Find the Secret to Making Your Small Business a Booming Success!
Running a small business isn’t cakewalk, and it can be especially difficult if you are just starting out in the industry. As you move forward, unanticipated complications and roadblocks may appear out of nowhere. You may have to tackle such challenges every so often. Limited budget, manpower, and time are some of the factors that will make your job harder. As workload starts to increase and bills start to pile up, you may feel like you are losing the battle. However, with the help of a sturdy team and right set of modern technologies, you will be able to overcome hurdles and get closer to achieving your goals. Take a look at some of these technologies that today’s small businesses cannot do without:
#1 MailChimp
Functionality: Email Marketing
Approximate cost: Free with option to upgrade
MailChimp, the email marketing service, offers a Forever Free plan, which is great for users who have 2000 or less contacts. With this tool, you can send up to 12,000 email every month without having to spend a penny! And you won’t ever have to worry about the expiration of the plan. Signing up is easy. You don’t need provide credit card details to create a free account, and you can delete your account anytime you want. You will also have the option to upgrade your account right from your profile. Although the free plan offers a number of features, the premium version gives you access to even more!
#2 Canvas
Functionality: Turns paper based forms into mobile apps
Approximate cost: $50
Looking for a smarter, less expensive, and more eco-friendly replacement of paper based forms such as work orders, invoices, checklists and expense reports? With Canvas, you can turn these paper forms into mobile apps that you can access via your Smartphones and tablets. And it only takes a few minutes! Canvas apps have already become popular in various sectors such as construction, healthcare and education. Through these digital forms, you can collect information on the go, and also share the data securely with colleagues and customers.
#3 viClone
Functionality: Virtual agents for over-the-phone customer service
Approximate cost: Free trial
Struggling to tackle customer support related problems? When working with a stringent budget, maintaining a dedicated customer care team can be difficult. However, failing to attend to customers’ queries may result in loss of leads and sales. Since online customer care and phone support are so pricey, technology like viClone are the best option for small businesses. The virtual agents have been designed keeping small businesses in mind. viClone agents support over 35 languages, and they also have self-learning capabilities. You can configure your virtual agent to answer 15 to 25 frequently asked questions that your customers’ usually have. This way, you not only get to save money, but you also get to keep your customers satisfied!
#4 Hootsuite
Functionality: Social media management system
Approximate cost: Free with option to upgrade
An absolute must-have for small business owners, Hootsuite lets you manage your social media marketing activities. As a start-up, social media marketing must be one of your top priorities when it comes to branding. If you are active on platforms such Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn and so on, managing these accounts individually would take a lot of time and effort. Hootsuite lets you organize your efforts as you can manage all your social media accounts from one spot! Start with the free trial, then choose from the range of premium options.
Functionality: Blogging
Approximate cost: Free with option to upgrade
Tumblr and WordPress are the best blogging platforms that you can choose from. Today’s businesses, regardless of their size and reputation, maintain a blog where they post high quality and informative content to lure in potential buyers from search engines, social media sites and so on. Both the sites offer you great features at free of cost. If you find it worthwhile, you can later convert your free blog into a paid one.
Entrepreneurs today have lots to opportunities to make their small business grow. With these modern technologies, the journey towards success becomes a lot smoother. Stay tuned for more updates!
