Small Business Technology Investments
You are not a graphic designer, so learning Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are very time consuming and costly. How do you create visually appealing graphics to boost your marketing materials – social, print, video, etc? Missing an ecommerce solution for your start-up? There are solutions to help build your product offerings.
Technology is an important aspect for small businesses to invest in, as they help increase brand awareness, efficiency, and increase revenue. Not every platform has to break the bank and we are here to offer some reasonable and helpful systems that can increase productivity for your brand.
Customer Relationship Management
Whether you are a start-up or a flourishing business, in order to keep an accurate record of your customers, prospects, etc., a sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM) system should be of high priority. These systems will not only keep basic entity information, such as address, phone number, etc., but will house the interaction that they have with your brand and employees. CRMs will help your company with customer retention that will turn in to an increase in revenue.
Hubspot is a great choice for small business because it’s free! The features of Hubspot are essential when building your leads and tracking your customer behavior. They offer tracking and assigning sales leads with automated tasks to closing and offers integrations with email platforms (Outlook and Gmail), collaboration tools with colleagues, and multiple reporting tools to analyze your constituents.
There are additional features such as the Social Media platform that require a cost, but allows for a very cost effective way to manage your marketing within one platform.
Graphic Design Platforms
Not every business can be equipped with a full creative design team or need a piece too fast to move through the design process. Online graphic design platforms can assist your newly founded company or guide you through a transitional period to create beautiful pieces that adhere to your brand standards and strategy.
This is the most popular graphic design maker, which can be used by beginners and experts. There is a wide array of templates to use based on the design piece (social, presentation, poster, etc.), photo filters, icons and shapes to elevate design, and hundreds of fonts at your disposal.
Design courses are offered to help you make the best pieces for your company and intended use. Most are about an hour or under, and also have the opportunity to practice the skills after each course or just as a refresher.
If you are developing your design skills or are a current designer, you can opt for Canva Pro or Enterprise (up to 20 members within one account). This will allow you to build a company brand kit to keep your colors, fonts, etc. on record to keep the look consistent throughout each piece created. This will be important as you build and adhere to your brand and marketing strategy. Compare Canva plans here.
Creating design for print, square video posts, social media, and digital ads will come with ease with the use of Crello. With over 30 design formats, 60,000,000 images, and 11,000 templates to choose from – your company is sure to create the best pieces.
Resources available are endless inspirations, tutorials, and business tips to help drive traffic and create optimal design pieces.
Plans range from the basic free option to their pro plan that unlocks all features and provides unlimited storage for created designs.
Product Platform
This is a great option for brands to increase their awareness and product offerings. This is an online marketplace that provides ecommerce solutions for brands and publishers.
This platform helps brands drive sales through a fully-integrated and branded e-commerce site that is driven by native content. Native content is content that is created specifically for that specific advertising piece that is paid to be placed there by the brand.
Brands will have their own website that houses all of their information, but this platform will allow for an additional microsite that advertises and sells your brand’s products.
Cloud Storage
We have all seen the rooms where the network servers are housed. It definitely takes a master to understand and navigate that room. But, what happens if you don’t have the space? Investing in cloud storage will help with limited office space and keeping a smaller IT team on board when resources are slim.
Some best companies that offer great storage options with security are: Dropbox Business, Google Drive for Work, OneDrive by Microsoft, and Amazon.
All offer economical plans starting around $5.00 per month.
Team Collaboration Tools
Is your team located all together or fully remote? Either way, tools that allow your employees to communicate seamlessly will increase productivity and role understanding.
An instant messenger system will allow for quick messaging and specific chat thread creation to include multiple people at a time for quick issue resolutions. Systems such as Slack are a great option for small businesses with a free option.
If you are needing to meet with potential customers or with your team, but all can’t be in the same place at the same time, an online web conferencing software will be greatly beneficial. Popular choices are Zoom and GoToMeeting.
A project management tool is essential for keeping the operations of your business afloat. These systems will help communication between different roles, keep track of tasks that needing to be complete, and ensure quality control. There are several free options that can help your business begin to understand a PM tool and how it best integrates with your operations. When your business has reached the capacity of the free options, a more robust system may be needed and there are several out there that offer integrated time keeping and reports of productivity. Note that the type of software needed for your company should be determined by the industry or products and services provided, such as IT or creative design.
Keep a look out for systems that offer Lifetime Deals, where they have a special discounted price that will be the price you pay for however long you use that program. This is a great way to invest in a technology without the risk of the price increasing. A steady expense for a small business is a deal-breaker!
Contact Colleen Eakins Design for any questions or helpful suggestions for your business. We have been honored to not just service clients worldwide, but to also be recognized locally as one of the top Branding Agencies in Atlanta.
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