Article Contributed by Daniel S. Williams
The following are some low (or no) cost tools that can help you grow and manage your startup. As a newly-minted startup, money is tight. Yet there are numerous resources out there that can help your business without the exorbitant costs.
1. MailChimp – Whether you are considering MailChimp or a competitor such as ConstantContact (both are highly dependable services), this tool of email automation and subscriber list management has numerous applications. In the ‘Under $20 / Month’ category, MailChimp offers integration capabilities, while also retaining a fairly robust analytics tracking for opened messages and conversion rates. For a few bucks a month more, the option to view signups’ social media profile links is available and can serve as a great method to help verify and engage with your users. It is also an opportunity to establish customized lists and obtain email feedback by groups, etc.
2. Google Analytics – For those perhaps unfamiliar with the world of analytics, there is one tool that is a must—Google Analytics. By setting up integration and tracking on your venture’s site, the ability to see break-downs of user demographics, conversions, and traffic referral sources is vital to understanding your users and knowing the optimized targeting plan. And what’s more? This is a free service that is quick and simple to set up with your website. While the data and metrics can become more complex depending on reports desired, the ability to display summary reports and see visually trends over time adds a wealth of value even for the novice site analytics goers.
3. HubSpot – HubSpot offers many free materials on their website relating to marketing, acquisition strategies, and social optimization and SEO tips. While HubSpot offers paid CRM solutions for growing companies, as a startup the likely source of value comes from HubSpot’s insightful blog posts on marketing strategies and what you can do to increase engagement. While some tips are not as viable for startups to implement immediately, some basic lessons such as creating a relevant, content-centric company blog and ensuring keywords are setup properly with your site for SEO can go a long way and require zero expense! I also recommend completing their Inbound Certification through HubSpot Academy (a free course) that will give a deeper understanding of engagement, retention, and delighting techniques for users, as I found it to be a valuable source of learning.
Daniel S. Williams is a cum laude Advanced-Standing graduate from the Carroll School of Management of Boston College, holding a B.S. degree in Management, concentrated in Finance. He is actively involved with Boston SaaS startup Xperii as the Head of Business Development. He is also HubSpot Inbound Certified as well Google Analytics and AdWords Certified, writing on topics of small business, retail, and the world of startups.