The digital landscape is the all-encompassing term for software, hardware, content and environments that help businesses to promote their products and services to customers. It includes the likes of email, websites, mobile devices, social networks, video publishing and much more.
As a small business, on top of the initial business plan set ups, navigating the digital landscape can be quite tricky, because with so many applications and platforms out there, it can be difficult to tell which ones are most beneficial to your organisation.
But fear not. We are here to help!
In this post, we’ll outline eight essential tools that all small businesses should consider adopting. The more of them you can integrate into your daily operation, the more streamlined, sustainable and profitable it is likely to be over the long term.
1. Professional Business Phone Number
For any small business, it would be a wise idea to get a business number with Teleca.
Having a professional, uniform number, such as one starting with 1300, can provide your organisation with several benefits. For instance, it can make it easier for any prospective customer in Australia to get in contact with you, irrespective of how many offices you may open. Similarly, there would be no disruption should you ever decide to relocate to anywhere in the country.
This type of service can also provide you with valuable data insights in terms of statistics that relate to the length of each call you received, when people phoned your company and where they did this from.
Ultimately, this information could be used to measure how successful an advertising or marketing campaign has been.
2. Website
Websites are critical for businesses these days and thanks to the likes of content management systems like WordPress, Wix and Joomla, they have become easy to set up yourself without relying on a professional web developer.
Similarly, e-Commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce has empowered businesses to sell their products and services through alternative channels other than a physical store location.
This, in turn, is making companies more accessible to a wider customer base both domestically and abroad and provides them with more opportunity to make sales, and therefore establish a greater presence in the marketplace.
3. Website Analytics
Having a website is one thing, but understanding its potential is another thing entirely.
Thankfully, platforms like Google Analytics can provide businesses with valuable insights into them by generating reports on metrics such as website traffic, conversions and user behaviour.
Small businesses can then use this information to optimise the performance of their website, assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and identify specific areas they can improve.
4. Project Management Software
When you run your own small business there are always a million and one things to do. For this reason, it pays to be organised.
One of the best ways to do this is to use cloud-based project management software programmes like Asana, Trello or Monday.com.
They can assist you in organising your tasks, tracking the overall progress of projects and collaborating more effectively with your staff. Congruently, it frees up your time and enables you to be more productive and efficient.
5. CRM System
Without customers you won’t have a business for long. So, it is vital to develop strong relationships with them.
In this respect, Customer Relationship Marketing platforms like Zoho, HubSpot and Salesforce can go a long way towards helping you do that by automating the way customer data is accumulated.
This information can then be used to personalise marketing campaigns, increase conversions and enhance your overall levels of customer service.
6. Social Media Management Tools
If social media is not already a massive part of your promotional mix, then it should be.
Social media marketing has a number of significant benefits for small businesses, including establishing trust in your brand, building a community, displaying a level of brand authenticity and enabling word-of-mouth.
Therefore, you should make a concerted effort to build a presence on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X (Formerly Twitter).
There are a number of content creation tools like Canva that can help you to develop posts or videos for your social platforms. Additionally, social media management tools like Hootsuite, Buffer and Sprout Social can help you to stay active by scheduling posts, monitoring social media activity, and comparing your performance across several different platforms.
7. Email Marketing Platforms
Email is an excellent way to keep your business front-of-mind with customers. It allows you to inform them of important company updates, new products, special offers and encourages feedback.
There are several email marketing platforms including Constant Contact, Mailchimp, or Sendinblue which allows small businesses to develop and schedule email campaigns, which can be segmented by audience.
They can also help you to analyse the performance if any given campaign to further increase conversions and build customer loyalty over future activities.
8. Accounting Software
All businesses need to maintain accounts and submit tax returns, which for a small business owner can be very time consuming.
Thankfully, accounting software like Xero, QuickBooks or FreshBooks can simplify this process significantly by automating tasks such as invoicing, expense tracking, and tax reporting.
For small businesses, these tools can be a vital way to maintain accurate financial records and keep track of their financial health.
