For small-business owners looking to get the most out of their communication tools, there are a few things to consider.
1) You need to know your audience.
2) You need to know your customers’ needs.
3) You need to spend some time getting to know how you can best communicate with them.
The last item is probably the most important: you need to learn how your customers communicate with each other, and then you will be better able to understand not only what they want from you, but what they want from each other as well.
1. Overview of Communication Software
Communication is an essential part of every small business. In this article we will discuss why communication software is important and how to use it effectively to communicate better with your team, clients and customers.
Communication software for small businesses is a big market for many reasons, including:
• Small businesses do not have the resources to invest in expensive technology solutions (especially if they are based in remote locations)
• Small businesses often spend time and money on making sure they are communicating effectively with their clients and employees.
This article discusses the benefits of communication software, what they are used for, some examples of well-known tools as well as tips on how to use them effectively. We also cover some key points that small businesses should consider when purchasing a communication software system. This includes aspects such as cost effectiveness, ease of installation and customization options, features offered by different software packages, quality control mechanisms and support services provided by companies in this space.
The goal of the article is not to provide a comprehensive guide but rather a quick overview for those who want to know more about the benefits of using communication software systems instead of manually typing messages or emails from scratch. It’s also aimed at helping small business owners make informed decisions about what technology solutions will work best for them — something that may sound obvious but can seem daunting at first glance.
We hope you find this article useful when it comes time to choose the right communications product or vendor for your company. If you have any questions or feedback feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to us directly at https://agilityportal.io/contact
2. Email Marketing Platforms
Email marketing is still a huge part of how many businesses get their messages to their customers. While there are many different types of email marketing software that can be used for various purposes, here I want to highlight the best and most appropriate ones for small businesses. For you, it might not matter as much and it might not be as important, but for your business, you will be spending a lot of time and money on email marketing.
Just about every small business uses an email marketing platform for one reason or another. Many businesses use one or two platforms to manage their emails (some larger enterprises use dozens). There are even a few “email marketing” systems that can do almost everything as well as they can possibly do it. But very few of them offer the best possible value delivered to small business owners — which is why I’ve picked these seven products to highlight in this list:
1) Free Email Marketing Software – Need to send newsletters? This is probably the most popular option out there. It’s got everything you need — all 10 major email providers supported by a hosted dashboard (which makes it particularly good if you want to integrate with a CRM solution). Offerholders include Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, MailChimp and more.
2) Paid Email Marketing Software – There are several options here, including MailChimp and HubSpot. These two companies have built up quite a following over the years from offering free email marketing software (mailing list management), but they also sell some paid options (marketing automation). The main difference between these two options is price: MailChimp charges $250 per month while HubSpot charges $5 per thousand subscribers ($11 per thousand in sales volume) — though both companies offer 1-time discounts that allow smaller/early-stage businesses (such as startups) to get started at a lower price than other more established companies would charge.
3) Full-On CRM System – If you’re looking for something more than just an email address management system then this is probably your best bet: SageCRM has been around since 1999 and offers some excellent features including an integrated CRM platform that supports multiple vendors like Salesforce, Trello and Marketo (among others). The paid option allows users to run campaigns across multiple integrations with different partners rather than only offering one single platform.
4) Web App Email Marketing System – This option gets my vote because it allows you to keep your existing
3. Social Media Tools
There are a lot of different social media tools out there, but they all fall under one or more of these categories:
• Content management
• Communication tools
• Social media app
Each of these types has its pros and cons. The best tool for any given purpose might vary depending on what you need it for and how you use it. For instance: Facebook is the best tool for sharing photos with the world (and is inevitably used by marketers to tell what they are selling), while Twitter is the best tool for talking to customers directly (and is consequently used by marketers to tell what they are selling). But both can be very useful depending on your audience, your industry, and so on.
For a small business that does not have an immediate need for content management, a nice feature of most social media tools (especially those from Apple) is that they include some basic features that allow you to quickly create posts, like links or comments. These features add value to your posts but come with limitations: if you have a big audience you may have to share more than once because the post will still count against your “audience reach” in Facebook and Twitter — if you want users to see your page again. This problem can be addressed nicely with a one-time posting like this:
The above works great on Facebook as well; but here we’re adding another level of control over how users see our content by allowing them to choose how long we show our post before disappearing into light. This allows us to build up our audience while still maintaining enough control over the display so that we remain relevant even after the initial post disappears from view. The idea here is that when we post something new — maybe first thing in the morning, or every few days after lunch — we want people who saw our last post to see this one too! The same goes for anyone who sees this page too many times; instead of just getting frustrated, they might click through and continue reading! And yes, this gives us even more control over the display — unless someone against-your-trends clicks their way into it (which would be annoying!). Once again, this provides us valuable information about who likes what and when; however, it also puts us in direct competition with other brands who may do something similar in their feeds! That’s why there are also “promotional tools” like Facebook Ads or other paid advertising on online publications (
4. Online Collaboration Software
The very first step in a successful business is to gather information from everyone and everyone’s opinion. Which means, you need a reliable way to let people know what you are thinking. This is where a lot of companies stumble backwards and forwards between the “internal” and “online collaboration” camps, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
The internal communication software (which may or may not include an online collaboration component) is often appreciated by employees because it lets them know their job performance and the status of projects, etc. The problem comes when they don’t take advantage of it: they can get distracted with trivial matters (like meeting deadlines) or they can become too closed-minded and hide their criticism behind walls as if “it isn’t relevant anymore.” Either situation will cause bigger problems down the road.
The online collaboration software should be part of your internal communication toolkit — but only when it makes sense for your company (and only when you feel comfortable with the ability to handle all kinds of communication).
5. Conclusion
We may not be ready to write a post on “best communication software for small business”, but we do have something to say about a couple of other things that are regularly asked:
• How should a small business communicate with investors outside the company?
• How should an entrepreneur be connected with the larger world?
These are usually questions that come up when an investor asks about funding or an entrepreneur wants to reach out to potential investors. The answers depend on your metrics, but hopefully we can make a few general points along the way.
A great way to get started is by experimenting with different forms of communication. For example, here are some ideas for ways that you might communicate with investors or potential investors:
• Email—There are several types of email designed for different purposes and business models: investor pitch and fundraising pitch, marketing email and sales email, blog post and blog update and so on. This can all be done in various ways (see below) and there is no right or wrong way to do it—it just depends on what you need to achieve and how you want your message to be received (e.g. if you want this email sent by someone else).
