In this end-of-the-minute era running a small business is a bit overwhelming. From managing the operations to delivering the customer your best product/service, many other things play a significant role in the success of your business.
To be honest, there are always fewer helping hands compared to the requirements of the business. Thus, having some tools to help you through your work could bring a paradigm shift in the triumph of your business. Here, we will discuss a few points regarding the tools and how they are useful for small businesses.
Benefits of Investing in Small Business Tools
With a boom in the small business industries, business owners could now enjoy investing in tools that could help them manage remote teams, scale customer-driven experiences and get a better return on their investment. Out of many, here are two main reasons that could persuade you to put your money into some relevant tools:
- Cutting down the costs
Believe it or not, using tools could reduce your dependence on hiring employees. The cost of onboarding a new hire could drain your organization of some valuable money when you could get the same tasks performed more efficiently by software.
- Streamline monotonous tasks
With the onset of technology, we have been able to focus more on creative and strategic works while leaving the repetitive tasks for AI-based tools. Nowadays, organizations depend upon automated chatbots to deliver upfront customer service, which has helped them achieve great customer satisfaction.
With several other decisions, choosing the most relevant software/tool for your business to flourish requires an hour.
Key Tools for Small Businesses to Try
Here in this article, we have created a list of tools/software that could help small businesses, whether a start-up or a well-established firm.
So, let’s take a look at them!
1. Trello
When it comes to running a successful business, management and organisations are the pioneers. Although using different strategies like making a to-list or following a calendar could help you achieve your short-term goals, running a business on these approaches is quite impossible.
Trello is one tool that helps you manage all your projects across various teams. Trello keeps you updated on your project’s daily course of action, from assigning tasks to tracking the process.
Key Features
- A detailed overview on the front & back of the cards
- Data filtering
- Customization and organization using labels, tags and due dates
- Activity history logs
- Compatible file uploads
- Mobile optimization
Pricing Structure
- Free plan available
- Standard – $5/user/month
- Premium – $10/user/month
- Enterprise – $17.50/user/month
2. Slack
For any business to run smoothly, communication is the fundamental key. From conveying clear messages and strategies to delivering the optimum results, communication helps every member of an organisation to stay on the same page.
Slack is a collaboration tool for sharing real-time updates internally in a workspace. The tool enables the ability to search, archive and share files across your team members in groups and private channels. With recent updates, Slack has also introduced video calls which help to enhance communication more efficiently.
The most important feature is the integrations the tool offers. With Slack, you can integrate 2,400 applications and work much faster as you have everything inside a single application.
Key Features
- User-friendly interface
- Two-factor authentication
- Data security
- Conversation channels
- Integrations
- Private groups
- Voice/video calls
Pricing Structure
- Free plan available
- Pro plan – $8/user/month
- Business + plan – $12.50/user/month
3. Google Workspace
One of the most important free tools for small business owners is Google Workspace. The tool is developed to provide instant connectivity through various files for business collaboration.
From maintaining the database to sharing the files across your teams, Google Workspace brings immense ease to your daily operations. Google Workspace also offers a 24/7 tech support team which can be reached through email, phone or chat.
Key Features
- Digital whiteboard
- Corporate emailing
- Private and shared calendars
- Audio and video conferencing
- Content management
- Database management
- Cloud storage
- Presentation and seminar creation
- Forms and surveys
Pricing Structure
- Free plan available
- Business plan – $10/user/month
- Basic plan – $5/user/month
- Enterprise plan – $25/user/month
- Team plan – $10/user/month
4. ProofHub
So you’ve got a small business and more than one employee. You know how important it is to keep everyone on the same page, including communicating with your clients. But between one meeting, email thread, and task list buried under all the never-ending projects on your plate, getting tasks done quickly is going to be hard. Enter ProofHub.
ProofHub is an all-in-one project management and team collaboration tool which helps everyone in the organization to stay on top of their work. It has basic features to plan, navigate, and execute your tasks and advanced features for well-run teams, such as task management, metrics, goal management, time tracking and more.
Key Features
- Task management
- Time tracking
- Chat and discussions
- Reporting
- Proofing tools
- Mentions
- Workflow management
- Custom fields
- Request forms
- White-labeling
- Project templates
- Gantt Charts
- Milestones
Pricing Structure
Essential Plan: $45 per user/month when billed annually
Ultimate Control Plan: $89 per user/month when billed annually
5. Titan
Titan is a business email service that is designed for small businesses to create deeper customer relationships. Features like Schedule Send, Read Receipts and Priority Inbox are provided to help Titan customers to streamline productivity. It is the highest-rated email on G2 with a rating of 4.8 and it also ranks in the top 5 platforms for business email.
Key Features
- Follow-up Reminders – It can be set to remind the users to follow up in case of no reply.
- Email Templates – Allows users to re-use frequently sent emails. This helps users in saving time while sending repeated emails such as follow-ups or meeting reminders.
- Schedule Send – Allows users to schedule emails to be sent at convenient times.
- Read Receipts – Notifies users when their email has been opened—perfect for knowing when to follow up.
Pricing Structure
- Through various Titan partners, Titan offers a free trial and has two pricing plans.
- Titan Business Pro at $2 per month
- Titan Business Premium at $2.45 per month
6. Cloudtalk
CloudTalk is a contact center management solution that enables businesses to streamline communications with teams and customers using virtual call systems. It allows executives to manage inbound/outbound calls, extract interaction history from various sources and provide personalized support to clients.
It bundles everything you could ever want from a cloud-based VoIP solution into a neat, remotely-accessible package. Click-to-call, power dialer, call recording, 40+ tool integrations – CloudTalk got it all. And with its advanced call tagging and reporting capabilities, you can rest assured knowing your call center is running at maximum efficiency.
One of the biggest benefits is the integration with globally used systems (e.g. HubSpot, Zendesk, Salesforce, Intercom, and Freshdesk), where companies have all the data in one place and are always up to date.
Key Features
- Interactive voice response
- Call masking
- Power dialer
- Call dialer
- Call monitoring
- Automatic call distribution
- Call forwarding
- Voicemail drop
Pricing Structure
- Free trial available
- Starter – 25
- Essential – 30
- Expert – 50
- Custom – based on your customization
7. Mailchimp
There is no denying this conviction that even with the onset of Social media taking over significance in promoting small businesses, good old email is still preferred by most business owners. Around 93% of B2B marketers prefer email over other channels to distribute their content.
Mailchimp is one such platform that allows you to share customized and personalised emails across your customer base while maintaining your professional boundaries. The tool offers a number of templates for you to choose from and helps your schedule and automate promotional emails, making it a valuable part of your email marketing strategy.
Key Features
- Custom forms
- Reports and analytics
- Campaign archives
- Reports
- Email templates
- Merge tags
- Integration
- Multi-user accounts
Pricing Structure
- Free plan available
- Grow plan – starts at $10/month
- Pro plan – starts at $199/month
8. Notion
The most common struggle that any business faces daily is organisation. Even when you have all the essential tasks in front of you, prioritizing them according to your business need is what makes a difference.
Notion started being recognised as a note-taking platform but gradually made its way up and is now considered one of the best organisation tools available. The tool could be used for anything ranging from creating company wikis to delegating tasks and managing calendars with automated reminders.
Key Features
- Management and planning
- Collaborations
- Documentation
- Calendar management
- Single sign-on integrations
- Accessibility
Pricing Structure
- Personal free trial available
- Personal pro plan – $4/month
- Team plan – $8/user/month
- Enterprise – $25/user/month
9. Visme
Visual presentation plays a very important role in creating brand awareness. Small businesses try to hire a graphic designer to fulfill their social media marketing strategies, but this might add up the cost of the operation.
Tools like Visme help small business owners in content creation for data visualization and presentation. The tool helps in generating compelling and engaging content to attract maximum customers. From collaborating on team projects to streamlining the content, Visme helps achieve great brand engagement across social media.
Key Features
- Document templates
- Graphics and charts
- Customer activity reports
- Project templates
- Offline mode
- Social media marketing
- User interface
Pricing Structure
- Free plan available
- Personal plan – $12.25/month
- Business plan – $24.75/month
10. Zoho CRM
In any business, small or large, the only goal is to provide the customer with the best product/service and relationships with customers are now more important than ever. Thus, gone are the days when you could have survived without a CRM.
One of the best CRM available in the market is Zoho CRM, designed to get, retain, and satisfy customers to expand the business. From automating daily activities to monitoring sales and engaging clients on various platforms, Zoho CRM helps you get real-time updates on all your projects.
Key Features
- Competitive analysis
- CRM workflow management
- Manage the sales funnel
- Import and promote sales opportunities
- 360-degree business overview
- Integrations
Pricing Structure
- Free plan available
- Standard plan – $12/user/month
- Professional plan – $20/user/month
- Enterprise plan – $35/user/month
11. Buffer
The unique benefit of social media marketing is that it helps you connect with your audience and attract your specific niche. Buffer is one such tool that enables you to simplify your social media management.
The application helps you share your content across several social media platforms and allows you to schedule your posts according to the flexibility to reach your target audience. Buffer also contains a browser extension for connecting to WordPress, RSS reader, Chrome and other tools for content.
Key Features
- RSS feed connectivity
- iOS and Android support
- Customized scheduling
- Profile management
- Multi-media format sharing
- Social media analysis
Pricing Structure
- Free plan available
- Pro plan – $15/month
- Small business plan – $99/month
- Medium business – $199/month
- Large business – $399/month
12. Freshdesk
Every business should have a help desk solution to solve their communication challenges. Freshdesk is a software used to meet the ends of both small as well as large businesses. A cloud-hosted help desk solution equipped with best-in-class features for delivering a quality customer experience.
Freshdesk helps acquire feedback and generate an analysis for you to improve your product or service according to your customer’s requirements. This enhances customer retention and also helps in generating word-of-mouth publicity.
Key Features
- Feedback mechanism
- Customized reports
- Customer segmentation
- IP and network restrictions
- Knowledge base
- Surveys and reports
Pricing Structure
- Free plan available
- Sprout plan – $15/month
- Blossom plan – $19/month
- Garden plan – $29/month
- Estate plan – $49/month
- Forest plan – $79/month
13. Wix
Does your small business need a website? Yes, it definitely does, and there is no better software to help you develop an essential website with the minimum hustle. With Wix, you could develop and design your own high-quality website. Whether promoting your store, starting a blog or showcasing your services, Wix helps you portray the best of your business.
With more than 100s of templates, you could create a basic version of a website without any technical coding. You could also choose your website hosting and domain names from Wix.
Key Features
- Landing page templates
- Drag and drop website editor
- Image Editor
- Mobile friendly services
- Stock images
- Custom domain
- Email marketing
- HTML embed code
Pricing Structure
- Free plan available
- Connect domain plan – $4.50/month
- Combo plan – $8.50/month
- Unlimited plan – $12.50/month
- eCommerce plan – $16.50/month
- VIP plan – $24.50/month
14. NAKIVO Backup & Replication
When creating a data-driven organization (which means any functioning organization today), setting up centralized data backup is a top priority task. In case you use, for example, Hyper-V VMs to optimize hardware usage and improve cost-efficiency in your small organization, the Hyper-V backup solution from NAKIVO can help you ensure control of your data, even in worst-case scenarios.
Key Features:
- Incremental image-based app-aware Hyper-V backup
- Simple administration with automated workflows, custom policies, scripts and API integration
- Multiple backup destinations: onsite, offsite, public cloud, and tape
- Immutability to protect backup data from ransomware
- Instant recovery of full VMs as well as individual files and app objects
- Web-based interface accessible from any location
- Security features
Pricing Structure:
- Free Trial and Free Edition versions are available
- The choice between perpetual and subscription license
- Starting at $229 per socket for perpetual licenses
- Starting at $2.50 per workload/month for subscription licenses
Wrapping Up
Without hiring experts, you could still run some successful tasks while depending upon some of the above tools and save on your operational costs. While just implementing the tools might not guarantee success but will surely help you make strategic decisions for the business.
Author Bio:
Kruti Shah is a content writer and marketer at The Marketing Drama. She loves to write about insights on current trends in Technology, Business and Marketing. In her free time, she loves baking and watching Netflix. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
