When starting any new business cash flow can be one of the largest concerns keeping you up at night. Not only the time-consuming part of bringing in new customers but the time it may take to get paid on the amazing services you would have completed. With a shortage of cash floating around your business, you should always try and find ways to get some of your non-essential business done easily and cheaply so you are free to focus on looking after one of your customers to the best of your ability.
Apps and online services come in handy when you are not necessarily a professional at every skill a business may need. Why not try some of these great apps to help you get ahead.
Design
Canva - your new best mate. If you have ever tried and failed to make a flyer in Word or paint then Canva will be your new best friend. It's simple to use and can be used by a whole team of people. You can even upgrade your Canva team login to include a brand style guide. This is great if you are making a bunch of documents that need to look similar or part of the same brand family.
Promotion
Biteable – make an animated video to promote your new product or service, this is a great way to get your story out to your potential customers. Use Biteable to create an intro video or help to convince your future customers about why they need to try your services. This is a particularly useful way to gauge the response to a new business idea when tied together with an email signup form to 'keep me updated'.
Customer loyalty
Flok – lets you create and customise a digital loyalty card. Perfect for any business that has repeat services, like a hairdresser, a coffee shop, tyre service, car hire… you get the picture. Flok is simple to setup and easy to monitor and allows you to see which of your customers is very valuable to you, and may deserve a little more of your time and attention.
Content creation and management
Not sure what kind of content you may need for your own website? Using Buzzsumo will show you what content, articles or keywords your customers are expecting and what is working well with your particular business.
Reporting
If you have a need to report on social media activity then you have a variety of services that can help you out.
Dashthis – Is a Social Media Dashboard that automatically gathers all data into nice-looking reporting dashboards. Customers love a report that informs them how their money is being spent.
SUMALL - This dashboard provides the most insightful business and social media dashboard experience on the market. A beautiful, intuitive and extremely customizable service that is fully compatible with every major social media and digital marketing platform.
Outsourcing
Consider using a service like Upwork, Freelancer or Fivver if you need someone else to do the work for you, what ever it may be. Each platform offers a bunch of professional people who will respond to the pitch of your work. You set the budget and the time frame. Couldn't be easier...