Are you a small business owner or an entrepreneur just starting off?
Great! Like other entrepreneurs, you too must be considering boosting your business while keeping expenses as low as possible.
However, there are some inevitable costs that you cannot rule out, but you can minimize the overheads by using the best tools.
We have created a list of startup tips & tools that will not only minimize your overhead but also give your business the much-needed boost.
Let’s have a look —
Before kicking your business ideas off the ground and MVP launch, you need to name your business and give it a visual identity. A logo helps the target audience identify your brand. It communicates to them about who you are as a business and what you do.
For startups, designing a personalized logo is a costly affair. It will cost you hundreds and thousands of dollars to get a brandmark of your choice. Seeking help from a freelancer or illustrator may feel heavy on your pocket. So, the best way to cut back costs is to resort to a free online logo designer app.
Online logo maker tool is available online on many sites like Designhill, GS Logo Creator, Looka, Tailor Brands, and more. You can pick anyone based on your suitability and start designing. For this tool, you don't have to be a designer. All you need to do is pick a logo template, choose the relevant colors, and follow the guidelines suggested by the tool.
Some online logo maker tools provide downloads for as low as $99, while others offer a free download of the basic logo version.
For any organization, communication is a key management component. It doesn't matter whether you want to update employees about new policies or inform them of something important; effective communication fosters effective management. Unfortunately, for many businesses, it's an arduous task to bring everyone on a single platform.
Slack has turned out to be the best tool for group and company communications. Here, you can have everything in one place. Hence, it saves everyone’s time and frees you from creating a hefty email and sending everyone separately. It comes with a mobile and desktop app version that’s easy to set up.
For premium users, the tool has a voice and video call option as well.
It has both a freemium and premium model. It depends on you, which one you choose.
When you have to keep track of your goals, deadlines, and works, one tool that comes in handy is — Trello. It is a collaboration tool that you can use to organize your projects into boards.
In just a single glance, you can know what's your team working on, who is working on which project, and whether something is in progress or not. It looks like a whiteboard filled with many sticky notes. Each note represents a task either for you or your team.
For example if you are embarking on running a test as a team, to do test management right, you need to communicate with everyone on a single channel. That's Slack for you.
So, when you want to organize work, resort to Trello!
And if you're looking for an app that offers more functionality, then look for a powerful alternative to Trello.
Additionally, if you're following an agile project management methodology like Scrum, you may consider using scrum collaboration tools like Standuply or Jira to enhance your team's productivity and collaboration.
File sharing plays a big part in any business. With online document collaboration, you can allow people to work together. It also lets you keep your files organized without the risks of data leaks or long mail trails.
Dropbox works as the best option for file sharing and storage. It is available in both desktop and mobile versions. You can use it to make user lists and give them access to specific folders.
It also allows you to manage sharing permissions. If required, you can stop Dropbox synching anytime and add extra layers of protection. You can use their free trial version to start off.
Email marketing may look like a thing of the past, but it isn’t. Still, it is as effective as other marketing ideas. It matters to your business, and it is capable of giving you an edge over your competitors.
With the help of a well-made email campaign, you can build a new customer base, open up new markets, and foster a long-term relationship with customers.
AWeber is an email marketing tool that leverages an AI-powered design assistant for creating attractive landing pages, newsletters, and emails in just a few clicks.
The tool comes with essential marketing features such as campaign automation, list builder, and data reporting.
Staying active on social media is vital for every company, especially startups. It bridges the gap between the company and its customers while attracting new ones. Hootsuite and other Hootsuite alternatives are the best tool to save time and effort in managing your social profiles.
It is one of the most preferred social media marketing tools. What makes it more popular is its affordable pricing plans and easy-to-use UI.
It allows you to schedule thirty posts across any social networking platform under its free plan. The tool also helps you measure the ROI and keep track of the impacts, all under one roof.
Video conferencing in today's time is of utmost importance. It not only boosts productivity, reduces travel costs, saves time, but also promotes collaboration.
Moreover, video conferencing doesn't require you to travel constantly for face-to-face communication.
In this regard, one tool that comes as a respite for business owners is — Zoom. It is one of the most preferred video conferencing apps available in the market. With its free plan, you can host unlimited 1:1 meetings with 100 participants. You also get custom meeting IDs along with an HD screen-sharing facility.
Stay linked together with your clients over the telecellsmartphone even as minimizing calling fees with CallHippo. Perfect for small and mid-sized businesses, CallHippo is a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) device that guarantees easy online calls inside and out of the doors of your organization.
CallHippo permits you to shop local virtual phone numbers from over 50+ countries. It additionally integrates with 85+ third-party tools, inclusive of Zapier, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics.
With advanced features like VoIP number and real-time reporting, CallHippo improves your team’s productivity and efficiency.
Another vicinity CallHippo excels at is it's easy-to-use, intuitive interface on each its net and cell app. You don’t want any technical talents to function the VoIP system. In fact, you may get commenced inside 3 minutes.
TimeDoctor is the tool that helps you manage your employees' productivity. It tracks the total amount of time people spend on a job. You can also get an analytical breakdown of every task and project.
As the tool is accurate, you can easily bill your clients or pay your employees based on their track timings.
TimeDoctor comes with a 14-day free trial, and then it charges $10 per user every month.
Smart Upscaler by Icons8 is a powerful tool designed to give small businesses and startups a significant boost in visual content enhancement. This innovative software empowers you to easily upscale images, ensuring they maintain their quality.
With this image upscaler, you can enhance your marketing materials, and product visuals with ease, making your business stand out in the competitive market. Say goodbye to pixelated graphics and hello to high-resolution images.
It's the perfect solution for elevating your visual content game. Just drag an image into the upscaler and pick from 4x or 8x enlargement. You now have a larger, sharper image.
There you got it! We have created this list of tools for startups after thorough research. Each of the tools mentioned in this list is beneficial for keeping your operations quick and convenient. These tools help you maximize your business potential and boost ROI.
Using these tools wisely, you can take your business to the next level and accelerate your growth.
Henny Kel is a digital marketer, brand consultant, and business strategist with Designhill, a reliable marketplace for logo design, business cards, web design, T-shirt printing, and other graphic design products. With extensive experience working both client side and within the agency environment, he has authored several articles on topics related to digital marketing, business strategies, and content marketing. To learn more, connect with Henny on Twitter or LinkedIn.