Running a small business is hard work. Many struggle with cashflow, they often lack basic tech infrastructure, and just 40% are profitable. Despite this, entrepreneurs tend to be optimistic about their business prospects, and there are countless tools that can help them build their businesses. These platforms are perfect for any small business seeking to upgrade their operations, drive profit, and plan for the long-term, and they won’t break the bank in the process.
Start With A Website
Despite the fact that the average millennial grew up on HTML, research shows that only 64% of small businesses have their own website. Sure, they might have a social media presence, but those are much harder for potential clients to navigate, limit your company’s options for online sales, and generally lack the polish and professionalism of a website. Still, that doesn’t mean your business needs to go all in on a design firm if you don’t have a big budget for such a project right now.
No, if you need to build a website to market your business, you might consider a simple drag and drop option like Wix, which offers professional templates, plenty of storage, and affordable monthly plans. Though there are plenty of website builders available today, others – like the classic WordPress – are harder for novice designers to navigate. Start simple, and grow from there.
Keep Track Of Clients
Your clients are the heart of your business, and it’s important that you keep tabs on their history with you: appointments, past purchases, booking preferences, and all the other personal touches that keep them coming back. Get that information in order today with Yocale’s appointment scheduling and client management platform. Even better, their basic platform for a single location and limited staff is free, while still supporting extensive bookings, Google Listing compatibility, and more. They even offer industry specific tools, enabling more targeted customer management.
Upgrade Your Email
Email communications are critical to a successful business, but let’s be honest – everyone is overwhelmed by them and struggling with their inboxes. That means if you send out hard to read or poorly branded messages, no one is going to read them. With that in mind, one of the best tools you could have at your disposal is MailChimp, a scalable email marketing platform equipped with advanced analytics, and ready for any size operation. At the most basic level, it performs key tasks like tracking how many recipients open their emails, while also offering more complex promotional options like targeted product recommendation emails.
Monitor Your Money
As noted at the outset, many small businesses struggle with cashflow, and the best solution is better money management software. So, what’s the best way to capture your operation’s financial picture? There are several good options, of which QuickBooks and FreshBooks are two of the most popular. FreshBooks is particularly valuable if your business does a lot of invoicing, while QuickBooks offers extensive compatibility options in terms of other popular business programs.
The number of software options available to small businesses today can easily feel overwhelming, but the key is to ensure that you have the right tools for the tasks you need to complete. In other words, don’t overload yourself with programs, but make sure you have the tools you need – because you’ve got work to do.
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