10 Promising Services for Businesses to Check Out in 2021
Over the past few decades, 2020 is arguably one of the most challenging years so far. With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hampering almost every industry, staying afloat as a small business isn’t an easy feat.
Quick backstory: the economic setback brought by COVID-19 almost killed my small business of vegan leather gadget sleeves. If I didn’t get back on the horse fast, smart, and brave enough, I would’ve lost everything. My business would’ve been one of the thousands that closed shop at a loss. But I couldn’t let that happen — at least not without a fight.
During the last quarter of 2020, I picked myself up and learned the ropes of managing a business in the new normal. I wouldn’t say the business is raking in millions in revenue, but it’s doing better than when the lockdown was first implemented.
Go Digital or Go Home
So here’s one of the most important lessons I’ve learned about being a small business owner in the new normal: go digital, or go home.
Though the movement isn’t as restricted as it was before, more people prefer to go the safe route and stay at home. And since they’ve already tried shopping online, most consumers have experienced the convenience of getting everything they need with a few taps on their phone.
Thankfully, on the other side of the store, you can also take advantage of digital solutions to make your operations easier and more organized. Here are ten services I’ve been using to get my business up and running amid the new normal.
1. WordPress
I mentioned in a previous post that one of the first steps I took as I revamped my business was to set up an eCommerce website. To do so, I integrated a WooCommerce plug-in to our existing WordPress website. With this plug-in, visitors can now buy products directly from our site.
2. PayPal
I’m not going to pretend to be an eCommerce guru. I’m not. In fact, I’m fairly new to the process of accepting payments online. And in this process, PayPal has become an excellent tool. Now, I’m not claiming that it’s the best nor the most practical solution. To be honest, I’m yet to explore other options. But for someone who already uses PayPal for online transfers, it’s a great and secure tool you can use to accept credit cards and payments right away.
3. Content Fuel
With everyone browsing online to check out products and services, search engine optimization (SEO) offers invaluable benefits. The problem is, I can’t hire an in-house writer because of a limited budget. I, myself, love writing, but I only have time to write pieces like this every once in a while. And when you’re using content for marketing, you can’t release blog posts “every once in a while.” Consistency is key.
That’s the reason why I sought out a content writing service. And out of the service providers I checked, I liked Content Fuel the best. A monthly subscription gives me eight high-quality blogs, which I publish twice a week. This allows me to nurture my community and attract new visitors to my website.
4. Facebook Ads
For small businesses with limited resources for ad spend, Facebook Ads is gold. It allows us to target people based on their age, gender, interests, and even life events. In a way, it makes ads more personalized and allows us to grow our following and brand awareness.
5. Trello
I don’t have a big team. Despite being a small group, we need to be organized with our tasks, and Trello allows us to do this. The app allows the team to collaborate and be on the same page about task development. They have a free account that comes with ten boards per team, with unlimited cards and lists. This, for the moment, is enough to meet my team’s needs.
6. Slack
My team and I tried communicating via chat messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and Google Hangouts. However, we found Slack to be the best messaging app when it comes to work-related communication. For one, it allows for multiple channels, which organize chat threads. In addition to that, it also lets us segmentize our online communication better.
7. Penji
As you would expect from a small business getting back to its feet, we needed quite a handful of graphic designs. For one, we revamped our WordPress website and turned it into an eCommerce site. As expected, that entails a lot of new images — from web design to trust badges and whatnot. In addition to that, I also needed marketing materials, such as ad designs and lots of social media cards. Thankfully, I stumbled upon Penji, which offers unlimited designs and revisions at a flat monthly rate.
One thing I liked most about this service is the value it brings to a small business. I mean, I’m all for giving freelance designers a chance to prove their worth. However, when you’re operating on limited resources like me, you don’t have the allowance for a hit-and-miss process. I can’t afford to pay for low-quality designs, and I certainly can’t have a designer go MIA on me.
8. Hootsuite
Remember, when I told you that I had a lot of social media cards made? Well, I needed to plan out how to use them the best way possible. After all, to make the most out of these images, I needed to post them consistently in the right channels and at the right times.
For this very purpose, I found Hootsuite to be a great resource. Since I handle the social media channels myself, I opted for their lowest package. This gives unlimited post scheduling in ten social media profiles for one user.
9. MailChimp
We mostly use MailChimp to automate our email marketing. We use this service to send personalized emails and review analytics. It also allows us to create custom content so that we don’t need to work with redundant templates.
10. Google Drive
I can’t emphasize enough how Google Drive has made it a lot easier to collaborate on projects. Best of all, a free account comes with 15GB of free storage, and that’s more than enough for our needs at the moment.
