Must Have Tools and Apps for Small Business Owners
As a small business owner, you wear many hats. You may be in charge of design, marketing, finance, and project management, all while trying to grow your business. Fortunately, there are many tools and apps available to help you streamline your workflow and create professional-looking content without breaking the bank. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the must-have tools and apps for small businesses.
For each category, we will be showcasing 2-5 of the most popular tools and apps. These are just suggestions based on what people use the most and our own experience.
- Design tools for non-designers
- Stock Photography & Videos
- Video editing apps
- Photo editing apps
- Project management and collaboration tools
- Social media management tools
- Website performance and optimization tools
- Email marketing and automation tools
- Accounting and invoicing tools
Design tools for non-designers
Were you one of the people that didn’t like art class back in school? Do you avoid drawing at all costs? Do you lack experience in design? This is a pretty common problem many small business owners face. But hear us out! There are apps out there that can improve your design skills and require minimum effort and skillset. Some of them are…
Canva
Canva is a beginner-friendly, simple, and low-cost online graphic design tool. You can access it through your web browser and use Canva’s awesome services just by creating an account. You can make logos, edit photos, or even videos, banners, presentations, and much more. Whether you choose the free or the paid version of Canva, this tool is considered one of the best on the internet.
Adobe Spark
This is another professional graphic design tool that doesn’t require a professional designer’s advanced skills. Adobe Spark can help you create stunning graphics, videos, and social media posts in a few minutes. You have thousands of templates to choose from and you can personalize all of them so that they align with your brand. Adobe Spark can be accessed both online and through their mobile app.
Stock photography and videos
If you don’t have the luxury to go out on your own and take some really cool pictures for your next project or piece of content, you can go on to a stock photography website. There you will find a huge variety of photos and videos that you can use for your own benefit.
Unsplash
Unsplash is one of the biggest names in the free stock photos field. They have over 2 million high-resolution free images that you can download and use anytime. They don’t offer as good quality or variety as other paid websites, but they’re doing pretty amazing. Unsplash is also used by big organizations like the UN.
Pexels
Here’s another free website with a big variety of photos. The only difference with Unsplash is that Pexels also gives you free high-quality videos. Search for the photo you need and their search engine will give you the best results.
Pixabay
Very similar to Unsplash, Pixabay is a free stock photos website with a noticeable amount of photos, videos, illustrations, vectors, music, and sound effects. With over 2.4 million photos to choose from.
Video editing apps
Now, let’s see some of the best video editing apps for small business owners. Since you might not be a professional video editor, we will be showcasing some free and easy-to-use video editing apps that are, however, very efficient.
VN
Whether you want to create amateur or professional content, VN has got you covered. This is an easy-to-use and free video editing app with no watermark. Anyone, with or without video editing skills, can use VN to create awesome content for their business.
CapCut
CapCut is a simple and free video editing app. It was created by the same company that made TikTok and it’s perfect for… yes you guessed it, TikTok videos. It doesn’t offer advanced video editing services but it will be perfect for simple and quick editing. It’s available for Android and IOS.
InShot
InShot is a popular mobile video editing app. With Inshot, you can trim, split, merge, and delete clips. Much like CapCut, it’s perfect for simple editing through your phone. InShot also offers a paid version that allows you to make videos without a watermark.
Photo editing apps
Photo editing is as important as video editing. And a small business owner needs both. So, for this category, we will explore the best free photo editing apps that you can use to create flawless images for your content.
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe is always a guarantee of quality and great results and Lightroom is no exception. This photo editor is actually paid but it allows users to create high-quality and appealing photographs. With Lightroom, you have more control over your edits and some of the best photo editing services out there… You can also use the free version for IOS and Android
SnapSeed
SnapSeed can be considered a professional photo editing tool. Even though beginners can use it too, it might feel overwhelming with all its capabilities and options. Yes, it is good for a simple photo edit but it’s even better for advanced creations. SnapSeed is available for mobile users.
VSCO
VSCO is available for free but the free version is limited. For the best outcome, we recommend you use the paid version. VSCO is one of the best premium photo editing apps that can help you make professional and at the same time eye-catching photo edits. This app also has a community where people can share their thoughts about photo editing.Project management and collaboration tools
Even as a small business owner, there’s a big possibility you have at least some people working for you. Even if the number of employees is 2-3, a project management tool could come in very handy. We’ll also mention some collaboration tools alongside the project management tools so that you get a clearer picture.
Notion
Notion is a project management tool that allows all your team to connect and manage projects together. Through a very simple yet efficient system, your team can complete tasks, launch checklists, and schedule social media content. Notion offers an amazing system and all the tools your team will ever need.
Monday
This is a cloud-based Work Operating System that allows team members to create their own personalized workflow and manage it in the best way possible. You can easily track time, eliminate manual tasks with automation, map out your tasks for an easier understanding, and more.
Trello
Trello is one of the masters of boards and project management visualization. They follow the Kanban system, a popular methodology used in lean management. Trello also has amazing features that won’t let you miss a deadline or even a single notification.
Slack
Slack is more of a collaboration tool that is able to connect all your project management tools into one. With this app, your team members can communicate, collaborate and get work done easily and on time. They can also build personalized groups and work with people from other companies.
Zoom
Zoom is a widely-popular meeting platform that anyone can use for free. We’ve used Zoom and we’re certain you have too. With Zoom, you can have high-quality meetings with people and top-notch communication. Whether you want to hop on a business meeting or have a chat with a friend, Zoom is what you need.
Social media management tools
If social media management is something you spend a lot of time on, social media management tools can be your life savior. They can simplify all your tasks, automate many processes and take your brand to the next level with the power of social media. Let’s see some of the best tools out there…
Metricool
Metricool can help with every social media need your business has. They provide analytics, data on your competitors, a scheduling service, dm and ads management, an AI assistant, and many more. Metricool has more than a million users and it’s the best at securing you more time for other tasks!
Buffer
Buffer is a simple social media management tool that allows businesses to focus on other more important tasks while they take care of their social platforms. They can take over post-scheduling, engagement, analytics, simple landing pages, and more.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is the biggest social media platform with over 18 million users. They have similar services to the above-mentioned tools with the only difference being that Hootsuite is available for 35 social media platforms while the others are more limited.
Website performance and optimization tools
Your work isn’t done once you build your website. It needs optimization and close tracking of its performance. You can’t do something like that without performance and optimization tools to back you up. Today, it’s crucial to have tools like that because that’s one of the best ways to scale your business.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free search optimization tool from Google. It mostly focuses on SEO and SEO performance. That’s why you will get detailed reports on keyword impressions, backlinks, crawling and speed errors, etc. Overall, it’s a great tool if you want to improve your SEO performance and rank better in search engines.
Hubspot
Hubspot is a CRM platform that connects marketing with sales and content creation and customer support. It’s a tool that can help many aspects of your business and improve it in general. Hubspot has numerous services for marketing, sales, and content creation. You can literally find everything there.
GTMetrix
This is a tool that will tell you about your website’s speed in detail. This free tool will give you an extensive report covering things like the site’s load time, size, and requests happening. In the end, it will give you an overall score of your website’s speed and offer improvement suggestions.
Email marketing and automation tools
Email marketing tools are a fit for businesses with big email lists. If you’re sending the same email to thousands of people, tools like this can help you reach a new level. They can automatically send emails to all of your email list and at the same time track performance and more. Their capabilities have no limit so let’s see 2 of the best email marketing tools.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is not the simple newsletter tool it once was. Now, it has many more features like signup forms, surveys, a website builder, and even more. Mailchimp is also very focused on design and that’s why they have a whole content studio that offers email design layouts as well as an AI assistant.
ConvertKit
ConvertKit is a simple email marketing automation tool with straightforward features for bloggers and course instructors. You can send simple and plain emails to all of your list as well as build landing pages and forms. It’s really easy to set up an account and they also have integrations with platforms like WooCommerce and WordPress.
Accounting and invoicing tools
Instead of hiring an accountant, you could use one of these packed accounting tools and get most work done automatically. Tools like this can track your revenue and expenses, help with your taxes, etc. They can be really useful for small business owners that don’t have the ability to hire someone or the time to do it themselves.
Quickbooks
Quickbooks is considered the best accounting software for small businesses out there. They have many plans so that you find something that fits your needs and they also have a very simple and easy-to-set-up platform. If for any reason you need assistance, Quickbooks has a team of professionals ready to help you at any time.
Freshbooks
Freshbooks is another accounting tool that focuses on invoices and their design. They can help with creating professional-looking invoices as well as give you data on them. That’s not all, however, because they also get you ready for tax time and provide you with revenue and expense data.In this article, we showcased the best tools and apps for small business owners. Whether you want help with video editing or social media management, there is an app for you. We gave you a short description for each tool and app so that you can get a good grasp of each market and then decide what’s the best option for your business.