Common business tools are essentially any business or personal tools which you can use to reach your goals. These are the things (tools) that will help you accomplish whatever you decide. Your list of common business tools will vary depending upon what type of work you do and whatever other tools you decide you need. For example, if your work requires that you write, then your common business tool would be a word processing program or a typewriter, or even pen and paper.
A wide variety of business tools are used by companies, associations, and organizations to meet their specific business needs. Common business tools can be used to prepare financial statements, calculate payrolls, create graphs and charts, predict trends, develop strategies for marketing, analyze competition, or help with labor relations.
Task Management Tools
Task management tools are an easy, cost-efficient way for small business owners to save time and money. Any tool that allows you to track a task digitally, rather than manually, is a great boon to busy business owners who want to save time communicating and tracking their own work and the work of their employees.
Online task management tools like Asana and Trello can help you stay on top of your to-do lists, project progress, and calendars. You can set automatic reminders and updates so that you don’t have to spend time checking every single little thing by hand. These also serve as collaborative tools so everyone on your team knows what’s been done, what’s outstanding, and who has been assigned to the task.
Email and Social Marketing
Today, many daily “busy work” tasks can be automated so business owners can focus on more cerebral endeavors. Email marketing systems (EMS) such as Aweber and MailChimp allow you to easily keep your email subscribers informed of news about your business and important deals and promotions. Even better, many EMS platforms will also push out your email newsletter to your social networks, so you don’t have to post on your own.
Social Media Scheduling Tools
Small business owners know the vital importance of using social media to connect with their prospective clients and customers. Unfortunately, getting on social media too often can be a time drain. Who hasn’t gone to a social media site or app “for just a minute”, only to snap out of it an hour later, way down the social media rabbit hole?
Social media scheduling tools such as Buffer and HootSuite allow you to schedule posts to go out on the desired dates and times, without setting foot on the actual social media sites themselves, avoiding that distraction. You can also write up a week’s or month’s posts in advance, all at once, and then use these scheduling systems to pump out your promotions right when you want them so you can grow your business without spending too much time on social media.
Mobile Marketing Tools
Nowadays, technological advancements allow you to reach potential customers even if they do not physically go to the stores. In fact, because of increased connectivity, it’s never been easier to reach consumers.
According to Blue Corona, the average person now spends more than five hours a day on their phone.
In 2013, mobile phones made up 16.2% of web traffic worldwide. In 2018, this increased to 52.2%.
Source: Broadband Search
In short, the best way to reach your potential customers’ is through mobile marketing.
This means you need special mobile marketing tools. These enable you to send messages to potential buyers in three ways:
• SMS,
• Push notifications
• Or in-app messages.
The benefit of SMS is that all phones already have text messaging on board. That means users don’t have to download your app. However, texts are often considered more intrusive and more obnoxious than other mobile channels.
It’s also harder for your audience to opt-out of SMS marketing. They may then feel stuck receiving your messages.
On the other hand, push notifications are less intrusive since potential customers are given a chance to opt-out in they’re phone settings. With push notifications, your potential customers can get your marketing messages without even accessing the app.
In-app messages guide your users within the app. They can, however, also be seen as obnoxious advertisements if they are overused not used properly. The key is to use them in such a way that you don’t disturb your users’ experience.
Email Software
We’ve been hearing that email is dead for years, but in reality, that’s simply not true. Oberlo says that in 2019, global email users amounted to 3.9 billion people.
In 2023, the figure will reach 4.3 billion. That is half of the world’s population, which includes your potential customers.
Given these statistics then, it makes sense to market your products via email to potential customers. For this, you can use email software like Moosend. The best email tools offer functions to take the leg-work out of making sales.
These include automation tools to ensure you have the best possible subject lines. You can also A/B test variations of your marketing emails to fully optimize them for maximum conversions.
With email marketing tools, you can send content to your audience to lure them back to your store, guide them towards a purchase or build client relationships. In ecommerce, this is typically done with special offers or recommended items, like so:
CHAT TOOLS FOR BUSINESS
What are chat tools?
Team chat tools are known to be a simple way to improve communication among team members. They are faster and easier than emails and phone calls. Teams can directly message each other and even have group chats. Asking simple questions, getting fast replies or bouncing off ideas become more convenient than ever. Some of the team chat tools are also known for their file-sharing capabilities and unlimited message history.
Examples of chat tools:
Slack is one of the most popular team chat tools. It claims to replace email inside your company. And it also helps teams keep conversations organized. They call themselves “the smart alternative to email”.
Chanty is another team chat tool, mostly known for being a simpler and easier tool than Slack.
There are other chat tools, such as Fleep, Hipchat, etc.
You should use chat tools when:
Instant messaging chat apps may kill productivity, so they are supposed to work best for small- to medium-sized businesses. Some of these chat apps are also expensive for the limited set of tools they offer, so choose the one that doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket.
Conclusion
There are many tools to help run a business. Although there are so many it can get really confusing figuring out what exactly they do, and how to choose one. Luckily, you have found this article! Here, we talk about the most common business software programs that you should know about. Let’s get started!