Last week, I had the opportunity to present a panel called “Creating Your Digital Narrative” at 48in48‘s NYC hackathon event. Here’s a quick introduction to the nonprofit organization from their ABOUT page:
48in48 connects local nonprofits and skilled marketing and technology professionals. At the end of these 48 hours, 48 local nonprofits have new, professional, websites.
The nonprofits get not only a website, but also, a fresh marketing strategy. Before the main event, each nonprofit takes part in 6-10 weeks of marketing, branding, and impact training.
Creating Your Digital Narrative
I recorded the presentation and uploaded it onto YouTube, which you can check out above. But I also wanted to make sure there’s a place where I shared the resources I talked about in the presentation!
As a fellow bootstrapped founder, I know you want to save costs whenever possible so when something you do want to pay for comes up, you have the funds. So here are some of the resources I shared in the presentation to start creating your Brand Story and Digital Narrative without having to hire someone.
Bootstrapper’s Tools to Creating a Digital Narrative
- Landing Pages: carrd.co
- Graphics: canva.com, Adobe Spark, Zazzle Create, Namecheap Logo Maker, Wix Logo Maker
- Image Editing: Photoshop Express, GIMP
- Podcast: anchor.fm
- Video/Screen Recording: QuickTime Player, OBS, Screenflick, iMovie or Windows Movie Maker
- Free Stock Images: Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels, Burst
- Free Icons: Flaticon
- Free Responsive Websites: HTML5Up
Most of these services are free, and some cost up to $35, but they are all much more affordable than hiring a professional to do these things for you.
When I was first trying to develop my Landing Pages or create graphics, I remember stumbling around trying to find free stock images and ways to create Landing Pages on the fly. The above few links are what got me from having disjointed and disorganized collection of links, resources, websites, and video courses to one streamlined landing page!
Example 1: IntroToAWS.com
My Landing Page for all of my AWS resources is at IntroToAWS.com.
This was created using drag and drop at Carrd! Carrd was recommended to me by few people on Twitter, and I’m so glad they told me about it. There is a free option (if you use one of their subdomains), but the annuals fees are so cheap and so worth it! I pay $19/year for 10 websites that I can use custom domain and subdomain names along with getting analytics, and I’m very satisfied with the experience!
I also have hiroko.io (my personal Landing Page), ebook.introtoaws.com (eBook I sell), and hirobytes.com (my podcast Landing Page) on Carrd as well! Carrd integrates with Gumroad, so as you can see on ebook.introtoaws.com, you get a seamless experience for your visitors when you are selling something!
It might come as a surprise, but I am NOT getting paid to advertise Carrd. I just love it that much. (Though to be fair, everything I do advertise as an affiliate, I also love.) It’s such an affordable and easy to use tool that I think all bootstrapped founders and side-hustlers should know about!
Example 2: The Above YouTube Video
How did I create the video I linked above? I created the presentation using Google Slides, recorded using Screenflick (using a $13 clip-on microphone I got from Amazon) , edited using iMovie, uploaded to YouTube, and slapped on a cover image created using Canva, with a free stock image from Unsplash.
Total cost: $0! (Except the lapel mic, which I’ve had for a few months for my Podcast already)
Your Turn!
What are some free or inexpensive tools you’ve loved to help create your Digital Narrative and Branding? Share them with us! 😊
