Congratulations! You have got a great startup idea to embark on a new venture. We do understand that it is an exhilarating moment for you, but having a great idea is not sufficient for making the leap to entrepreneurship. Starting a new business off the ground needs a great deal of commitment, willingness to take risks, a team of smart people, an offering (product or service) that can solve the pain points of people, and a well-structured plan. In addition, you need some quality tools to manage all these aspects (risk, team, offerings, and plan) well and run your startup smoothly to take it to new heights.
With so many tools available off the shelf, it’s a herculean task to choose the best ones. So, to make your work easier, we have provided a list of some of the secure, reliable, budget-friendly, and easy-to-use tools to start and grow a successful business in this competitive era.
So, you have successfully launched a new venture; now it’s high time to run a successful marketing campaign to promote your business. MailChimp, a marketing automation tool, will do wonders in connecting you with your potential clients and customers.
MailChimp features audience management tools, automation tools, and analytics tools that help you create better content, reach the right audience, and track the performance based on useful insights.
Pricing:
Up to 2,000 contacts (1 audience included), you can use this tool free of cost. Further, the pricing plan varies according to the increasing number of contacts and audiences.
According to a report, there were more than 3.6 billion people who were using social media globally in 2020, and this number is going to spike to almost 4.41 billion in 2025. That’s why; startups must not overlook the power of social media. Manage your social media channels from just one dashboard like an expert using HootSuite, one of the most popular social media management tools.
HootSuite supports more than 20+ social networks, including Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Using it, you can easily manage, optimize, and track the performance of your social ad campaigns across all channels. This platform also provides a single collaborative calendar to enable you to manage all your social content.
Pricing:
The pricing plans depend on social accounts, scheduling, and users. If the available plans don’t fit your requirements, you can seek custom solutions. This tool also provides a free 30-day trial.
Startups can build traction and make a quick impact on the search engines using the right search engine optimization tool. With 40+ advanced tools, SEMrush provides a complete SEO tool to grow organic traffic for your new business. Trusted by the leading companies of the world, this platform lets you perform social media marketing, PPC, competitor research, content marketing, and search engine optimization.
Pricing:
Three pricing plans are available – Pro, Guru, and Business. You can subscribe either for a monthly or annual plan. You can also get a free trial of Pro and Guru. If you don’t find any of these plans perfect for your startup, you can request a custom flexible pricing plan.
As a startup, you are always on the lookout for opportunities to pitch venture capitalists and investors to make them believe in your ideas and persuade them to invest in your business. You can count on pre-designed professional presentation templates to make your presentations more engaging and compelling.
SketchBubble is one of the world’s leading presentation design firms that offer 100% editable templates for PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Apple Keynote. The spellbinding template will help you put across your message in a meaningful way to help your audience grab the key takeaways faster.
Pricing:
SketchBubble provides monthly, yearly, and quarterly pricing plans with a money-back guarantee (if you are not satisfied with the product). It doesn’t charge hidden fees.
If you are in search of a tool to share and brainstorm your ideas in a visually impressive way with your team members, clients, customers, and other stakeholders, MindMeister will solve your purpose well.
Trusted by millions of professionals, MindMeister allows you to perform a multitude of creative tasks, including project planning and note-taking. This tool enables real-time collaboration, editing, and chatting. The built-in presentation mode lets you demonstrate your ideas through eye-pleasing slideshows. Moreover, this web-based tool supports all the major platforms such as Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. You need not download and update this tool.
Pricing:
The basic plan is absolutely free. However, for plans (Personal, Pro, Business) with advanced features, you will have to pay a nominal monthly price.
MS Office Suite is a complete package that provides AI-powered classic and premium apps such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word, OneNote, Outlook, etc. From desktop to web, Microsoft provides all the tools required to perform your work effectively and efficiently. The latest version of Microsoft Office lets multiple users work simultaneously, thereby providing a seamless collaboration.
Pricing:
You can either purchase the Microsoft Office suite for local use on a computer or subscribe on a monthly or annual basis to use the Office 365 cloud-based system (accessible through a Web browser or a local program).
Keeping all the team members (offshore and onshore) working on a project aligned is one of the biggest challenges for startups. However, with the help of Trello, you can collaborate with your team members anytime, anywhere.
Trello allows you to organize your projects into boards. In a single dashboard, you can get a quick glance at who is working on what, which tasks have been done, and which ones are in progress. It comes with easy to use interface and apps integration features. You can also attach files of your finished work.
Pricing:
The free version features 10 boards per team, unlimited cards, unlimited lists, and 10 MB per file attachment. If you need more features, you can purchase business and enterprise plans.
Virtual meetings have become a new norm these days. With several amazing features such as meetings & chat, conference rooms, and app marketplace, etc., Zoom has emerged as the #1 platform for conferences, one-on-one and group meetings, and video webinars. You can schedule a meeting, generate the meeting URL, and send the URL to the team for the meeting. Using this tool, you can also record meetings, streamlined calendaring, and share your screen while meeting.
Pricing:
The basic plan, which allows you to host up to 100 participants, is free of cost. You can also purchase a yearly plan to avail advanced features.
A positive and strong relationship with your customers is important for taking your new business to the next level. HubSpot provides all the tools required for customer service, content, sales, and marketing management, such as HubSpot CRM, CMS Hub, Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and Service Hub. Each tool has its own features.
Pricing:
Get the basic plan free of cost to generate and email leads. Further, the Starter, Professional, and Enterprise plans are available with advanced features with a monthly subscription.
Google Analytics allows you to keep track of the performance of your website and make smarter decisions. This tool comes with incredible features such as conversion tracking, keyword referrals, and traffic reporting. You can get to know about the areas that require improvements.
Pricing:
This tool is absolutely free.
The Bottom Line
Starting a new business is not all about getting a website designed and making it live. There are several tasks that need to be done, keeping the cost and productivity in mind. In such a scenario, using the right tools will definitely be a wise decision. From email marketing to CRM, project management to HRM, marketing campaigns to every day-to-day operation, there are many tools available for all. The tools mentioned above will make the operations of your startup efficient, easy, and seamless, propelling your business to better sustainability and growth. So, give them a try! We wish you success in your new endeavor. Good luck!
Would you like to add any useful tools to this list? We will love to hear from you. Do share your suggestions in the “Comment” section. And if you find this blog post insightful, don’t forget to share it on your social media handles.
