A business’s road to success is a long one, which can be discouraging for startups that are just starting their journey. The good news, however, is that when you are a startup, you can learn from the mistakes and successes of the companies that came before you.

Nowadays, new businesses have access to a plethora of tools that the businesses before them didn’t. Business automation, scheduling softwares, social media — access to these affordable (and, in some cases, free) tools didn’t exist decades ago.

If armed with the right tools, a new business can start to establish efficient processes and improve visibility without having to spend a pretty penny:

A Powerful Pitch Deck

One of the most common ways for a business to attain funding is through an investor or group of investors. To attract investors like angel investors and venture fund capitalists, however, you need to sell them on the growth potential of your business. To do this, you need to come equipped with a pitch deck that will attract these decision-makers to your business offerings.
A pitch deck is a visual version of an elevator pitch. It is a slide deck summarizing what your business is, what it’s done, what it will do, and all of its past, present and projected numbers.

When you invest in professional presentation design services to create an effective pitch deck, that’s an investment that will go a long way. A good pitch deck can help you close deals and provide you with unique content.

Relevant Social Media Accounts

The success of a startup is dependent on its reach — how many people know of and use the new company’s services. One of the biggest struggles new businesses face when starting out, is increasing brand awareness. The reality is that a lot of these businesses don’t have the finances to fund a large scale outbound marketing campaign.

One of the cheapest promotional tools a startup can use for marketing is social media. Social media offers paid advertisements through their platform but making an account and posting costs visually nothing – except the labour involved in creating and posting content.

The good news is that you can get creative with your content. For example, you can use elements of your pitch deck (i.e visual aids like infographics) to share across your social media platforms. Quality, unique content can go a long way online.

Automation & Management Software

Every startup is faced with tasks that are simultaneously time-consuming and time-sensitive. The best way to combat this obstacle is to find a business technology software. Your business can use a platform like an automation or customer management platform to consolidate information and streamline your processes.

Take social media management for example. When social media marketing, you are fighting against an algorithm to get your content seen, and sometimes that means posting at awkward times of the day. The best way to solve this predicament is to use an automation software to schedule your content ahead of time, and in one sitting.

Fortunately, automation softwares exist for a wide variety of processes ranging from payroll to invoicing to payments. It’s just about finding the right affordable and efficient option for your business.

Communication Channels

Lack of communication is an easy (and common) way for a business to fail. When lines get crossed, and information isn’t relayed promptly and accurately, processes can come to a halt and result in problems that are time-consuming to solve.

Pick a communication channel that will allow your startup team to chat, send assets, plan projects, answer questions and assign tasks. Plenty of communication tools like Slack can be integrated with project management tools that will help your startup establish processes to streamline workflows and maximize productivity.