15 Tools To Manage Your Business Digitally!
Having the ability and infrastructure to work from home is more important now than ever. As a business owner, you must make money and maintain your operations, reputation and cash flow on-site and at home. A successful entrepreneur often has a home office but how much of those operations are based out of that location? At Center Stage Social, we believe that it’s our job to help empower business owners with the tools they need to build a successful, fully automated brand using current digital technology, techniques, and strategies; we feel that it’s important to educate and support every business owner for the ever-changing-world of entrepreneurship. We consider our agency a critical asset to your businesses success, moreover, we use many of these same tools ourselves as we work for you and help build your success for your brand. We understand times are tough and your business may be on a budget, so here are 15 Tools To Manage Your Business Digitally.
VIDEO/CONFERENCE
Zoom
Zoom is an enterprise video communication platform that connects businesses, employees, students, or basically anyone, digitally. This web-based platform is powered by a cloud, so reliability and security is always top-notch. Zoom is not only great for one-on-one video calls but, multi-video conferencing, audio calls, chat and webinars. Zoom is perfect for small, medium, or large business owners who specialize in services like: Private tutoring, Fitness training, Musical Lessons & More. With this platform, you’ll be able to offer online courses, events, and more to your clients – paid and free.
Whereby
Like Zoom, Whereby is a video conferencing platform, however this isn’t it’s main or most useful feature. Whereby allows users to screen share, record and more. Making revising and employee contributions capable from anywhere around the world. Unlike Zoom, it’s fairly easy to create a room that is accessible to anyone with the provided link, free of cost. Whereby makes working from any location a breeze and is a great tool for small & medium sized business owners who utilize freelancers or contractors.
WebinarJam
WebinarJam easy-to-use platform makes this video/conferencing software perfect for business owners with little to no knowledge of technology. This platform comes with other key features such as: social media integration, pop ups, automatic recording, auto responding and much more. Even though Webinarjam isn’t free, with a low rate of $41/month – it won’t break the bank.Webinars are a great alternative to person-to-person contact, so you can literally teach anything you want, from the comfort of your couch. If you’re looking to expand your business online and offer more content to audiences around the world, don’t hesitate to research any of these video/conferencing tools.
PRODUCTIVITY
Trello
This project management application is awesome for managing your team’s progress of projects and tasks. Trello is ideal for business planning, staying organized, delegating and prioritizing tasks. Centralize your information in one platform with trello by allowing documents, links, resource pages & more to be easily accessible by your employees. If you’re the type of business owner that likes to keep a paper trail of your project’s progress – trello is the tool for you.
Slack
To a typical business owner, Slack and Trello may seem like the same platform. However, to a business owner that’s keen to the many ways of managing a business digitally, Trello and Slack aren’t competitors, but allies. Trello is used for keeping track of a specific project’s progress, Slack is used to discuss said projects. If you’re keeping track of your brand’s progress on Trello, it’s important to communicate about it amongst your staff, from every level.. With the option of creating separate channels, you can have organized discussions with your team, on any topic; in one place.
Toggl
Managing your business digitally can be time-consuming, especially if you’re not an organized business owner to begin with. That’s ok, because with programs like Toggl – keeping track of your time, and your employee’s has become easier. As digital marketers, we tend to work all over the world, on several tasks at once, on different time schedules; keeping track of time is crucial. Toggle is a free time-tracking software which allows you to track the time you put into any project or task and even helps you determine how much your time is worth. If you’re a busy owner, never worry about how many hours your employees or contracts are putting in again, with software like this, you’ll never fall short on how to manage your business digitally.
G Suite
From Spreadsheets to website analytics, Google’s G Suite has it all and is a great addition to every digital home office. G Suite offers an array of products which can come in handy if you’re trying to manage your brand on a digital scale. For instance, this blog was written in Google Docs, we keep track of our website’s analytics using Google Search Console & Analytics – all products of G Suite. The capabilities of G Suite don’t stop here, make productivity within your business easier across all boards, share your ideas, documents, presentations, etc. amongst your staff, right from your couch. .G Suite allows you to give Key Members of your business access to critical information, so no more sending emails, faxes; no more hassle
CRM/AUTOMATION
Salon Iris
Tons of beauty brands are failing to utilize the right customer relationship management software within their business, which ultimately ends with failure. if a CRM isn’t implemented, we highly recommend one like Salon Iris. This Customer Relationship Management Software is equipped with all the tools to aid any small, medium, or large business owner who may be managing their business at home. From appointment scheduling, credit card processing, to analytics – Salon Iris is a one-stop shop to all your business needs. Never fall short in marketing efforts again, with Salon Iris, you’ll have access to industry-leading marketing techniques like: SMS messaging, Email Automation and more. This CRM is great for permanent makeup artists, hair salons, spas, and yoga trainers. Salon Iris is both a software & a hardware, so all critical information is kept in-house, where it’s safe!
Copper
Copper is ideal for restaurants, fitness clubs, or any business for that matter. It’s powered by Google & G Suite, so there’s tons of integrations & add-ons available for full customization. This makes it easier for any business owner who works from home, to manage their brand digitally. Running a fast-past industry requires a reliable CRM, never forget a task or reminder and be certain that yours and your clients information is safe with the security of Google
Mautic
Businesses use Salon Iris or Copper to capture and organize sales leads. With Mautic, owners can track not only known leads, but unknown leads as well. This automation platform allows you to turn any lead into recurring customers via various processes like triggers, campaigns, lead scoring & more – with a complimenting business strategy, of course. Nurture consumers who interact with your business digitally, right from home, automatically. Mautic is an open-source software, so that means it’s always evolving to better it’s community. With the ability to integrate other APIs into mautic, your automation system will be fully customized to your brand. Send emails, reputation management campaigns, sms messages & reminders automatically; collect form data from any form that’s filled out on your website, with no data entry time spent. Make scaling back your business possible with the power of mautic. If you’re looking for more ways to optimize your time while working from home, check out this blog here
ZenDesk
ZenDesk is not just a CRM, it’s a powerful management software capable of handling more than just your sales. This software is equipped with internal support – making customer service easy and most importantly, easy for your customers to use. For instance, if a customer is having trouble navigating your site, or buying a particular product that you offer, they’re able to chat with a real-time agent, or automatic bots for those times when staff is low. The ability to have such a great customer service tool under your belt is what gives this customer relationship software edge; make sure to check this platform out and the others listed if you’re looking for ways to manage your business digitally.
CONTENT CREATION
Canva
Design is a big part of what we do here at Center Stage Social, so in order to optimize our time – we use content creation platforms like Canva. This designing tool is capable of a lot of things, especially when there’s not enough money to hire a graphic designer. Canva is easy to use, desktop & mobile friendly, and has tons of templates which make creating your next social graphic a breeze. This tool does not, however, offer strategy – so be cautious when creating content for your business and make sure it’s compelling whilst matching the aesthetic of your brand. Canva’s a great alternative for Adobe Creative Suite or any other industry-leading design software – and it’s free.
Unsplash
Another reason why people hire us for their design projects is because we use top-quality images provided by Unsplash. From beauty imagery to landscape photography, Unsplash has all the stock imagery you need, and it’s completely free to use, so never worry about using a copyrighted image again. Now you can make stunning graphics with high-resolution photography that your audience will appreciate. Every photograph available on Unsplash is taken by people all over the world, using different mediums. Sign up is completely free and optional, but be sure to always thank the artist for their contribution by reposting the provided link of their profile, from Unsplash – optional as well. Don’t think that you need an industry-leading photographer to have great content for your business, now you’ll be able to manage your brand from home, with that professional look you desire!
Placeit
Placeit is perfect for running your business digitally. If you have a busy schedule and don’t have time to create content for your business social media profiles, this platform is just what you need. With this content creation platform, you’ll have access to thousands of graphic design templates for your Instagram stories, Facebook pages, Pinterest pins & more. Placeit even offers video templates that are great for YouTube, Tiktok, and Snapchat videos. With all of these templates at your disposal, you’ll always stay relevant with engaging content to offer your audience, and grasp the attention of new customers.
ECOMMERCE
Shopify
Shopify is great for small, medium and large businesses alike because no matter the size, you can turn your business into a fully functional online business equipped with a powerful e-commerce store, right from home. Take the products that you sell in-store and sell them online, all over the world; never limit your revenue gain again, Shopify makes it easy to connect with your customers and deliver what they want in times of need. Not only does Shopify help you create your online store, it also helps with branding, online presence, and more: like keeping track of your inventory, shipping, and even capital.
Woocommerce
Woocommerce is an e-commerce platform that’s compatible with WordPress sites. It’s open source, which means it’s always evolving with the community’s contributions, allowing you access to copius features and additional resources. With the ability to make your online store fully-customizable due to open- source, Woocommerce is the perfect platform for any type of business.
FINAL WORDS
We know that times are changing, and it’s more important than ever for businesses everywhere to improve their digital doorway and operations. It’s far too often that we see great brands, fully capable of dominating their field, with no digital doorway. It’s the 21st Century and as society evolves, so are the ways we conduct business. Be certain that your business is prepared for the Digital Wave, make sure that your home office is prepared to take on the digital world with these 15 Tools To Manage Your Business Digitally. For more help, contact us at info@centerstagesocial.com for your FREE Digital Marketing Plan.