As small business owners, we know it can take a lot of work to find the right tools.
I mean, you already have so much to do! Finding small business tools to improve your marketing or improve your organization takes time you don’t have.
That’s why we decided to examine our own business operations (and poll a few other business owners we know) to bring you this Top 10 list of tools for small businesses. You’ve probably heard of some of them before, but hopefully, this article will give you a new perspective on how you can use them for your business.
And, because we know your budget is important, we’re including the price in every single write-up. You can thank us later. 😉
1. Social Cat
Category: Marketing
Social Cat is one of the best marketing tools for small businesses because it’s way more affordable than other influencer marketing platforms and offers similar value. It helps small business owners like you to find influencers on Instagram and TikTok and collaborate with them to grow sales, increase brand awareness, and obtain licensed UGC.
All three goals we mentioned are critical for small businesses, but it’s challenging to accomplish them on a budget. Influencers (especially more prominent influencers) are super expensive, and running ads on TikTok and Instagram is costly, too.
So how can you do it all? With Social Cat.
Cost: Starts at $99/month. For that price, you can run gifted, paid, or affiliate campaigns with five influencers who will post about your brand on their social media channels. Licensing is included for you to repurpose their content in ads or social media pages. You can shop around if you want, but this is a GREAT deal.
2. Canva
Category: Marketing
Everyone loves Canva, and for good reason. It empowers ANYONE (yes, you too!) to create world-class content. No talent or experience is required. How cool is that?
You can create images, videos, presentations, resumes, or any content you need for your brand. And, if you’re not in the mood to create something from scratch, there are millions of templates to choose from at no extra cost–so it’s easy to understand why it’s invaluable.
Cost: $0-$10/month. Canva has a free version available. It has many features and is the best option for getting started. If you want full access to all of their templates and features, it’s $120 per year for one person. If you have a small team, you can all share a single login until you need to expand to the enterprise plans. It’s super affordable, and it’s vital for small businesses.
3. Trello
Category: Productivity
As a small business owner, there are so many tasks to do that it’s easy to forget about something and start falling behind. How do you prioritize the right things?
Easy: Use project management software.
We’ve tried many different Project Management software brands, so let us tell you a little secret: the logic behind all of them is the same. The differences lie in the design and interface, but they’re the same concept in different wrappings.
So, which one should you use?
This will depend on personal preference, but our pick is Trello. It’s super simple to use, and its classic boards make it easy to split large tasks into smaller steps.
You can use Trello to work on multiple projects simultaneously, with each one organized in its own space. We recommend using a simple system with one big project split into multiple tasks, and then using statuses like “not started,” “in progress,” or “done,” etc.
Cost: Free. Our team has tested the free version (you can upgrade later if you want). It allows you to start multiple projects and boards, and it has quite a few other features. Try it out–you won’t regret it!
4. Notion
Category: Organization
Notion is one of those small business management tools you need to keep you organized. You can almost think of it as your digital headquarters, where you can do nearly anything: store information and documents, organize teams and tasks, collaborate with others, use it as a CRM, and so much more.
Do you see why we said it is like a digital headquarters? 😄
Notion started as a popular tool for startups, but it’s quickly grown beyond that. We even use it at Social Cat.
I use it for my personal goals and life, too, and the best part is that I use it for free! 🎉💃
That’s right–pricing starts at FREE, literally, and if you have a small team, it’s perfect. There are some limitations to collaborating with other team members on the free plan, but again, if you are small, you can work around those quite easily by sharing a business login.
This is one of my favorite tools for personal and professional life. Period.
Cost: FREE with paid upgrades available.
5. Google Analytics
Category: Marketing and Growth
If you have a website, you probably know how to use Google Analytics, at least on a basic level. Most of the time, the basics are all you’ll need–you don’t need to be an expert in them unless you own a marketing agency.
Google Analytics tells you everything that happens on your website at any given time: who comes to it, where they’re coming from, how much time they spend on your site, and even how much money they spend.
There is a small learning curve involved, but there is so much education and information about Google Analytics (even on Google itself) that it’s worth the investment of time to know how to find the information you need from it.
Cost: FREE for all users. It’s a no-brainer!
6. ChatGPT
Category: Educational
Okay, it was a bit difficult to classify ChatGPT. But we settled on “education” because it can help with almost anything in any domain. It’s one of the best tools small businesses can have, even if you aren’t planning on doing a ton of writing for your business.
Not sure how business metrics work? Ask ChatGPT. Want to find something in Google Analytics? Send ChatGPT a screenshot and ask it to guide you. Need some headlines for your ads? Well, you know the answer! 😂
ChatGPT is good at everything, and it keeps getting better quickly.
A good way to think of it is as an assistant who can help you with almost anything you want to know. Of course, it’s not perfect, so keep that in mind, but it’s pretty darn good most of the time.
It’s also super affordable–there’s a free version, and if you want to upgrade to the premium version, you can get it for just $20/month.
Cost: $0-$20/month
7. Google Meet
Category: Organization
Google Meet is well-known and a must if you’re a small business owner who needs to communicate with different business partners or even team members who work remotely.
It’s a simple, no-frills tool that does exactly what it promises: it helps you meet with people virtually.
We included Google Meet over Zoom because Google Meet allows you to meet for up to 60 minutes with up to 100 participants. It’s more than enough. Zoom, the last time we checked, only allows you to meet for 40 minutes for free, and that 20 minutes can sometimes make or break the meeting. You don’t want to run out of time while discussing the most important part of that meeting.
Cost: Free. The free plan suits over 90% of small business owners, but paid upgrades are available as you grow.
8. WordPress
Category: Marketing
WordPress isn’t a perfect fit for the marketing category because it transcends it. Some marketing tools can be dropped, but you're basically out of business if you can’t build and host your website.
You’ve probably heard about WordPress from the days of blogging. Well, guess what? It’s still popular, and these days, it’s mainly used to build websites. They can also host your website, help you find domain names, and even build newsletters–but their core function is website building.
Cost: Starts at $4/month. So, if you want to skip your frappuccino tomorrow, you can build a website with what you saved. 😂
9. Slack
Category: Organization
If you’re managing a small team, the best communication tool is Slack. It’s super easy to use and isn’t hard to learn. It’s fast, secure, and does exactly what it promises: it helps you communicate with team members online.
There are many premium features and integrations for larger organizations, so it can grow with you. But you probably don’t need all those just yet (or maybe never, if you’re just looking for a communication tool), which means you can use the free plan. There are some limitations–for example, you can’t see messages older than 90 days–but no big hurdles or issues.
Cost: Free. You can upgrade to add features if/when you want them, but you really don’t need to.
10. Google Drive
Category: Organization
Google Drive needs no introduction–we’re sure you’ve used it at least once in your lifetime. At the very least, you’ve heard of it and probably know what it can do.
It’s used to securely store files and documents online and share them with different collaborators. Most people use it to store documents with company information, content files (audio and video), and more.
Cost: Free for 15GB of storage, with paid storage upgrades. That won’t feel like much if you’re backing up videos, but to be fair, it is quite a lot. You’d have to store a LOT of documents to reach that limit–like all the Panama Papers. 😂
Do you use any of these small business tools?
We got this list of top 10 small business tools based on our experience running Social Cat and polling the small business owners we serve, but we’re sure there are many more.
Stay tuned for future articles in which we’ll explore each category: Marketing, Productivity, Organization, and more!
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