Written by: Dianne Shelton
Are you ready to grow your small business with less time and effort? It’s time to stop doing it the hard way and risk losing revenue in your business by taking advantage of free software to help you get out of the weeds of day-to-day operational work. To run a profitable online business in today’s fast-paced world, you need to leverage available free tools to keep up with your customers and help lighten your load.
Let me share with you a list of 5 fundamental software that can help you grow your business without the overwhelm.
1. Website Builder Software
The first software you need as a small business owner is a website builder. By building a website, it allows you to highlight your products and services for your customers. During my review of different website builder tools, I found that some website builder tools are more powerful and more advanced than others. With drag-and-drop features and pre-built website templates, Wix is an easy-to-use tool that requires no technical expertise to help get you started.
2. Branding and Design Software
You want to leave a memorable impression with your customers by having consistent branding on the materials that you share with them. Creating consistent and professional materials does not have to be time-consuming or expensive. Having a branding and design software like Canva is more cost-efficient than hiring a graphics designer, especially for small businesses. Canva includes royalty-free images and a variety of free templates that you can use for your business.
3. Social Media Management Software
In this digital age, social media presence has become a necessity for business owners. By leveraging the power of social media, businesses can build trust with their customers and grow their reach. One thing I notice in this space is the ever-changing and ever-increasing number of social media platforms. Business owners need to be mindful of their time spent on social media versus other tasks. Social media management software like Hootsuite provides a one-stop view of all of your different social media platforms in a single dashboard. Hootsuite also gives you the ability to automate social media posts to create continuous engagement with your customers, even when you’re busy with other tasks.
4. Email Marketing Software
As much as social media is a great way to increase brand awareness, email marketing software such as MailerLite is still a valuable tool that makes it easy to connect with your customers. MailerLite has built-in functionalities to help you collect customer information, send automated emails, and target lists. By leveraging the power of email marketing, you are creating a long-term communication strategy with your customers, even when social media platforms shift over time.
5. Financial Management Software
At the end of the day, you need to make a sale. Sending timely invoices, collecting payments, and balancing out the financial books can be a juggling act that small business owners get caught up with. Wave is a financial management software that takes care of these financial administrative tasks and helps free up your time so you can stay focused on strategic, revenue-generating tasks that will continue to move your business forward.
Need more help? Visit my website to get a free copy of my 10-step Launch Checklist that will help you reach your audience in no time.
Dianne Shelton, Guest Writer Brainz Magazine
Dianne Shelton is the founder of Passion Breakthrough and a certified Coach who helps women leverage their passion to get the life & business they love. She is unafraid to go through the fire to achieve great things like when she moved halfway around the world or traded in a “safe” career to build her coaching business from the ground up. She has helped hundreds of women through her direct, on-point coaching style that provides more clarity and just the right amount of structure. Ready to get the life and business you love? Schedule your free discovery call today!
