In today’s digital age, where content is king, and branding is your ticket to the kingdom, having access to high-quality resources is more important than ever. Whether you’re a business owner, freelancer, or passionate creator, sourcing the right visual elements can be both time-consuming and costly. But what if you could significantly ease this burden without breaking the bank? Enter Unsplash and Creative Market—two of my all-time favorite platforms that offer remarkable value for anyone looking to up their branding game. Here’s why you should consider incorporating these resources into your creative toolkit.
What is Unsplash?
Unsplash is a treasure trove of free, high-resolution images from a community of talented photographers. This platform allows you to browse, download, and use various photos without worrying about copyright issues.
Why Unsplash?
- Quality: These aren’t your run-of-the-mill stock images. Unsplash offers an array of visually stunning photos that can bring a professional edge to your website, blog posts, social media, and more.
- Ease of Use: Search for what you need, and with just a few clicks, you can access a downloadable high-res image {or lower resolution, depending on if size is a factor, like for page load speeds for a website.}
- Community: Unsplash offers a sense of community, where you can follow your favorite photographers, like images, and even contribute your work if you’re so inclined.
How I Use Unsplash
Whenever I need to add a visual element to a blog post or create an engaging social media post, Unsplash is my go-to resource. The quality and variety of images have never let me down, and the best part? It’s absolutely free. Plus, I rename the image meta description to be more SEO-friendly for my ideal client.
What is the Creative Market?
Creative Market is a marketplace for design assets, including graphics, templates, themes, and more. What makes it truly unique is its wide selection of Canva-compatible templates you can customize in minutes.
Why Creative Market?
- Affordability: With prices that won’t make your wallet weep, you can find high-quality, professional templates that fit your branding needs.
- Customizability: The Canva-compatible templates mean you don’t need to be a design wizard. Just a few tweaks here and there, and voilà—you have a customized piece ready for use.
- Variety: From social media templates to business card designs, Creative Market offers a wide range of categories that cater to various branding needs.
How I Use Creative Market
Whenever I want to go beyond the basic templates offered by Canva, I head over to Creative Market. It’s perfect for when I need something a bit more specialized, like an infographic template or a unique presentation design. I can make any template align perfectly with my brand with a few quick edits.
How I Do Content Planning for the Year
The power of Creative Market and Unsplash have made professional content easy to create. Now, you have to determine what you are going to do with the templates. Let me share how I plan my monthly content topic ideas, then use Creative Market and Unsplash to help me button it up.
- I start with a blank printed calendar for the month, I am a paper person at heart.
- Then, I look at Social Media Holiday and start there, what’s big in my niche I need to be aware of. Hootsuite has a nice one, but then I look at my niche – like World Breastfeeding Week or Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
- After I add the specific holidays – I look at the content flow. As I write this post, here is a snapshot of each week.
- Monday: Reel on a topic I need to rank for from an SEO perspective.
- Tuesday: New blog post on a popular topic from my niche to build value & educate them.
- Wednesday: New Podcast {I rotate weeks with a guest or an education lesson on a topic of interest}
- Thursday: Reel & Blog on a topic of interest / trending in the News
- Friday: Freebie or Giveaway on social. Rotate in client testimonials.
- Weekends: Post as I see fit or it serves my audience.
- Using the templates from Creative Market and Images from Unsplash, I design my weekly tiles that won’t change.
- Blog Post
- Podcast Post
- Testimonial Tile
- Freebie
- I complete my SEO keyword and keyword gap research and determine what things I wish to rank for using tools I will share in another blog post here.
- Finally, I create all of my tiles and topics, load them into my social scheduler, and generate amazing captions and hashtags with the help of AI. {More on that in a future blog post.
If you strategically map out things, it can reduce your overwhelm and anxiety about social media posting, and you can check it off your list.
If you feel a bit of chaos in your business and are looking for guidance, support, or coaching – book a complimentary call, and let’s discuss how I can help you move your business forward.
About Courtney Zentz:
Courtney Zentz is a multi-talented entrepreneur who seamlessly blends her business coaching and pediatric sleep consulting expertise to create a unique and impactful career. A Certified Sleep Specialist, she founded a pediatric sleep consulting firm that has revolutionized how parents approach sleep training, merging scientific methods with compassionate guidance. Courtney’s innovative approach has garnered her accolades in the field, including multiple awards and a broad clientele who swear by her techniques. Her expertise has been featured in numerous media outlets, and she frequently speaks at conferences, offering practical advice on achieving better sleep for children.
But Courtney’s prowess doesn’t stop at sleep consulting; she’s also a seasoned business coach, helping aspiring entrepreneurs turn their passion into a profitable business. She leverages her own entrepreneurial journey, as well as her background in corporate America, to guide start-ups and established businesses toward success. Whether she’s helping parents achieve a full night’s sleep or coaching business owners toward their financial goals, Courtney Zentz is a change-maker whose multifaceted expertise and empathetic approach make her a standout in both fields.