Establish new Company in 2017 and Adopt 7 Tools to Make Your Job Easier...
Nowadays,
it really doesn't matter what field you're in you need to be digital.
Big cabinets and stacks of paper are going out the door, and so are sloppy
desktops with endless excel files. There are too many great programs out there
with automated processes to warrant doing business any other way.
When it
comes to running a company whether
it's a company of one, or a company of one hundred and fifty organization is
your best friend. From freelancers to small business owners, entrepreneurs and
beyond, these are tools that can help you become more efficient, more
effective, and a whole lot more successful.
1. Website:
Whether you're starting a small
creative agency, or a consulting business, or a real estate firm, etc., you are
going to need to build yourself a website.
To be honest, the biggest pitfall
new companies (and even freelancers) fall into when it comes to building a
website is taking far too long to get the thing up. You can always edit it. You
can always add or subtract. Just get something functional and professional up
and running so you can focus on more important things (like generating leads
and revenue).
If
I were you, I would just pick a square space template,
make it your own (upload a few pictures and edit the copy) and then move on.
However, if you have the budget and really want something unique, or envision
having a big site with tons and tons of content, go WordPress. But if you just
need to get up a five page brochure style website, there's no need to make it
complicated.
2. Email Marketing: Get Response
Every business nowadays needs some
sort of inbound marketing. This means creating content on your website and
directing readers to some sort of download in exchange for their email address.
The big mistake companies make here
is thinking that having a form that says, "Subscribe to our
Newsletter!" is enough. It's not. There is no clear Call to Action, and
people are wary about giving out their email unless they know exactly what it's
going to be used for.
The single best way I have found to
generate potential leads for myself is two-fold:
A) Offer a free download of a
workbook, an info-graphic, an in-depth PDF guide, etc.
B) Offer a free email course, so
when someone gives you their email it triggers a 5, 7, or 10 day email sequence
teaching them something of value.
Pretty
much every email storage and automation software out there is priced based on
two things: how many contacts you have on your list, and features.It's an
all-in-one digital marketing platform that allows you to store emails onto
different lists (based on interests), create landing pages for readers to click
through to from the email campaigns you send, set up email and click through automation sequences, and even create/launch Webinars (great for engaging
potential or current clients).
The whole key here is to get
potential clients into your automation funnels, and then set up triggers to
move them through the sales process and convert them into paying clients.
3. Business Tracking:
There are all sorts of different
pieces of software you can use for internal tracking. There's time-tracking
software, task-tracking software, forecasting software, honestly the list goes
on and on.
If
I were you, I'd check out Workflow Max and just keep everything in one place. The
thing I like about Workflow Max is that it allows you to fill six key elements
to running an effective business:
A) Track leads
B) Organize quotes
C) Track (and measure) time
D) Job management
E) Invoicing
Truthfully,
if for no other reason, this type of software is most valued in two stages:
organizing and keeping track of invoices, yes, but even more so time. Nothing crushes a business more than not-knowing how much
leftover time there is, how much more you could be using, or worse, how
overbooked and understaffed you are (which can lead to a lot of internal
fires).
If you are managing employees (or
even managing yourself, honestly), time is your primary asset. Just like cans
of soup on the shelf are the asset of a grocery store, your employees and the
services you provide through their time is your most valuable asset.
4. Work Presentation/Prototyping:
In Vision
Especially if you are in a creative
field, you are going to be doing a lot of client presentations--and most likely
over a conference call or screen share.
Of
all the tools and ways I have gone about this process, I recommend using in vision. Personally, I found it to be the most intuitive, easy to use, clean, and
organized.
It allows you to upload mock-ups,
prototype designs, etc., and send them as Boards to a client so they can review
and comment on them with feedback. There really is no one "correct"
way of going about this process, but when managing a lot of different clients I
always find it more helpful when feedback and comments can be right on the
designs or deliverable's themselves--instead of on a separate message board,
thread, etc.
5. Internal Emails & Calendars:
Gmail
There
is no comparison within this category. For company and team member emails,
calendars, and all-things-internal,Gmail is the way to go.
One of the most helpful things I
have ever witnessed in terms of time management was the internal use of Gmail
calendars at the agency I worked at, and people blocking off chunks of time for
them to focus solely on their work.
If your team or company does not
"Respect The Calendar," then it becomes a madhouse. Everyone fights
for everyone else's time, and in the end nothing actually gets done. This is
one of those things that can be incredibly annoying to implement at first, but
in the end makes all the difference.
The best thing you can do is get
everyone set up with a company Gmail account, have them set up their calendars,
and then link everyone's calendar so that they are all shared. When someone
schedules a meeting, everyone knows about it. When someone blocks off an
afternoon to work on a project, everyone knows not to bother them. Establish
this habit from the onset and everyone will be more productive.
6. Processing
Payments: Stripe
If you are
launching an eCommerce business, you are going to need a way to process
payments online. Other kinds of businesses can process payments this way too,
instead of asking clients to write checks or get set up with ACH payments, etc.
In my
opinion, I'd go with Stripe. I mean, there's a reason why one of the co-founders just became the world's youngest self-made
billionaire. It's an extremely easy platform (that integrates with
both Square space and WordPress, along with many others) that allows you to
process payments for goods, services, etc. Stripe does take a small % but the
convenience aspect makes it worth it, in my opinion.
Now, if you
are dealing with a custom website, then check out Moonclerk as an integration option with Stripe.
While Stripe works great for the actual payment processing, sometimes it can
get a little hairy in terms of building the actual checkout experience through
your site (especially if you're one of those businesses that hires a creative
shop to design you a great site, but now you want to make changes to it and you
don't have a developer). And if you are not very "digitally savvy,"
Moonclerk also makes it super easy to set up recurring payments for your
retainer clients.
Note: PayPal is an equally viable option,
but from what I've seen most eCommerce businesses offer both, PayPal and
Stripe.
7. Social
Media: Hootsuite
If social media isn't going to be a big part of your
marketing strategy, this isn't really necessary (since you can always post
directly onto each platform). However, if you are going to be driving a lot of
traffic via social and managing lots of different content schedules, I would
highly suggest using an organization and scheduling platform like Hootsuite.
In a
nutshell: The big benefit to using Hootsuite is having everything in one place.
Yes, Facebook has analytics. Twitter has analytics. Instagram now has
analytics. Etc. But being able to see all those analytics in one place (and
with a few added caveats) can be helpful--especially when time is of the
essence.
The other
big benefit is the ability to schedule posts in advance. Again, most platforms
allow you to handle the scheduling, but having everything in one place so you
can see everything that's going out just gives you a different level of
awareness as a content creator. It can be hard to keep everything separate in
your mind when it's all over the place.
Of all the
tools on this list, I'd say this is more of a luxury than an absolute
"need." But I'll also say this: You don't know pain until you've
managed multiple Facebook pages, Twitter pages, and Instagram accounts,
separately. If that's the position you're about to be in (running a digital
marketing agency, for example) then Hootsuite becomes an absolute necessity.
I realize
this is a lot to digest and be able to integrate.
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