The success of a startup is predicated on the relevance of your business idea, the strength of your service or product, and the availability of potential customers. Once you have those three essential parts, however, you’ll need to find tools to continue your startup’s success and path to growth. Below, we’ve compiled a list of seven types of software you may want to consider for your company.
Automated HR Software
As a startup, you might not have the fancy office of your dreams. But don’t fret, plenty of huge companies started out of garages before becoming the big-name company they are today. More important than a ping pong table or a cool office vibe is hiring the right people and managing them effectively. With automated HR software, you can take the legwork out of complex HR processes.
Many HR platforms give your employees a place to keep track of their benefits, request time off, monitor overall performance goals, and finish or store any certifications or trainings needed. Many automated HR software companies manage your employees and all their associated HR needs. With applicant tracking, onboarding tools, compensation trackers, and organizational processes, HR software is the best way to manage your employees.
Freight Broker Software
If you’re in the transportation industry, it’s critical to have freight broker software. With this kind of software, you can be confident you’re promoting better carrier relationships, efficient loading, and truck locating.
Here’s just a few of the benefits of this kind of software:
- Grow your customers’ visibility into the shipping and freight process
- Scale your business easily using integrated process automation
- Share important data with carriers
- Quickly and easily on-board new customers, carriers and trading partners yourself
- Complete all brokerage transactions within a few screens
Communication Software
Although there a few types of capable software centered around helping companies make their internal communication better, a favorite among startups is Slack. It’s basically a beefed-up version of instant messaging that offers employees a place to integrate communication, notifications, and other important messages. Plus, there’s a huge suite of apps that can be used in coordination with Slack, like Dropbox, Google docs, and more. Slack allows for seamless communication between departments, co-workers, and even clients.
Data Software
Your company might be successful, but if you can’t track your performance metrics, you won’t be able to ever truly understand your company’s growth path. With software like Google Data Studio, you can monitor all of your website metrics from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and spreadsheets into one dashboard.
Social Media Software
You might not think social media is integral to your success but no matter your industry, social media platforms can make a huge difference in your company’s performance. Whether you use social channels to reach industry thought leaders, get exposure, or target ads to potential customers – places like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more can be used to help your company grow.
One of the best ways to manage your social media presence is by using automated tools like HootSuite. HootSuite allows you to view content analytics, post social media content, and plan your content strategy in one convenient location.
SEO Software
If you make an awesome website but nobody visits it, you likely won’t have much success. SEO is a critical part of the digital marketing world and there are tons of opportunities to use SEO tools. For example, WooRank’s software gives you a free overview of your site’s general performance metrics in search results. The tool gives your site a score out of 100 and any issues it finds related to your ranking like keywords, technical SEO errors, content improvements, page loading, and other tips.
Marketing Persona Software
One of the best ways to market your product or service and reach more customers is by using persona marketing software. Make My Persona, a software developed by HubSpot, is a great example of this. The tool gives you the chance to put together what you know about your customer base. Then, you can export a basic bio and a rundown of multiple types of customer personas. Using this kind of tool allows you to create more focused and compelling ad campaigns.
Takeaways
For startups, every tool matters. It’s important to have a variety of tools that allows you to focus on what’s important to you as the business owner. With these tools and a strong business plan, you’ll be on your way to blasting past profit goals.
