Recommended Productivity and Marketing Tools (2025)

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1. Email Marketing Software

MailerLite

If email marketing hasn’t been a priority in your photography business, now is the time to change that. With MailerLite, you can create stunning newsletters, automated email sequences and more with ease.

Having used MailerLite for several years (since upgrading from MailChimp), I can confidently say it’s perfect for small businesses.

Unlike other email tools that are complicated, buggy, and overpriced, MailerLite is intuitive, reliable, and affordable.

It offers a fantastic free plan, but if your email list has grown to nearly 1000 subscribers or you’re ready to unlock premium features, upgrading to a paid plan is a no-brainer.

Related: How MailerLite compares like-for-like with MailChimp

2. Productivity Software

ProperPlan

Another brilliant tool that I think you’ll find game-changing is ProperPlan. This innovative planning tool is unique because it offers strategy, planning, action and learning all in one place.

It combines AI-powered actionable plans (like marketing plans and more) with expert guidance so you know what to do and when to do it!

No more procrastinating or wondering what to do next in your marketing! ProperPlan has been designed to help you take action, beat overwhelm and make complex tasks simple.

It helps you:

• Create content plans tailored to what’s proven to work in the photography industry
• Use integrated AI tools to brainstorm content ideas for blogs, social media and email campaigns
• Stay organised with checklists and productivity tools all in one place, and much more!

ProperPlan will help you stay on top of your marketing, boost your productivity, leverage the power of AI and turn your business goals into action.

3. Online Sales Checkout Tool

ThriveCart

If you’re a photographer selling products and services online or are a photography educator and are looking to simplify how you sell digital products and courses, ThriveCart is a tool you won’t want to miss.

Known for its ease of use and powerful features, ThriveCart is an all-in-one online shopping cart and checkout platform designed to help you convert more leads into paying clients.

Whether you’re selling prints, calendars, photography workshops and courses or something else entirely, ThriveCart makes the process seamless.

Here’s what makes it so valuable for photographers:

• Customisable checkout pages to match your brand and increase conversions
• Subscription and payment plan options for selling high-ticket items – I love this feature as it allows clients to join my six-month marketing mentoring programme but pay in instalments to spread the cost
• Automated follow-up sequences to re-engage customers who abandon their carts
• Integration with your favourite tools, including email platforms like Mailerlite (above) and other CRM tools.

I have the Pro plan, and with this, you gain access to advanced features, including:

• Affiliate management tools to grow your revenue with referral partners
• Advanced reporting to track your sales performance
• The ability to sell unlimited products with no ongoing fees

If you’re planning to sell photography courses or manage an online community, ThriveCart is a great tool and a savvy investment regardless of whenever you buy!

5. Private Podcast Tool

Hello Audio

If you would like to create private audio feeds that engage, educate, and inspire your audience, I can’t recommend this tool enough.

Hello Audio has allowed me to give my group mentoring programme students a flexible way to access my private training content. They can now access an audio version of the programme’s course content through their preferred podcast apps, making it as simple as listening to their favourite show.

It’s an ideal tool if you have ‘gated’ content, like this, that you’d like to limit to set groups of people (course students or mentees), or if you would like to create an audio feed or private podcast show as a lead magnet, available in exchange for an email address.

There are so many ways you could use this!

Head here to find out more about Hello Audio.

Related: Five ways to optimise your client enquiry process (and convert more leads)

Productivity and Marketing Tools

If you have any questions about these recommended productivity and marketing tools listed above, let me know.

Zoe