Each year, thousands of entrepreneurs launch new businesses. Many of those startups grow into successful companies thanks to the right combination of product and service placement, creative marketing, and excellent customer support.
Did you know that another thing all successful startups have in common is they leverage the right online services to help their businesses succeed? There’s no denying that the Internet offers a wealth of information and support to enterprises of all shapes and sizes.
If you do even a cursory search online, you’ll come across various SaaS (software as a service) platforms aimed at helping businesses succeed. You’re likely reading this blog post today because you want to ensure your new enterprise doesn’t tank when it’s trying to grow.
With that in mind, you’ll need all the help and support available to you. The following are practical, innovative, and creative online service solutions that will bolster your business and help it grow and flourish. Check them out:
1. Legal Services
Some people assume that you’d need to liaise with a lawyer if someone’s trying to sue your business or steal something from it. The thing is, law firms help with various business matters, including research and development and case studies.
You might not realize it, but the days of needing to spend time visiting lawyers in person and discussing matters with them are over. There are now online SaaS platforms such as the up-coming Business Help that offer online legal services to businesses.
Such legal services platforms can help secure and protect your startup business from the threat of litigation and ensure no-one exploits what it provides for their own financial gain.
2. Video Communications
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced thousands of people to work from home, so the disease’s spread can slow down. Remote working has now taken the spotlight in the business world, and it turns out that it’s a viable prospect few companies ever considered.
Emails, phone calls, and text messages are existing communication methods used by remote workers and their employers. But, video communication brings back the personable touch to communicating with co-workers and clients we miss with face-to-face interaction.
Online video communication services such as Zoom and Skype make it easy for individuals and teams to convey their messages without fear of misunderstandings. All startups should seriously consider using video communication.
3. E-Commerce Services
Whether you’re selling products or services from your startup, you should offer customers the opportunity to buy them online. E-Commerce SaaS platforms such as Shopify and Wix make that possible because there are no programming skills needed to set up online stores.
There’s a wealth of e-commerce platforms available to suit various business needs. What’s more, many are ideal for startup businesses like yours and offer enterprise solutions as your brand grows.
When it comes to accepting payments from customers, you can use digital wallet solutions like PayPal and Google Pay.
You no longer need to wait a long time for merchant account applications to get approved before accepting card payments. Solution providers like Stripe make it quick and easy to accept debit and credit card payments.
4. Digital Marketing Services
When you launch a startup business, one thing on all entrepreneurs’ to-do lists is marketing their brands, products, and services. These days, it makes sense to invest most of your energy and marketing budget in digital marketing.
The thing about digital marketing is that it’s a broad term that covers various online marketing concepts, such as:
SEO (search engine optimization);
PPC (pay-per-click) advertising;
Influencer advertising.
Of course, the above list isn’t a definitive one but is an example of the top digital marketing concepts most startups use. If you’re new to digital marketing, the good news is there’s plenty of solution providers you can use online.
What’s more, many marketing agencies offer their digital marketing services through SaaS platforms. That means you can have complete control over your marketing strategies without even needing to meet with marketers in person.
Irrespective of what your startup sells, you must make digital marketing a priority. Otherwise, you’ll experience slower growth in your business and will potentially miss out on a significant part of your target audience.
5. Accounting Services
Another essential service businesses of all sizes need is accounting services. Entrepreneurs from sole traders through to partnerships and incorporated companies need accounting services for several reasons.
Firstly, account services help startups to keep track of their income and expenditure. Knowing that information ensures entrepreneurs can check their businesses’ financial health and have the right information available for tax purposes.
Secondly, it makes it easier to track down financial information to resolve issues with clients and suppliers. Online SaaS accounting services will typically provide provision for storing documents related to financial transactions.
And, thirdly, accounting services like QuickBooks offer solutions specifically for startups and small businesses. That means you don’t have to pay for enterprise-level solutions that you’ll seldom use in your startup.
6. Customer Relationship Management
As your startup grows, you’ll want to learn more about each customer’s spending habits. What do they buy from you? How often do they make a purchase? What motivates them to buy your products and services?
Those are just some of the many questions you’ll want to answer so you can streamline the products and services that your business offers. The thing is, you can’t achieve that goal if all you’re doing is maintaining an Excel spreadsheet with each customer’s contact details!
That’s why it makes sense to use a customer relationship management SaaS platform for your startup business. So, what does such an online solution offer that could be beneficial to your startup?
A customer relationship management solution such as Salesforce helps you with customer service, spending habits, and even marketing. They’re useful for startups to monitor their interactions with customers and curate exclusive marketing strategies.
7. Team Collaboration
Do you work with other key stakeholders in your startup business? If so, your business needs a way for all team members to collaborate on projects with ease. Thankfully, many team collaboration services offer SaaS platforms for startups to use.
For example, Dropbox allows team members to simultaneously work on project files and track changes with file revision history. The file-sharing and team collaboration service also enable contributors to keep local copies of files to work on them offline.
SaaS platforms such as Canva allow creative collaboration between team members. It’s a useful tool for people in your startup to curate graphical content for marketing purposes, such as online banners, printable posters, and product packaging.
8. Email Services
Email is the de-facto communication method for most firms, and it’s an essential one for all firms – regardless of their size. As a startup, you want to ensure your brand gets portrayed professionally. One way to make that happen is with personalized domain email addresses.
Email SaaS platforms like Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) will help your brand achieve that goal, but there’s so much more to those platforms. For example, team members can use shared calendars and talk to each other via instant messaging.
The last thing your startup business should do is use a free email address. All employees should have mailboxes that utilize your startup’s domain name.
Conclusion
The above list is by no means exhaustive but illustrates the most common SaaS platform options available to startups. There are several essential online services on that list which all startups should use to promote their brands and help them grow.
