Technology and business have become inseparable. Advancement in technology has not only enabled people to launch their businesses, but also to run and market them efficiently and effectively. Successful business organizations run on digital tools. Either it’s communicating with the customers, or holding a staff meeting, companies now have a digital solution for almost everything.
It has become high time for businesses, irrespective of their types and sizes, to embrace technology and survive in the competitive world of eCommerce. The outbreak of the global pandemic was proof that ignoring technology isn’t a wise approach for businesses. To survive in a robust market, businesses must use the right tools. Using digital tools not only saves time but also produces accurate results.
However, the internet is flooded with a myriad of tools for the business, and selecting the appropriate tool for your business is not a cup of tea. Moreover, using one tool will not solve all the problems of the business; instead, a smart combination of various tools will help you to ace your business activities.
Marketers and entrepreneurs dread hunting for the right tools for their business. Choosing the tools for them is like finding a shiny needle in a haystack. Therefore, in today’s blog post, we decided to provide you with the 13 best business tools for running your business smoothly.
Let’s have a look at them!
13 Best Business Tools Every Business Needs In 2021
Communication And Collaboration
Communication and collaboration are important elements for leading the team and conducting business activities without any hassle. Hence, use the communication tools that allow the employees to chat, share and receive files, and integrate other apps with the tool.
Again, the internet has dozens of communication tools for companies, but you can select one of the following communication tools for your business.
1. Microsoft Teams
Our next communication pick is Teams, by the world-renowned company; Microsoft. Teams have more than 140 million daily users. It has now become a member of the Office 365 apps’ suite.
Teams not only offer a chatting facility but also provide the option of audio and video calling. Besides, employees can share and receive .ppt, .doc, .xls, etc. on this app. In addition, employees can also edit the files. Isn’t it amazing? A communication app that offers a myriad of features to connect, communicate, and collaborate with colleagues.
2. Slack
We are sure you must have heard about this remarkable messaging app. It allows the employees to create a channel based on interests, departments, projects, or teams to chat with the teammates of the respective channel.
Slack is a popular communication tool that is used by some renowned companies like IBM and Airbnb. The best thing about this tool is its affordable cost which doesn’t drain the budget of the startup companies.
Video Conferencing Software
The global pandemic had put a halt to staff meetings, appointments, and even interviews. Without communication, business organizations cannot work towards their goals. Thus, in a dire situation, video conferencing apps proved to be of great help to businesses.
It allowed the organizations to have a staff meeting, have online sessions with the clients, and even teach the students remotely.
If you want to connect with your employees, customers, or any parties involved in your business, you can use the following tools to connect within a few minutes:
3. Zoom
Zoom became a popular video conferencing tool since the outbreak of the global pandemic. Schools and other institutions used it to teach the students and deliver lectures.
Clinics and hospitals used this tool to conduct Tele clinics and treat the patient remotely. Many job interviews were also conducted on this platform. Moreover, experts and mentors held webinars to share their knowledge with the masses.
Hence, every business organization benefited from this tool. You too can use this tool to have a meeting in the comfort of your home at any time you want. No need to have a meeting room, projectors, or refreshments. All you need is a digital device, zoom application, and a good internet connection to conduct your meetings.
4. Google Meet
Google is undisputedly the giant of the search engine market, but that’s not the only service Google provides to its loyal users. Google offers many other services including the facility of video conferencing.
Google Meet is an upgraded, and speedier version of Google’s Hangout app. Google Meet is an excellent alternative to the insanely popular tool Zoom.
Website Builders
Gone are those days when a website was good to have. Now is the time where websites are a must to appear credible, trustworthy, and professional to your prospective audience. In the age of the internet, a business website makes it possible for the entrepreneur to reach the far-off corners of the world and share updates and news regarding the business with people across the globe.
An entrepreneur is doing a great disservice to his business if he doesn’t have a website. Having an eCommerce website increases brand awareness, broadens the customer base, and boosts revenue.
Professional web developers charge a handsome price for building a website from scratch. A startup business cannot afford to hire a developer at its initial stage. But, thanks to technology! You no longer have to hire a developer for constructing your website as long as you have the following options:
5. Google Analytics
Google Analytics helps marketers to look into website metrics to understand the performance of the web pages. Marketers can easily understand the analytics by accessing user-friendly dashboards.
Marketers can track the number of visitors, most viewed products, bounce rate, etc. In addition, with Google Optimize, businesses can perform A/B testing on websites which would enable them to make timely data-informed business and marketing decisions.
More than 55% of the websites use Google Analytics to measure the performance of their websites, maybe you should do it too.
6. Wix
Wix is an amazing platform to build your website. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a tech guru to use Wix. This tool is extremely user-friendly and even an average internet user can easily create an impressive website without typing any string of code. Wix provides a drag and drop template to construct the website.
Within a few minutes you can have your very own presentable website just by dragging and dropping the elements.
7. WordPress
WordPress is a global platform that is available in 57 languages. This fantastic platform powers 39.6% of the websites on the internet.
WordPress offers thousands of themes to select from to design the layout of your website. Moreover, to add functionality to your website, there are 50,000 plugins available on the internet for WordPress sites.
Website Performance Monitor
One of the greatest gifts bestowed upon people by advancement in technology is tracking the behavior of the visitors and customers on the website. Once you have built and launched your website, you can easily check how your users interact with the website, which options do they click the most, and how much time they spend on each page.
By having this valuable insight into user’s behavior, a marketer can improve the layout and functionality of the website to provide a seamless experience to the site visitors. Similarly, website monitoring tools can also highlight the bounce rate of the website. The marketer can then look for the factors that trigger a high bounce rate and look for remedial measures to decrease it.
The following tool is undoubtedly the best to track website analytics:
Email Automation Tool
Email marketing is not dead!
If you are looking for online business tips, then take it from us: use email marketing to advertise your products and promote your brand. You are going to be amazed by the results of your email marketing campaign.
It is one of the most effective channels to connect with your customers, and send the latest news, updates, and offers to keep them interested in the brand.
If a company has 10-20 subscribers then maybe sending out emails to every subscriber is not an issue, but will it be easy for a business that has hundreds or thousands of subscribers?
Again… no need to worry, advanced digital tools are here to provide you all kinds of services. Email automation enables the marketer to create an attractive email head, and send it to the entire subscriber list just with a single click.
8. MailChimp
The most popular email automation tool present in the market. It lets marketers create an email newsletter to send out to the subscribers of the business. No need to be a graphic expert! MailChimp enables the marketer to design attention-grabbing emails and encourage them to read or scan the contents of the email.
Regardless of the size; MailChimp is an excellent email automation tool for all business organizations.
Social Media Management Tools
Social media marketing is in the limelight of digital marketing. There are more than 3.725 billion active users on these social networking sites who spend a considerable amount daily on this platform.
Making a presence on social networking has become mandatory for all sorts of businesses. Be it Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Snapchat, etc. it is crucial for businesses to stay active on every platform and post engaging content.
Creating accounts on various networking sites hardly takes a few minutes, but when it comes to managing them, it’s altogether a different story.
Hence, to manage and maintain all the social profiles simultaneously social media tools can be of immense help to the business.
The following are the most popular and reliable social media management tools:
9. Buffer
Buffer is a popular and most trusted social management tool by businesses. It enables marketers to manage their various social profiles and increase the engagement rate on social media posts.
Buffer offers clean, easy, and user-friendly tools to customers to manage their social profiles without any problem.
10. Hootsuite
This social tool is used by more than 15 million people and 80% of fortune companies. Hootsuite enables the marketer to design content, schedule posts, run paid ads, and measure the social ROI.
The comprehensive social media automation tool is loved by the masses because it can monitor multiple social media accounts and keywords, bulk-schedule social media posts, and can connect with more than 35 social networking platforms, amazing right?
Document Management Tools
Documentation is an integral part of every business. Entrepreneurs have to document every tiny detail from formulating business plans to their execution; every step requires proper documentation.
Choosing a proper documentation tool is important as it helps the business organize all its details, information, plans, etc. in one place. A good documentation tool demolishes the need for manual documentation.
11. Bit.ai
Bit helps the marketer create, manage, share, and keep track of all the business’s documents under one roof. Employees can create, share, and access different folders and files easily.
This documentation tool also organizes all the shared media such as images and videos in the content library. The person can easily search for the relevant media in the library without having to check all the documents.
With the facility of the smart search option, employees can quickly find the required file in a few seconds, saving time and effort of searching the files manually. Use this tool for managing your documents and we promise you won’t regret it ever.
12. Google Docs
Another service provided by Google is Google Docs. It is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses.
Google Drive offers office apps to internet users for creating and editing documents, spreadsheets, and even presentations all in one place. It offers free 15 GB storage to store the documents without paying a single penny. The best part? It is available for smartphones too. No need to log on to your computers to access or edit the files.
Graphic Designing Tools
The advent of social networking sites has accustomed people to prefer graphical content over textual one. Whether it’s your eCommerce store, Blogging website, or social media profiles, people love to view and engage with graphical content.
Hiring a graphic designer can cost a business an arm or a leg. But, luckily with the following tools, you can create your own visually appealing content, including infographics without taking any help from a professional designer.
13. PicsArt
PicsArt offers endless designing and editing tools to help marketers create professional content without having any prior experience in the graphic designing field. This tool not only offers to create static images, but also provides tools to edit videos, add music, and different effects to them.
Do you know what is the best part? Unlike many graphic designing tools, PicsArt is user-friendly and free to use. Businesses no longer have to worry about using free source images on their websites and social networking sites, with the help of PicsArt, they can create professional, and high-quality graphic content.
Wrapping Up
There you have it, readers! A list of best business tools 2021 for running an online business efficiently without making any errors or blunders.
All the tools mentioned above are fantastic for the business, and you have our word that you won’t regret using them for your business. However, before you purchase any of the tools that we have mentioned above, ensure to take into consideration your business’s size, requirements, and above all the budget.
Did you spot your next business tool on the above list?
Was your favorite business tool of 2021 not mentioned in this post? Please share it in the comments below.
Author Bio:
Ricky Hayes is the Co-Founder and Head of Marketing at Debutify – free Shopify theme, helping dropshippers build high-converting stores in minutes. He is a passionate entrepreneur running multiple businesses, marketing agencies, and mentoring programs.
