Agency Tools: The 2024 Guide to Elevating Your Agency's Productivity

Streamlining your agency operations is the key to achieving long term success. The right tools will empower your agency to deliver better work, collaborate more efficiently, and achieve long term success. If you aren't providing your team with the right toolkit, they will be less organized, less communicative, and your workflow will suffer. In this article, we’ll break down the best agency tools for 2024 so you can bring your agency's productivity to the next level. 

 The Need for Agency Tools

Running an agency can be incredibly challenging, especially if you don't have the right tools in your tech stack. Leveraging agency tools boasts a variety of benefits including: 

• Scalability 
• Cost savings 
• Increased efficiency
• Enhanced productivity 
• Enhanced productivity 
• Improved collaboration 
• Security and compliance 
• Data analysis and insights 
• Improved client communication 

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Essential Agency Tools to Consider in 2024

1. Fellow

Rated as the #1 meeting management software on G2 and loved by some of the world’s best teams, Fellow is an unmatched meeting management and productivity tool that your agency can leverage to host productive team meetings and meaningful one-on-ones, build collaborative meeting agendas, and keep teammates accountable.  Fellow helps your team build great meeting habits through collaborative agendas, real-time note taking, and time-saving templates so you can standardize productive meetings and foster collaboration and accountability. Fellow is everywhere you need it during meetings and integrations  with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet mean no more switching between tabs and screens to find and record notes. Hosting productive meetings that allow everyone to fully engage has never been easier. 

Fellow has a simple pricing structure with three plans, ranging from the free plan for teams of up to 10 people to the business plan that is $10/month per user. Agencies that are looking to implement a holistic management system can request a demo for additional information.   

2. Slack

Looking to streamline communication in your agency? Slack is a workplace communication tool that empowers users to discuss important information and changing priorities, collaborate on campaigns in real-time, and share ideas and concepts via file sharing, instant messaging, video and phone calls, and screen sharing. Additionally, Slack empowers teams with a centralized hub for asynchronous communication and integrates with a number of popular productivity tools including Google Drive and Trello, making it easy for employees to access all of their work in one place. 

If you’ve been looking for a simple tool that will allow your teammates to communicate, brainstorm, and share resources, Slack may be exactly what you’ve been looking for. Plans and pricing vary depending on your needs, but you can check out the Slack Help Center or contact their sales team for additional guidance. 

3. Zoom

Looking for ways to stay connected with your remote or hybrid teammates? Zoom is a comprehensive easy-to-use online video conferencing software that provides videography and online chat services through a cloud-based, peer-to-peer software platform that can be used to foster connectivity through one-on-one meetings, presentations, pitches, or even daily check-ins. This tool is ideal if you're looking to connect face to face in real time for your everyday meetings, your presentations, or even your one-on-one chats with direct reports.

Plans and pricing vary, but depending on what you need to use Zoom for, it could be completely free. For organization-wide solutions, you may have to purchase a paid plan. 

4. Google Meet

Similar to Zoom, Google Meet is a video conferencing software platform that was largely popularized during the pandemic. With Google Meet, enterprise-grade video conferencing is available to everyone, meaning anyone with a Google account can create an online meeting with up to 100 participants and meet for up to 60 minutes per meeting.

Google Meet offers a free plan in addition to paid options with more advanced features, ranging from a workspace starter plan at $6/user per month to the workspace plus plan that costs $18/user per month. 

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5. Asana

Looking for a comprehensive project management solution that will help keep your agency on track and organized? Asana is a project management software platform that helps teams stay on track, keep projects organized, and hit deadlines. With Asana’s web and mobile apps, you can see project progress, track individual tasks, plan sprints, and keep your teammates accountable. Asana’s visual platform makes it possible for you to visualize project progress on boards as your team moves through the different phases of each project, ensuring details aren’t missed or forgotten.

You can access Asana’s features for free with the basic plan, opt for the premium plan that unlocks additional features for $10.99/month, or provide your entire organization with everything it needs to manage and work cross functionally through Asana’s business plan, which is $24.99/month per user.

6. HubSpot

Looking to strengthen customer relationships with a comprehensive CRM system that empowers your agency to prioritize customer success? HubSpot is a digital marketing tool and client management tool that combines marketing, sales, and customer service support. With a suite of robust features, HubSpot is ideal for agencies that are looking to manage marketing campaigns, sales targets, and customer support and interactions. 

The beauty of HubSpot is that you can get started for free and upgrade as you see fit. The free plan includes digital marketing tools, project management tools, reporting tools, and client management tools. For additional functionality, you can choose from a number of paid plans.

7. Google Docs

Google Docs is an excellent resource if you're hoping to provide your agency with a hub for communication, collaboration, and file sharing. Included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, Google Docs is an online word processor that aims to centralize information, making it easy for users to collaborate in real-time and share information remotely. While basic Google Docs services are free, you may need to upgrade your Google Workspace depending on your business needs. 

8. Trello

Trello is a visual collaboration tool that empowers agencies to manage projects, workflows, and tasks. Similar to a whiteboard, Trello leverages a board format that makes it possible for users to attach notes, visual examples, files, and attachments from online sources, shared documents, or other forms of software like Jira or Salesforce. Unlike a whiteboard, Trello can be enjoyed by teams virtually and you can bring your work anywhere you go! You can try Trello for free or choose from one of three paid plans, starting with the standard plan at $5/month per user and extending to the enterprise plan at $17.50/user per month.

9. Miro

Collaboration can be difficult when working remotely without the right set of tools. Luckily, Miro was built to empower remote teams. Miro is a versatile tool built for running collaborative virtual meetings with cutting-edge features like timers, voting, a specific meeting mode, and chat features. In addition to empowering users to host collaborative sessions, Miro is excellent for brainstorming, allowing users to connect, collaborate, and brainstorm regardless of geographical constraints. To make it easy to kick off your brainstorming session, Miro offers a comprehensive library of templates with numerous test cases, so you never have to worry about starting from scratch.

Miro has four separate plans ranging from a free plan with its most basic features to an enterprise plan that is quoted on an as-needed basis.

10. Dropbox

Looking for a seamless file sharing service that will help your agency keep track of all pertinent information? Look no further. Dropbox is a file-sharing service that allows users to share files seamlessly through the cloud. With Dropbox, users can upload documents, share them with others, and secure them in the cloud with features such as file storage and syncing, file sharing and collaboration, file security and privacy, offline access, and integrations with apps like monday.com. When you use Dropbox with monday.com, you can streamline your productivity by leveraging the file storage and collaborative capabilities of Dropbox with the project management and team collaboration framework found in monday.com.  

Dropbox has 6 different plans to choose from catering to freelancers, individual users, businesses, and more. Plans start out at  $12.99/month and extend to a customizable rate for enterprises. 

11. GatherContent

GatherContent is a creative design tool that empowers agencies to collaborate and produce batches of content with features that make it possible to plan, organize, and manage content across multiple systems. If your agency is looking to produce content at scale, GatherContent may be the solution you’ve been looking for! 

GatherContent offers a variety of plans and price points, starting at $100/month billed annually and extending to custom enterprise plans for organizations that are expanding content operations across multiple platforms. 

12. Canva

Canva is the ultimate creative design tool for agencies, allowing users regardless of their design background to create, share, and collaborate on top quality graphics. Most people know Canva as an all-in-one design tool that streamlines creative work with easy-to-use features; however, this tool also makes it possible to collaborate and schedule content meaning you can produce and share content for your clients at scale.

To work with your peers on a design project in Canva, simply share the design through the web app or get a sharable link that can be dropped into your team chat on Slack. From there, you and your teammates can easily collaborate on, plan, and schedule content. Canva is free for individuals; however, if you plan to collaborate with your peers, you must invest in Canva Pro for $149.99. 

13. Salesforce

Salesforce is a cloud-based customer relationship management platform that empowers agencies to manage and organize business operations such as marketing, sales, customer service and outreach, and more. Features include but aren’t limited to, customer relationship management and client management tools, marketing automation and digital marketing tools, app development, and reporting tools. Salesforce offers a unique pricing structure that is geared towards your personal requirements. For more information, you can fill out this contact form.

14. Monday.com

Monday.com is a cloud-based software that makes it possible for users to create unique applications and project management software, helping agencies create individualized workflows that boost alignment, efficiency, and productivity. If you’ve been looking for a way to improve operational efficiency in addition to internal communication at your agency, monday.com offers intuitive, easy-to-use solutions that are perfect for tracking progress and reviewing performance over time. You can choose from one of five plans ranging from the free individual plan for personal use to the enterprise plan for organizations and get started with a free 14-day trial to see if it's a good fit. 

15. Paperform

Paperform is an online form builder and data collection platform that agencies can leverage to design and publish comprehensive forms without prior coding knowledge. Used for a variety of purposes including lead generation, event registrations, customer feedback, surveys, online orders, and more, Paperform is an excellent resource that can be introduced into your arsenal to capture valuable insights and enhance productivity. Paperform has a variety of plans that cater to individuals and organizations of all sizes. Starting out at just $20/month and extending to $135/month, there is a plan that works for everyone.  

 16. Coggle

Looking for an epic brainstorming tool that will help you and your teammates break complex agency problems into manage solutions? Coggle is a collaborative mind-mapping tool that helps you break down complex problems in a team setting. Built with collaboration at its core, this online mind-mapping tool is perfect for creating and sharing mind maps that are excellent for brainstorming and mapping out ideas. This tool is ideal if you’re looking for a creative way to empower your team to take notes, brainstorm ideas, visualize connections across concepts, and collaborate with others. 

Interested in exploring your biggest and brightest ideas with your teammates? Coggle has three plans that cater to organizations of all sizes. From a free forever plan with basic features to an organization plan that is only $8/member per month, Coggle has something for everyone.

Take your agency to the next level with these meeting tools

Integrating these agency tools into your arsenal will ensure you can effectively manage client expectations, host efficient meetings, prioritize collaborative brainstorming sessions, and so much more. Don’t forget to check out the MeetingNotes blog for more productivity tips, tricks, and best practices