Business Tasks Made Simple With Tech

You don’t need to be an early adopter, living on the bleeding edge to increase your business through tech tools. No matter your skill level, here are five that will help you.

备份你的短信. Emails are easy to add to a transaction record, but including relevant text-message conversations in that archive—in an accessible format—isn’t so simple. If you have an iPhone and use the Messages app on a Mac with the same account as on the iPhone, you can view a conversation in the desktop Messages app and copy and paste it to a text document. 否则, try iExplorer ($39) for Windows and Mac, Windows版本的CopyTrans(29美元), 或Mac版的PhoneView(售价30美元). Android users can create backups of conversations in their Gmail accounts using the free SMS Backup+ app.

管理社交媒体. Buffer and Hootsuite consolidate your 社交媒体 accounts so you can schedule, 监控, and analyze your activity in one place. They have Android and iOS apps and excel at broadcasting content to your connections. Their free plans let you connect three accounts and schedule up to 10 posts per account. 每月付费计划, starting at $15 for Buffer and $29 for Hootsuite, 添加分析, 高级调度选项, 内容协助.

选择合适的名字. You want a consistent online presence for your business. Make sure you can claim the same name for all your 社交媒体 accounts and website URL with NameChk. It’s a free service that checks the availability of usernames across the internet.

创造引人入胜的营销. Canva enables you to create engaging visual content—社交媒体 graphics, 传单, 宣传册, postcards—with a simple drag-and-drop editor. The free plan requires you to provide or purchase images, while the $12.95 monthly plan opens up the photo and illustration library.

发送更聪明的邮件. 通过邮件营销服务, you can send professional-looking, mobile-responsive messages to segments of your list—by location, whether they’re 购买 or 销售, 等.—that will improve your messages’ effectiveness. You can also set up automated campaigns that not only send on a schedule but can also trigger additional messages based on recipients’ actions, such as opening or clicking on a link in the message. Popular email services MailChimp and Campaigner offer these and other features starting at $10 and $20 per month, 分别.