5 of the Best Tools Business Owners Should Use to Take Their Business to the Next Level

by Eva Benoit

Running a successful business is no small feat as it requires consistently creating great marketing campaigns, updating the product mix in line with market expectations, and keeping customers happy at all times. Fortunately, there are a host of free and paid services small businesses can utilize to achieve these goals while keeping costs in check. Today, PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) will explore a host of these tools and the benefits they provide in key business areas such as marketing, customer service, product management, and more!

Social Media Management Tools

To be successful as a business in 2023, having a strong social media presence is a necessity. In addition to providing a platform for promoting products to thousands if not millions of potential customers daily, businesses can now directly sell their offerings through platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. The basic requirement to sell products through these platforms is the creation of a business profile, which is absolutely free, and uploading your catalog of products.

Additionally, most social media platforms have in-built content management tools such as Facebook Ads Manager, Facebook content scheduler, etc. which can be used for free to create successful ad campaigns and organic posting on feeds.

Online Review Management Tools

Social media has ushered in the era of two-way communication, i.e. customers can directly communicate with businesses via a host of mediums such as email, social media comments, chatbots, and more. Out of all these options, online reviews are a powerful user-generated medium that can be utilized to develop strong connections with customers by providing timely after-sales service. However, tracking comments and reviews manually across social platforms is a near-impossible task.

An online review management tool allows businesses to track all reviews across various platforms and promptly respond to ones that are negative or include complaints. Providing quick resolutions to customer problems plays a key role in building a strong brand image and a loyal customer base.

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

According to research by Startup Bonsai, up to 80% of customers prefer to buy from businesses that provide personalized offerings and experiences. But, to provide such experiences, businesses need to understand their customers better than competitors, here’s where CDP tools come into play. A customer data platform is a type of software that allows businesses to collect customer data from a multitude of sources such as their website, social media channels, email marketing efforts, e-commerce store interactions, and more.

Analysis of this data provides great insights regarding customer preferences which can be used to curate personalized product offerings and discounts, as well as developing new products to serve them better than competitors and drive business growth. In fact, if you put some time into developing a CDP (customer data platform), this may help your business achieve maximum success by streamlining efficiency, enabling you to work smarter instead of harder.

Business Formation Service

As a businss owner, the last thing you want to dedicate time to is managing paperwork. Hence, a useful and cost-effective option is to hire a formation service to manage the responsibility of managing business paperwork and contracts for you. For instance, if you want to establish a limited liability company (LLC) in your state, the formation service will create all the necessary paperwork in line with local and federal level regulations. Additionally, come tax season, they’ll assist you in filing claims and saving the most you can on tax benefits.

Email Marketing Tools

Research by HubSpot shows that revenue from email marketing is expected to increase to $17.9 billion by 2027. Email marketing is one of the best promotional mediums for any business as it allows them to directly interact with customers, provide them with useful content and drive required actions such as making a purchase, providing referrals, subscribing to new services, and more. If you’re looking for the best email marketing tools of 2023, refer to this resource!

From using CDPs to establishing an LLC through a formation service, businesses have a host of free and paid offerings to choose from when it comes to streamlining key areas of operations. If you’re strapped for cash, the best idea will be to avail a free trial of required services and commit resources towards it once you are confident of the value and benefit it provides the business.

If you’re interested in starting a career in marketing, public relations, or communications, PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) can help! If you have any questions, feel free to email he***@pr**********.org.