With a million and one things to do, it’s within every small business owner’s interest to automate operations and save time where possible. Though with cash flow and expenses on a tight leash, forking out thousands of dollars on automation isn’t feasible. This is when free automation tools come into their own.
How to Automate Your Small Business for Free
Take a look at the following 20 ways to automate your small business for free.
Automate Marketing Efforts
Bring your small business’s marketing campaigns to life with Leadsuis. Cited as the world’s first truly free marketing automation platform, small businesses can take advantage of Leadsuis’ free version to create landing pages, emails, reporting, web analytics and more.
Share Files and Document Collaboration
Avoid endless back and forth emails and thereby save time and effort with Google Docs. With Google Docs files are shared in your Google Drive and can be accessed with ease among teammates. You can also create and edit vital documents with ease with Google Docs.
Host Remote Meetings Efficiently
Create a free account with Join.Me and start hosting free meetings with team members and clients remotely with this conferencing solution tool. By hosting meetings online, hordes of time, money and effort is saved through avoiding having to arrange face-to-face meetings.
Automate Invoicing Requirements
Invoicely is a free, powerful invoicing platform, which tens of thousands of small businesses use to take care of their invoicing requirements simply, securely and without costing anything. You can also track time, expenses, mileage and other billed tasks with Invoicely.
Project Management and More
Take care of your business’s project management needs with Apptivo, a collection of small business management apps, which handle project management, collaboration, timesheets and expense reports. With Apptivo you can also manage CRM, including tracking complete sales processes.
Repost and Recycle Blogs with a WordPress Plugin
Use Revive Social, a WordPress plugin, to repost and recycle your blog articles on a regular basis, to ensure you get the most out of your written content.
Manage Business Finances with Online Accounting
Brightbook is a great solution for small businesses looking for an online accounting system without the hefty expense that often goes hand-in-hand with such platforms. With Brightbook you can create invoices, upload bills and get paid online quickly, securely and for free.
Generate Leads with Free Email Automation
Send out 400 emails per month designed to generate leads and create more sales, with SalesAutoPilot’s free version. Businesses can access the platform for free by requesting a free trial account.
Automate Social Media Postings
Posting on social media is time-consuming but necessary if you won’t to grow your business’s social reach and customer engagement. Recurpost automates social postings for free. It can also distribute blog posts regularly to social media feeds.
Organize, Track and Nurture Leads and Customers
HubSpot CRM provides everything your business needs to organize, track and nurture leads and customers for free. This powerful, free CRM has everything you’ll need to build relationships with your customers.
Customize Emails
Designed to make emails easier, Thunderbird is a free email application that’s easy to set up and customize. You can personalize email addresses to make your business look more professional in an instant with Thunderbird.
Streamline Remote Communication
Slack is one tool for streamlining communication between small business teams. With the platform’s free version, you can search up to 10,000 messages and have 1-to-1 video calls, making remote communication easier.
Get Apps and Devices Talking to Each Other
IFTTT helps you create a more connected business by syncing all your apps and devices so they seamlessly connect, for free!
Enhance Social Media Engagement
Sign up your business to Hootsuite’s free plan and you can benefit from support for up to three social media profiles and two campaigns for single users. By automating social media activity, Hootsuite can help increase social media engagement across more than 35 global networks.
Schedule Regular Reports on Metrics that Matter
EBSuite provides marketing, sales and customer support in one single platform, including CRM integration and project management. You can schedule hourly, daily or weekly reports based on metrics that matter the most to your business. EBSuite offers a free 30-day trial for businesses.
Create POS and Loyalty Program Solutions
If you run a small store, beauty salon or another small business, Loyverse could provide you with the help you need. This POS and loyalty program solution includes inventory management. This free POS tool is available on the iTunes and Google Play app stores.
Combine Sales Process Data from Various Channels
Sellsy enables you to combine sales process data from various channels, such as online, POS and inside sales. You can try out the platform on a 7-day free trial.
Simplify Task Management
Save time, stress and effort by simplifying tasks with Asana. This free task management solution enables you to create repeating tasks and assign them to team members.
Consolidate Manufacturing and Distribution Processes
Save your business time and money by consolidating all manufacturing and distribution processes into xTuple, a single business system created to be convenient. This free open-source ERP solution with an integrated CRM system is designed, predominantly, for businesses that produce products.
Track Correspondence and Schedule Emails
Save your business time and frustration by tracking correspondence and scheduling emails with MixMax, a powerful browser plugin. The free version is limited to 100 tracked emails and ten scheduled emails a month.
If you know of any free automation tools and services for small businesses, share them in the comment section.
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This article, "20 Ways to Automate Your Small Business for Free" was first published on Small Business Trends
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