When you’re new to business, you have a general idea of the tools you’ll need. An email marketing service, a social media scheduler or maybe an AI tool to help with content writing or generating images.
Shift’s article shares insights on how to avoid investing in tools you don’t need, and there’s one in particular that we find helpful for investing in the right business tools from the start: matching every tool with a goal.
You're overwhelmed by the number of business tools and want to make smart investments from the start.
The tips on treating free trial periods like a test drive and retiring tools you no longer need.
More data and insights on the problem of too many tools in the original article.
Choosing the right tools for your business helps you keep overhead costs low and it reduces the need to switch to different tools when you run into unexpected obstacles. We ran into this early on with the remote video and audio tool we chose.
We did some initial research on whether to use Riverside or Descript, and in the end, went with Riverside based on the experience one of our sister companies had with the tool.
While it provided a seamless recording experience, it didn’t align with our goals (or budget) for asynchronous content creation, as a young brand.
For example, some of our contributors produce audio interviews, but without an option to invite other team members to collaborate, we’d have to give each person our login credentials. That’s not very secure, is it? We’re sticking with it for now but definitely keeping an eye out for better matches.
From one startup to another budding business, here’s an approach we’ll use to make better tool decisions in the future.
You likely already have a broad sense of your business goals for the next year. Building your email list. Selling out your first event. Turning a profit. One of the first things you’ll want to do is determine whether or not a tool could help you reach those business goals.
Some things can’t be done with tools alone, and breaking down your business goals into specific categories can help you determine if it’s a tool or talent or both that you need.
For sales and marketing related goals, the tools on your list may include an email marketing service, a social media scheduler, proposal building software or a sales prospecting platform.
Goals that relate to the day-to-day operation of your business like project management and team collaboration require some thought. Not only do you want to consider your business goal, you’ll want to evaluate how you and the people you work with best communicate.
If one of your goals is to increase team collaboration, but email inboxes give you anxiety, explore other options for day-to-day correspondence. If getting more visibility into tasks is important, it doesn’t have to be done using tools like Todoist or Notion.
Think about whether a project management tool is what you need to meet your business goal, or whether the reminder features built into your phone or Google Tasks are better suited to the way you get work done.
These are just a couple of examples of goals and tools, but of course your business will have its own needs.
As you hone in on your goals, you’ll be more alert to apps and software that have features that can grow with your business. Be sure to confirm the features you need now are available on the subscription you plan to purchase, taking note of features you can wait for (and pay for) down the line.
Once your goals are clear and you’ve selected some options, take your time to evaluate each tool. Most offer a free trial period, and once you enter it, try and spend as much time using the tool as possible. Treat the free trial like a test drive–there’s no pressure to purchase, but you don’t want to know with certainty that it will meet all your needs by the end of it.
For software that will end up being customer facing (like an online shopping cart), read and watch reviews from existing customers or run a test with friends or early customers who can share their experience with you.
Also, don’t be afraid to ask that company’s support team for assistance and clarification. Taking these few extra steps to vet and test the tool will save you time and money down the line.
Whether it’s on an annual basis, or when you hit friction in a process, reflect on whether the tools you’re using are continuing to serve your needs.
We started out using a robust project management tool to track and assign tasks, tasks, monitor progress, etc., for each issue of Digital Entrepreneur. When our system got to be overwhelming, we stopped using it, and one of our team members created a much simpler (and still wildly effective) tracker in a spreadsheet.
As you grow your business, you’ll naturally have new priorities and want to add new tools. You’ll also notice gaps where your needs are no longer being met, signaling time to switch tools.
Keep an ongoing inventory of what you’re using and what you’re not, to make the most of your budget for software and avoid purchasing tools that serve the same purpose as a tool you already have.
When you focus on your goals and match business tools to business needs, you may just find the time you’ve been searching for to get sh*t done instead of constantly learning new things.
Shift tech stack articleShift's practical guide to streamlining how you use technology shows that by carefully evaluating and optimizing your tech, you can avoid wasting time and resources.
Digital Entrepreneur's editorial team includes Sharon Milone and Barrak Alzaid, with help from our friends at Redbrick, Danni Deguire and Rachel Aiken.