What small business tools do you use in your work routine? From software with CD installation to SaaS, a lot has changed in the world of technology. And the business area was certainly one of the most benefited from this transformation.
As the nature of business has changed, so have the small business tools we need to work and serve our customers.
In this article, we have listed some online tools for small businesses that may be relevant for your business or if you are an entrepreneur just starting out.
✎ Tools for small businesses
We've separated our list of small business tools into categories so you can determine which areas are most relevant to you and your business.
As a small business owner you need to know how to handle a little bit of everything: marketing, web projects, graphic design, financial management, etc. So knowing some tools helps make the routine easier.
Collaboration tools
#1. Google Drive
Google Drive is an awesome small business tool for collaborating with your team members and customers. OK, it doesn't contain the extensive functionality that Microsoft Office has, but as a free tool, it's great to get started.
Plus, Google Drive's collaboration tools ensure you can share documents and spreadsheets with only the ones you want: just add and remove email addresses. email when you want.
Google Drive saves your work in real-time and, if you're offline, too, and syncs your changes when you're back online.
You can also add to google chrome extension in your browser to save work offline.
#two. slack
Slack is a messaging tool that can divide your work into channels and direct messages. Now, what's the difference to Skype you might ask?
Well, Slack can be integrated with many other tools (Google Docs is an example), thus simplifying your workflows.
Another advantage of Slack is that in-group channels you can send messages and direct them to a particular person - so that other people don't keep getting notified and interrupt your workflow.
Slack is free, so a valuable small business tool, but you can pay for more features.
web design tool
#3. Canva
Canva is another cool tool for creating images. It can be a free small business tool, but sometimes the best images have to be paid for.
If you use it often, it will be cheaper and more useful to pay the monthly subscription of $12.95 per month.
Another interesting advantage of Canvas is that you can create much more than images for the web. You can develop book covers, banners, calendars, brochures and much, much more.
Business administration and CRM tool
#4. sliptree
slipstree is a super easy to use invoicing tool that lets you create invoices in less than a minute.
All businesses need to invoice customers, wholesalers, and suppliers — even though it is an effort to create and send proper invoices to your accountants.
With Sliptree, you can customize your invoices with logos, correct rates, itemize your products or services, and even send it in multiple languages.
An amazing feature of Sliptree is that it allows you to track when your emails were opened, so you know if you should resend the invoice or collect payment.
Sliptree has a free and a paid version. If your bills are less than €1000 (approximately R$4,429.95) per month, you can stay on the free plan. For large billings, the unlimited functionality costs €19 (R$ 85) per month for the unlimited version.
#5. send pulse
Sendpulse CRM is a free tool for your marketing and sales.
From accepting orders, controlling the sales process, collecting data to building your own customer list and launching marketing campaigns — all this and much more in a single platform. You can store all the customer information you need to empower your marketing and sales teams in your CRM database.
Use your database to reach customers via email and messengers. In addition, you can optimize your sales, store data in a single place and have several integrations such as triggering emails, SMS and Chatbot.
#6. buffer
When you don't want or simply can't afford to pay a monthly subscription, why not use a buffer? It integrates with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ for free and has a paid version for Pinterest and Instagram.
While the free version is only 10 posts per week per platform (unless you subscribe to the paid version), it's a great free small business tool to get you started posting on social media.
advertising tool
#7. Facebook Ads
With internet advertising spending projected to reach$9.17 billion in 2019, a large portion of that amount will be on Facebook. Because?
Well, having a Facebook account is now almost as common as an email address and as you are constantly logged in - you can be easily reached by advertisers.
As a result, Facebook is a great way to promote your blog posts and products to new customers. By adding the Facebook pixel to your website, you can drive visitors to your website later, for example.
Also, unlike Google AdWords — Google's advertising tool — with Facebook Ads, you can target your audience. Segment by people in certain cities, activities, habits, and specific languages.
this is the best marketing strategy to stop ensuring your ads reach the right audience. Google is about what people are looking for, Facebook knows who people are.