Top 5 free technology apps start-ups can use to grow
Chances are that if you have a start-up, you are constantly worried about where you are heading and if your business will survive. You are constantly obsessing over the things that could go wrong when you make certain decisions. You have employees and clients that are looking to you for salaries and project deliveries, and you can’t afford to let them down. Relax, these feelings are valid, you are not alone.
You can now rest easy because there are reliable apps that you need. They are prompt and free, you don’t have to spend a dime.
1. Wave Apps
As a start-up you need to completely utilize the Wave Apps. They enable you to create an account for your business that you will be able to access anywhere at any time at your convenience.
You can connect your bank accounts promptly, automating the book-keeping process instead of having manual records that can be cumbersome. With the Wave Apps, you can get month to month and year to year reports that help you keep track of the health of your business. From the reports, you can make comparisons and find out about cash flow trends of the time.
Wave Apps don’t just stop at accounting. You can create professional looking invoices in a short amount of time and send it to your clients. To avoid delayed payments, these apps allow you to send recurring and automated credit card payments, and switch between automatic and manual billing at your peril. All your invoices and payment information sync automatically with your accounting software in your Wave account.
You don’t have to worry about the security of your data because they’re securely backed up.
2. Hub Spot CRM.
Customers are the driving force of a start-up. How you relate with them will determine if you will retain them and if you’ll get referrals. Referrals are the best sales, marketing and PR tools.
Hub Spot CRM is not just about contact management but also has free tools everyone can use in your office to make work easier. With this app, you can run successful marketing campaigns that result to increase in traffic on your page, generate sales leads and turn these leads to customers, and show ROI with less effort.
The tools in the software allow you to boost the productivity of sales, shorten deal cycles and make sales more human. The customer service tools in this app help you connect to your customers more quickly, fulfill and exceed their expectations and turn them into promoters that grow your business.
3. Trello and Asana.
Organization discourages clattering of ideas and your office space. To be able to keep track and manage your thoughts and the projects you are working on, you need these two apps.
They allow you to plan and structure your work, set priorities, share projects with your employees and assign tasks all at the same time. You can also track the progress of your projects to make sure that everyone is in alignment with their tasks.
These two apps allow you to create visual project plans, making it easy to map out risks, keep away and maintain roadblocks, and re-strategize when plans change.
4. Freepik, Pexels and Unsplash.
Pictures, illustrations and mock ups enhance creativity and give presentations more life. As a start-up, you will be pitching ideas, coming up with marketing campaigns and advertising your products and services to your customers.
For this to be possible, you need these three sites that have millions of free pictures and templates that you can use to make projects more exciting. They are also a time saver; you don’t have to go to the field for a photo shoot every time you need photos, you also don’t need to design graphic images all the time since they have free built-in templates.
5. Mail chimp.
Mail chimp will help you bring your audience data, marketing channels and insights together so that you can be able to promote your business across all channels from one platform.
This app shows you what messages works for email, marketing, ads or teachings. You can tailor-make messages to the intended audiences.
That’s not all. It comes with a built-in security feature that safeguards the data of your account and company. You can rest assured that your customer and marketing data will be safe.
No matter your business type or level of experience, the features in this app will help you understand your audiences and help you reach them when it matters the most. You will be able to come up with marketing strategies in minutes because of its built-in marketing templates, and be able to analyze your ROI in minutes because the app comes with built in real-time performance reports for your campaigns.
In addition to all these amazing features, the app has current and up to date entrepreneurial stories. They are in forms of series, podcasts, films, articles and tell tales that are meant to encourage, inspire and challenge you as you grow your business.
If you are a start-up, arm yourself with the right tools. These top 5 free technology apps should be the first ones that you add to your arsenal.
With this information and the ideas you have on how you can use technology to improve your business, you are good to go. However, you need an expert to hold your hand every step of the way. ARI Limited has experienced ICT experts that will offer personalized, independent consulting to ensure that you get the best value for your money.
