Apps to Help Small Businesses
For many small business owners, the mobile phone is indispensable, and apps are proving to be equally important in helping them to better manage their time and grow their business. Here is a handful that small businesses are loving.
Microsoft Garage’s digital content contender
Not all business owners have the skills or capabilities to create flashy product catalogues and flyers. And, for many small businesses, most of their transactions are done over a mobile device, as opposed to through a website or computer.
The team at Microsoft Garage have stepped in to assist these small businesses in showcasing their wares in a professional manner, and have created a digital content creation app for Android called Sprightly, which lets users create marketing content, like e-cards, price lists, catalogues and flyers, and then share them across social media. It’s a massive time-saver, too, as users can reuse images and content and save them in stored ‘Collections’.
Like many of Garage’s apps, Sprightly is designed as an experimental app to quickly gather customer feedback. While some of their apps go on to launch as Microsoft products, some don’t quite make it. There’s no word yet on where Sprightly stands, but it attracted more than 10,000 downloads one month after its release, so it seems the demand is there.
Schedule your social media on the go
Hootsuite, our favourite social media management tool, is also an app that’s ideal for busy business owners who don’t sit at their desk all day, but still need to keep an eye on all of their social communities. Just like the desktop version, you can manage multiple networks, schedule posts and track your shared content.
Remember everything with Evernote
This handy tool stores notes and syncs them across all of your devices. Notes can be virtually anything – excerpts from websites, photographs, voice memos or file attachments. Business owners are using it as a repository for a myriad of things, including a file for receipts, purchase orders and business cards.
Get access to your files with Google Drive
This app lets you store all of your important files and photos in the cloud, and share and edit your documents and spreadsheets with colleagues. The first 15 GB of storage is free, and an upgrade to 100 GB only costs $1.99, making it a very affordable option.
When growing your small business, there are plenty of digital-savvy methods available for you to capitalise on right from the get-go. Even when you don’t have the tools or the budget to splash out on huge marketing campaigns or technical resources, you can still gain the exposure you need. Engage in a smart SEO strategy to make sure your business is coming up on Google when users are searching for your services or products, and use your social media channels to plug your business, establish your reputation and connect with your target market. The world of digital media brings a plethora of avenues for you to boost your brand and streamline your business, no matter what your size.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR BLOG!
Receive free EPIC WEEKLY BLOGS and things that MAKE YOUR BUSINESS THRIVE!