With smartphones and the availability of free mobile apps, various tools and services are always at our fingertips. There are various types of mobile applications, and they offer a practical way to increase productivity, save money on services, and improve your business as a small business owner.
Why are apps for small business owners important?
Apps are part of our daily routine. They help us make our day-to-day lives easier, organize our finances, take care of our health, and also provide entertainment and fun. In the life of a small business owner, apps are great allies for making life more agile in managing finances, organizing customer orders and deliveries, supplier accounts, and so on.
Are you looking to start or already own your own business? Then check out these essential tools for your daily operations.
Which apps are best for your small business?
Good business software can improve your work and automate certain tasks. But there's no point in incorporating new apps if they're not solving a real problem in your business.
So, before you rush out to look for tools, take a moment to think about what your business really needs:
- What tasks are taking up valuable time each week?
- What areas do you need to strengthen or improve?
- And how could you optimize what you're already doing?
Once you are clear about the problems you want to solve, you can start looking for the perfect solutions.
Essential apps for small business owners
The popular WhatsApp platform can help you build better relationships with your customers, thereby increasing your business's sales.
It has a Business version, which includes features that can add more value to your daily operations e.g. automating, classifying, and quickly responding to customer messages. This version of WhatsApp also sends messages to your contacts, but it brings more professionalism to your conversations, even allowing you to make payments through the app.
With WhatsApp Business, you can create a contact list and send out broadcast campaigns and ads, just to increase sales.
Android and iOS versions are available.
Facebook Messenger
Most people have become accustomed to communicating with businesses as they do with their friends, directly through texting and messaging apps. With over 3 billion monthly active users (MAUs) worldwide, Facebook is a good place to reach customers where they already are.
Messenger allows you to take customer service on the go and respond to requests from anywhere whenever you get a chance. You can do that without exposing your private number (especially if you don’t want to).
It’s available on iOS and Android.
Tip: Get on other social media platforms e.g Instagram and TikTok to advertise your products or business from time to time.
Google My Business
The Google My Business area was created in 2014 with the goal of offering free and simple resources for businesses to manage their presence and relationships. This is yet another free and functional Google tool to help promote your business online, and it can include user satisfaction surveys and addresses on Google Maps.
The importance of setting up your business on Google Maps is so that people in your locality can see your business when they search online.
You can access Google My Business via desktop, and you can use the Google Maps app to manage your profile.
Canva
Canva is a drag-and-drop design platform that helps you to easily create visual content even without being a professional graphic designer. It comes loaded with templates for everything from social media posts to business cards. So you can create branded materials for your business without starting from scratch.
Canva offers a fairly comprehensive free version that covers most small business needs.
HootSuite
If you are feeling overwhelmed by social media, Hootsuite is a great tool for you. It is an excellent social media management tool that will help you get the most out of your channels. With this business application, you can easily create, organize, schedule, and publish social media content, so you can even generate leads and sales while you sleep.
Hootsuite is free, but they also offer a variety of paid plans depending on the size of your business and the number of features included.
Other high-end apps you can explore for your business
Asana
Asana is a comprehensive and easy-to-use project management tool for tracking schedules and improving collective efficiency. The platform is suitable for all types of projects and combines the integration of processes specific to each company with a holistic view of resources and the project.
Available on Android and iOS.
Evernote
Evernote is for taking digital notes anytime, anywhere, on any mobile device. Its key strength is the synchronization of your notes, allowing you to access them wherever you are. It's the tool to remember everything, keep important information in one place, and easily jot down and share your ideas from your smartphone.
Its available on iOS and Android
Any.do
This is one of the apps for small business owners that features a very intuitive and easy-to-use design. Any.do allows the user to create a list of tasks that need to be completed during the day. Once an activity is completed, simply cross it off the list and move on to the next one, leaving you, the entrepreneur, in complete control of your time.
It's available in Android and iOS versions.
Mobile apps to the rescue
When it comes to running your business, you might feel like you have to go it alone. This is rarely the case, especially considering all the technological resources available to you.
Whether it's making progress on your to-do list or improving your relationships with your clients, there's a wide range of apps to make it easier for you.
Take a look at the non-exhaustive list we've shared in this article, evaluate them carefully, and get ready to start enjoying your business.
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