saving yourself a lot of stress up front. These two tools are recommended by stationery designers again and again:
QuickBooks
This financial tool is more than just a fancy calculator. You can use QuickBooks to help you take care of the finances while you focus on everything else. QuickBooks can track your expenses from multiple revenue sources (think Etsy, Wholesale clients, Shopify, or markets). It can also help you create invoices, run reports to help you monitor your business’ health, and prepare for tax season.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is similar to QuickBooks in that it provides bookkeeping, automated tracking, financial reports, and helps you prepare for tax season as well. FreshBooks also allows you to create invoices, keeps track of expenses, and provides an option for payroll once you begin adding to your team.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the easiest ways to communicate with your clients directly. Instead of hoping your new reel made it through the algorithm, you can trust that your new product email made it straight to your customer’s inbox. Here are two email marketing tools that can make life a bit easier for you:
Flodesk
Not only can you create and send beautiful emails with Flodesk, but you can also create landing pages, forms, and automate your sends. Not only that, but their form builder is also simple and integrates with Canva so you can easily create beautiful emails that help you highlight your stationery. Flodesk has pricing options starting at $0 and jumps to $49/month. Check it out here.
MailChimp
MailChimp is a classic go-to email marketing tool. Its drag-and-drop builder makes it super easy to create beautiful emails quickly and match your branding seamlessly. If you’re just starting, MailChimp might be the better option for your business than Flodesk because they offer lower price plans. Flodesk doesn’t allow email sends on their free plan, but MailChimp allows you to send emails to up to 250 contacts. View their pricing and plan options here.
Social Media Management
Let’s face it: social media can be a bear. Not only does it steal the bulk of any business owner’s time, but it also doesn’t always give you the return on investment that you hope for. However, social media is a great way to display your brand, behind-the-scenes content, and introduce future clients to the beautiful designs and products you have to offer. So instead of spending all of your “extra” time trying to beat the algorithm, why not outsource some of the work?
Here are some tools to help you do just that:
Buffer
Buffer takes all of your social platforms and streamlines them. Instead of posting on each of your platforms, you can create your content and publish it with the click of a button. You can schedule, create, repurpose, and see your data all in one place. Really, it just helps you save time and energy. And isn’t that the best part?
Later
Later is another great social media management tool, especially for stationers. Many of your products are visual, and that’s what helps you make those sales! Later is built to help you plan with your Instagram’s grids in mind. At a glance, you can see how often you’ve highlighted that same wedding suite or greeting card. It also helps you schedule posts across different social channels as well.
Let Us Help You Grow
We love to help stationers grow and become successful in their stationery businesses. Not only do we love to partner with you in all your printing needs, but we also love to educate you on everything stationery. If you’re looking for more helpful content like this, visit PrintsWell University. And if you’re looking to outsource your printing to someone who really understands the industry, we’d love to chat! Fill out this application here and let’s get started!