Design professionals know that to create high quality content, whether it is a newsletter, a video or an infographic, you need to use the top of the range design software.
However, for those people who don’t have the luxury of being able to invest hundreds of pounds in the latest design software, there are alternative solutions. There are a number of ways that you can create decent quality content without the huge outlay. So if compromising a little bit on the quality isn’t a problem, these alternatives could give your content creation a real boost:
Canva – Canva is a website that provides a large number of templates and tools that will enable you to build professional looking content without the expensive software. It is free to use and has templates for powerpoint slides, infographics to use in your email marketing, social media posts and many other marketing channels. The great thing is that there is a library of images, shapes, icons and charts that are free to use. This can save masses of time searching for copyright free images.
Whilst you can generally find templates in the Microsoft templates for powerpoint, the ones that Canva provide have more variety. Once you have created your document you can download it as a pdf and do whatever you wish with it. Once you get the hang of the clunky formatting you will find that you can create good quality documents fairly quickly. If you’re wondering how they manage to offer this for free, it is because only a limited number of templates, images and icons are free. There are additional ones that you can choose to purchase for as little as $1. There are still a large number of free ones available though that do the job just as well.
Additionally, you can generate images by using AI tools. These tools allow you to create and edit images without the need for expensive software. With a quality image subscription, you can access a wide range of tools to create professional-looking images for your content. This is especially useful for social media posts and blog graphics.
Video editing in YouTube – If you want to create videos, there is a much simpler process these days to create a decent quality one. Using simply a laptop webcam or a smartphone video camera you can create a relatively good quality of video. If you don’t have any video editing software then there are some basic tools available through YouTube that can help you with some of the essentials.
Use smart image searches – If you don’t want to pay for an image and you don’t have the tools to create what you’re looking for yourself then using a smarter way of searching for images can help you find a relevant image. Copyright laws protect the use of many images so it is difficult to find ones that are free to use. In the Google image search function you can select ‘Advanced search’ from Settings to narrow down what you are looking for. You can filter by image size, usage rights and even file format to find the image that you need quicker.
Of course you might not always be able to find the right image for free but this will help you find out if any exist.
Content creation doesn’t have to cost a fortune and can be done by people with all levels of skill from novice to professional graphic designer. Always be on the look out for tools and services that will help you to create good content.