Hasta La Creative!

Invoicing has quickly become a major time-consuming task that seems to takes away from the work that you actually get paid for doing in the first place. Now, added to the regular invoicing duties is the tracking of these same clients for various campaigns and projects, tracking new clients to fulfill their needs, tracking the slow-to-pay, all the while working on your personal touch with clients (this begins to feel like it is growing distant and sometimes lags.)

It doesn’t have to be that way if you take advantage of the growing toolbox full of online invoicing tools designed to help your advertising agency stay focused on the core business. Here are the top 10 online invoicing tools to consider:

Due

Due.com is a free online invoicing tool that offers many time tracking capabilities to account for all your time on each ad campaign. It also has customizable invoicing templates so you can brand the invoice to reinforce your advertising agency’s image in the mind of clients. These professional invoices provide a consistent way to deliver invoices straight to a client’s inbox while providing multi-choice arrangements for the client to pay as they wish, such as paying directly with a credit card or some other payment portal. Even if your clients are in other parts of the world, Due.com works effectively with over a hundred different currencies and tax systems.

Hiveage

This free invoicing system offers unlimited clients and invoicing capability. You can send customized estimates, invoices, reminders, and acknowledgements through the custom branding features. You can also add in discounts, taxes, and other costs like shipping. The invoices can be sent via email or as a downloadable PDF and include an option for accepting online payments. Other features and users can be added for small monthly or yearly subscription fees to help you when you are growing.

Invoice Machine

This online invoicing tool helps you pump out customized invoices in seconds with options for currency, taxes, languages, and notes. You will be able to see what has been paid and what is still outstanding. The tool is free for up to three invoices and estimates per month for one user. If you need to send more invoices, the next plan is $12 per month and allows for 30 invoices, 30 estimates, and two users. As you grow, you can opt for the $24 per month plan for 300 invoices, 300 estimates, and 10 users.

Invoiceable

This free online invoicing tool has an easy-to-read dashboard that puts all the information about your clients right in front of you with charts and reports that cover what has been paid and what is outstanding. You can access this tool from anywhere through an iPhone, iPad, or Android device. There are no limitations on the account that would require fees. Although each invoice will say, “Powered by Invoiceable,” you can opt to have this removed by paying a one-time fee.

Simple Invoices

This free, open source, and Web-based invoicing tool that was created by and continues to be enhanced by a community of developers that understand the invoice process. Since it is a browser-based application, it can be used from anywhere that has access to the Internet. The online invoicing tool is packed with features that provide a way to customize your invoices to what represents your company as well as send the invoices as a PDF. There are no monthly fees or subscriptions required to use this convenient and professional invoicing tool.

Zoho Invoicing

This online invoicing tool offers a time tracker with timer, customizable invoices, automatic payment reminders and acknowledgements, and online payment gateways. It is part of a larger solution that covers all types of features, such as email integration, project management, sales and marketing and more, which can be added on to create a larger customized solution for your business. If you are just looking for the online invoicing, Zoho is free for up to five customers and one user. You can select the next plan at $7 per month for 25 customers and one user or the $15 per month option, which allows for up to 500 customers and three users as well as recurring invoices and multi currency support.

Nutcache

Squirrel away that time you will save by using this free online, cloud-based invoicing tool, which offers significantly more in terms of the project management functionality that is included. Not only can you track time and produce an unlimited number of branded estimates and invoices that can be sent as a PDF or in Word, RTF, CSV or PowerPoint, but you can also use this platform to collaborate on projects and work. The free plan allows for two users, two companies, one active board, and one guest. For $14 per month, you can have two users, 10 active boards, and unlimited customers and guests as well as more storage.

Fusion Invoice

This is a self-hosted invoicing system that requires you to only pay once to purchase it and have it installed on your server. From there, all updates are available at no cost. There are unlimited clients, users, features, and more. Everything can be customized; data can be imported; multiple currencies can be offered; and recurring invoices can be set. Clients can view and pay their invoices online with built-in Stripe, Mollie, and PayPal integrations.

Invoice Ocean

Dive into convenient online invoicing with this tool that is designed with a cloud-based, intuitive interface that is accessible anywhere and learns as you invoice to provide an enhanced service. It provides for four different user accounts with variable features. You can issue receipts as well as use multiple languages and currencies. It is free for three invoices per month with unlimited clients, and email invoices. For $9 per month, you can upgrade to unlimited invoices and clients.

Wave Invoicing

Known for its accounting and payroll software, Wave now offers a free cloud-based invoicing tool that allows you to create branded invoices from anywhere while accepting credit card payments. Other features include multiple templates, automated reminders, recurring invoicing, multiple currencies, and the option to email an invoice or send it as a PDF.

Final Thoughts

These ten invoicing tools are just the top of a very long list of online tools now available, with many more options out there that might fit your specific requirements. With so many choices for invoicing, there is no excuse not to update your agency’s invoicing process to simplify, advertise while invoicing, track all things trackable, and speed payments.

Let one of these systems do the work for you so you can focus on the creativity, ideas, knowledge, and services that define your ad agency.

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Wheaties is wheat cereal. Hefeweizen is wheat beer. Now, General Mills has done the inevitable and created a Wheaties-branded Hefeweizen in partnership with Minneapolis craft brewery Fulton.

“We were intrigued from the get-go on this idea for many reasons, including that we’re both Minneapolis companies, and that the beer and the cereal both started from the same place in terms of raw ingredients and the same city,” Fulton president and co-founder Ryan Petz says in this General Mills blog post.

“We had been sampling a number of Hefeweizens, so we had been discussing with the Wheaties team what we liked,” says Petz. “Someone on the team said HefeWheaties, and it kind of sprung out from there.”

Everything from the recipe to the can design was a collaboration, which came about simply because some General Mills employees are friends with some of the folks at Fulton. (Petz even worked at General Mills for a while.)

At least for now, you’ll have to travel to Minnesota to sample the stuff. Beginning Aug. 26, it will be available in the Twin Cities market in 4-pack cans of 16oz. tallboys. it won’t be available for shipment or purchase outside Minnesota.

“We’ll see how people react to it,” says Petz. “If it’s something everybody loves, we’ll obviously consider doing it again in a bigger and more widely distributed way in the future.”

Amazon is in the business of selling ads on others’ sites that point back to Amazon.com, but it’s stepping away from the business of selling ads on Amazon.com that link to outside sites.

By October 31, Amazon will stop running so-called “Product Ads” that other retailers can use to promote products on Amazon.com that the e-commerce giant doesn’t actually sell on its site, an Amazon spokeswoman confirmed. Marketing Land first reported news of Amazon’s move on Tuesday.

Brands were able to use these ads to promote their own sites’ product catalogs to people who were browsing similar products on Amazon’s site. In place of these Product Ads, Amazon is starting to test new Text Ads that serve the same purpose as its Product Ads but remove the visual imagery that might make them more likely to catch Amazon shoppers’ eyes.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Macy’s is pairing with Hong Kong-based Fung Retailing Limited to bring the U.S. department-store chain to China, the companies announced on Wednesday. The joint venture will begin with an e-commerce pilot on Alibaba Group’s Tmall Global, an online marketplace where foreign brands and merchants can sell to Chinese consumers. The deal will bring a curated assortment of Macy’s merchandise to China later this year.

“We are very excited to be working with such a great partner to begin to build a business at one of the world’s largest and fastest growing consumer marketplaces,” said Karen Hoguet, chief financial officer at Macy’s, on a conference call. “Our game plan is to start small and use a test-and-learn approach as we move forward.”

The effort aims to expand the Cincinnati-based retailer’s global presence and make it more recognizable to Chinese expats and tourists visiting the U.S. “We also believe that by increasing the presence of Macy’s in China, we will actually help our business here as well, both with Chinese tourists as well as Chinese residents,” said Ms. Hoguet.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

AT&T is promoting its acquisition of DirecTV with an ad campaign that will bow Aug. 15 during the PGA Championship on CBS.

In the 60-second spot, titled “Times Square,” AT&T depicts memorable movie clips playing on a variety of screens to summon up a future where content is delivered anywhere. “AT&T and DirecTV are now one, bringing your television and wireless together and taking entertainment to places you’d never imagine,” an announcer says. The spot was directed by Rupert Sanders and created by Grey.

The goal is to explain to consumers how the merger of AT&T and DirecTV will help its customers stay connected to their favorite entertainment, according to an AT&T spokesman.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Dear Major Brands,

Please stop advertising on pirate websites that profit from stolen creative works. They harm individual creatives and contribute nothing to the creative economy. It’s bad for our business, your brand and audiences.

Thank you,

Continue reading at AdAge.com