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Are you looking for a convenient software that you want to use to improve sales or marketing, but don’t want to pay a lot? Is saving time the most important thing in your work – achieving more with less? You are in the right place! Entrepreneurs don’t have much interest in investing large sums of money in various software. However, different software can significantly improve productivity. Often, software taken at the beginning can pay for itself many times over later.
Marketing
Websites
These days, it is a given that if a business doesn’t have a website, it doesn’t exist. There are several website service providers to choose from. You should choose one that meets the needs of your business.
One option is to build the website yourself. If you build the website yourself, you will have to invest your own time in building it. In addition, you may have to make compromises on visual appeal.
WordPress
WordPress is the market leader in websites. Most of the most popular sites are built with WordPress. WordPress has the advantage of a large selection of add-ons. It is extremely flexible and fairly easy to use. WordPress costs a few euros per month (at the time of writing, 4€) and has everything you need to run a small website.
Hubspot
Hubspot is known as a marketing automation and CRM system, but Hubspot’s CMS (Content Management System) functionality has developed strongly. Today, with the free Hubspot website builder, you can quickly get new websites ready. Hubspot is easier to use than WordPress, but it is not as flexible. However, the main advantage of Hubspot is that it integrates exceptionally well with CRM and marketing automation. If CRM or email marketing is important to you, you should consider Hubspot.
Key website add-ons
If you want to get something out of your website, you probably want the following add-ons:
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a must-have for any website. It allows you to track visitors to your site, see how they found your site, and see what they do on your site.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a tool that allows you to see how your site appears in Google search results. You can see which pages are indexed, which keywords are used to find your site, and how often your site appears in search results.
Pixels and tracking tools
Pixels are small pieces of code that allow you to track visitors to your site. You can use them to track conversions, retargeting, and other actions. There are several tracking tools available, such as Facebook Pixel and Google Tag Manager.
Chat and contact form
A chat feature or contact form allows visitors to your site to contact you directly. This is a convenient way to communicate with potential customers and answer their questions. For example, Hubspot will provide the contact form and the chat for free.
Yoast
Yoast is a plugin for WordPress that helps you optimize your site for search engines. It helps you create SEO-friendly content, generate sitemaps, and more. You might want to check Rankmath as well. Both have free versions available to get you started.
Other marketing tools
Canva
Canva is a free graphic design platform that allows you to easily create invitations, business cards, flyers, backgrounds, and much more. Canva gives you a kind of Photoshop that is free and very easy to use. The free version will get you started.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp has been around for a long time and is the world’s leading application for email marketing. Mailchimp makes it easy to design and send newsletters or advertising emails to ready-made email lists. The free version of Mailchimp lets you do effective email marketing.
Hubspot
With Hubspot, you can send advertising emails and build newsletters in the same way. The benefits of Hubspot compared to Mailchimp are particularly apparent when you are also performing other sales or advertising activities. You manage everything from one application, but all the information also ends up in one application. The free version of Hubspot allows you to send email advertising to a limited number of email addresses.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a great application that allows you to find out about SEO issues in depth. With the free version, you can track your site’s domain rating, which is a calculated value of how valuable your site is from Google’s perspective. You can also run tests on your site that improve your site from Google’s perspective. The free version will help you get started and you can evaluate the benefits of the paid version as you develop your SEO skills.
Sales
LinkedIn is effective. There is no getting around it. LinkedIn content creation creates valuable presence within a professional group and customer segment.
In addition to content creation, LinkedIn can also be used to send contact requests and thus open a conversation with the most important customers. And even if people don’t accept you as a contact, you will at least stay in their memory. It is worth sending contact requests to players in your own industry with whom you may sometimes work together. LinkedIn is completely free, but LinkedIn also has paid versions that can be used more comprehensively.
Customer lists
Registers of companies and decision-makers are available from different providers. The most common way is to use your own creativity and search yourself, for example on LinkedIn or Google. If you want to buy business lists, for example, with certain restrictions, you can contact service providers such as Asiakastieto, Profinder and Alma Talent. Customer lists and registers are unfortunately not free, but buying a list will save you a lot of time if you collect it yourself.
Luuri.ai
Luuri.ai is a phone app that allows you to reach decision-makers very quickly. If you go out manually to reach potential customers, you could waste days. With Luuri.ai, you can quickly reach decision-makers and see if they could become your customers. A telephone conversation is still the most effective way to succeed, but it’s not easy. That’s why Luuri.ai can help.
Vidyard
Vidyard is a video platform that allows you to create, host, and track videos. With Vidyard, you can create videos specifically for sales and marketing, such as product demos and customer testimonials. Vidyard also has a screen recording feature that allows you to create videos of your screen. This is a convenient way to create video tutorials and other training materials.
CRM apps
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a tool that allows you to manage customer relationships and sales data in one place. There are several CRM applications available. Here are some of the most popular ones:
HubspotCRM
HubspotCRM is a free CRM tool that is part of the Hubspot marketing automation suite. HubspotCRM allows you to manage customer data, sales activities, and communication in one place. It integrates seamlessly with other Hubspot tools, such as email marketing and lead generation.
Pipedrive CRM
Pipedrive is probably the most popular CRM system. It is fairly cost-effective and easy to use. Pipedrive is known for its sales-oriented approach. Many starting entrepreneurs go strongly in the sales direction, because it has the quickest return on investment. Pipedrive is paid, but it offers a 30-day free trial.
Other useful software:
Slack
Slack is an excellent communication channel for teams. It reduces the need for email and eliminates the need for WhatsApp and other instant messaging tools for internal communication in a company. It is not advisable to use Slack for storing important information. In the free version, messages are automatically deleted.
Jira / Trello
A new entrepreneur must do everything themselves, so there is an enormous amount of work. A project management tool helps with this. Trello is a smarter to-do list that is good for organizing work. Jira is a project and work management software designed specifically for software development.
Google tools
Google software provides a very comprehensive toolkit for new entrepreneurs. Gmail, Google Meet, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, etc. provide very comprehensive software that can be used for free. If you want a branded email ending, you can purchase Google Workspace.
Zapier
Zapier is a very exciting integration platform that allows you to connect different applications to each other and automate your work efficiently. Zapier is very easy to use and comprehensive. With the free version, you can automate repetitive tasks from your own work or set up alerts, for example.
ChatGPT
At the end of 2022, OpenAI released a groundbreaking software: ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence with which you can converse. ChatGPT is very human and intelligent. The most important features of ChatGPT for entrepreneurs are support for brainstorming, text generation, and text summarization. It serves as an excellent brainstorming aid for various ideas and can produce valuable insights. It can also produce text, but also summarize it if necessary. ChatGPT is currently free and works best in English.
Text: Lauri Alasaukko-oja, Luuri.ai, Platorm6 startup