Services Every Startup Business Should Have

When we say “startup,” it usually means the business begins at a relatively small scale, but still needs to have services even if they don’t have sufficient budget or personnel to provide such. Remember that you still need to compete with other companies that may have the resources to hire expert staff dedicated to specific services. Fortunately, the beauty of today’s technology and the Internet can cut down or provide these services at reasonable cost or at no cost at all.

General Marketing

Almost every startup business and existing ones today has a website, as it should be since this is the digital age. Having a website is one of the biggest steps in marketing in order to give exposure to your products or brand. And it’s one thing to have a really nice website (an ugly site won’t get you visitors, by the way) and it’s another matter to have good analytics, page authority rankings, inbound links, and search engine optimization (SEO) so people can find your website.

Social Media Management

This is also the age of social media so not having any form of social media marketing is a form of startup suicide. In today’s competitive social media environment, startup businesses need several social media accounts, often just for people to find the actual business website. In fact, just having a website is no guarantee people will find your business. Social media services allow potential customers real-time inquiries that should also be responded to in real-time. In some cases, some sales can even be closed on social media without the buyer even visiting the startup’s website.

Customer Relationship Management

This is quite different from the customer relationships you strike up on the website and social media. It’s more of keeping track and following up on potential and present customers. It’s one thing to make a sale, but it’s another thing to keep track of that customer and get that person to talk about your product or brand to other people. This management aspect also needs to keep track of e-mail and hangout conversations (some customers still prefer the good ‘ol e-mail), as well as contacts and deals made with other companies or suppliers. This includes all current deals existing and recent tasks involving suppliers. It also involves creating a list of contact fields for all present customers.

Accounting

Of course accounting is important because accounting doesn’t just involve overheads and operational expenses and counting profits. Accounting involves invoicing, sales, payments, and billings that all involve customers. Keeping monetary track of what your customers are buying and repeatedly buying will translate later to marketing analytics. Also, showing your customers that you can provide effective billing, invoicing, etc. is showing them that you are an effective and competent business.

Project Management

If your startup business is into providing some form of service rather than products, then you need to rely on a really effective project management in order to provide your customers the service they truly deserve, and are paying for. You need to monitor your workforce, keep proper files, resources, to-do lists, and constant updates of everything that is conveniently organized.