Communication is key in any business. Irrespective of what kind of business you are running, good communication tools are essential for success. From talking to customers to developing and implementing marketing plans, good communication helps your business run smoothly. But what are the best communication tools?
Related: 20 Effective Business Communication Tools to Keep Your Team On Point
The Basics of Communication
First, let’s discuss the core basics of communication. Communication can take on many forms and be accomplished in different ways. Below are some of the most common forms of communication:
-verbal: speaking, telephoning, written communication
-nonverbal: body language, visual cues
-visual: images, videos
-kinesthetic: touching (for example, handshakes)
-auditory: listening to a person talk or read aloud
-tactile: touching and feeling something (for example, holding someone’s hand)
-olfactory: smelling something (for example, a waft of perfume)
Tips for creating a good communication strategy for startups
Startups are new businesses and because of this, there is a good chance that they’ll have a variety of communication tools and regular communication channels. That being said, it’s important to think about how you want your startup to communicate with its customers and investors.
In order for your startup to be the best it can be, you need to create a solid communication strategy that is specifically tailored for your business. In order to get started on creating this strategy, here are some tips to consider:
1. You need to try different approaches in creating an effective strategy
You may think you know what will work well for your startup, but you probably don’t. When starting out with something as important as communication, it’s important not to put all of your eggs in one basket. There’s no point in simply doing the same things over and over again if you’re going to end up with different results every time. If you do that, you’re just wasting time and money.
2. Be open-minded about what works best
It can be tempting to be too rigid when constructing a good marketing strategy for your company or startup (or any other business). We know what has worked in the past and we are often not open to new and updated technology. To keep up with the latest trends means to optimize your business and streamline your communication process. Hence, it is essential that you are open-minded regarding all types of tools and strategies introduced to you.
Telephone communications
The telephone is one of the most common communication tools for communicating with people these days. As a result, it’s about time your business was aware of how to use it effectively.
The telephone can provide you with the opportunity to connect with prospective customers and clients. It allows you to build rapport and establish trust with potential clients or create brand awareness and credibility among current customers.
Electronic mail
Electronic mail is a good communication tool. While email is not the most exciting of communication tools, it’s one of the most commonly used and effective.
Email can be sent to your team members, clients, or customers to get feedback on new product ideas or to reach out for general business purposes. It can also be used as a method of customer service or even sales. In short, email provides a way of communicating with others while being able to view email responses in real-time.
Email is easy to use and convenient since it doesn’t require any effort from your end. Although there are other communication tools that may provide more engagement for people, email is an effective and cost-effective tool for business use.
Correspondence management
A lot of work goes into managing correspondence. Whether you’re writing a letter, email, or social media post, it can be time-consuming and difficult to keep up with.
Thankfully, there are apps that can make your life easier.
One popular app is MailChimp for Gmail. With MailChimp for Gmail, you can set up a mailing list and send emails to that list with just one click. You can also track the performance of your campaigns; if people aren’t opening your emails or clicking through to your website, you’ll know where the problem is.
Another helpful tool is Inbox by Google (formerly Google Inbox). With Inbox by Google, you can create custom labels and use one-tap actions to quickly send messages out via email or text message when they arrive in your inbox as well as schedule them for later sending.
Also read: 35 Collaboration Tools That Can Help You Scale Your Business
Customer service
Customer service is an integral part of customer relations and it’s a crucial part of any business. From answering questions and providing information to resolving customer complaints, your customer service department is the face of your business in customers’ minds.
Your key goal as a company should be to provide good customer service at all times. Customer service shouldn’t just be limited to these interactions with customers—it should also be provided in marketing materials that you send out, blog posts, and other forms of digital marketing.
Marketing communication
Marketing communication is any type of communication that is used to promote a company’s products or services. It includes everything from advertising campaigns to online content, and it can come in many shapes and forms. Marketing communication is also made up of a variety of channels, including traditional media, social media, and online platforms.
The importance of marketing communication is clear: The right type of marketing can make all the difference in your business. With good marketing communication, it’s easy to get your message across and pitch your product or service to the right audience. For example, if you’re selling pet accessories on Etsy, you’ll have a better chance to sell your products when you have good marketing.
Employee communication
Whether you own a company, work for one, or are in a career that requires regular contact with others, effective communication is essential. Today, many businesses use more than just the phone and email to communicate. If your business uses some of these tools, make sure they’re updated regularly, since technology changes quickly.
One of the most common forms of employer-employee communication is electronic communication like email. It makes it easy to send messages to employees anywhere in the world, and it can be used as a quick way to send important information without having to call or schedule face-to-face meetings. The downside is that too much email can feel overwhelming and cause stress — so try to limit how much you use email for communications.
Other common forms of employee communication include chat programs like Slack and WhatsApp, text messages, phone calls and voicemails (in case those don’t cut it), video conferencing and even discussing issues over the water cooler!
Employees will also often communicate with each other through social media channels like Facebook or Instagram. This helps establish team culture by sharing ideas outside of work hours as well as promoting company values in an engaging way on platforms that people are already using!
Relationship management
The first step to effective communication is relationship management. Your business’s digital marketing efforts are useless without establishing a good foundation of relationships with potential customers.
Relationship management can vary from company to company, but typically it involves communicating with potential customers via email and social media. It’s essential that you keep in touch with your prospects and create a personal connection (even if it’s just for the sake of marketing).
Additionally, you should use tools like CRM software to manage relationships with clients. This way, you can make sure that your clients’ needs are being met, as well as collect information about their personal preferences so you can tailor your products and services accordingly. Click here for a quick guide for choosing the right CRM for your business.
9 Best Communication Tools to Ramp up Your Business
1. OutreachCRM
OutreachCRM is a communication tool that provides the latest and most efficient solutions for tracking referrals, billing, ledger, management of various projects pursued by your business, and support ticketing. It is a web-based communication tool priced at $50 per month. Right now, they do not offer free trials of the tool. It allows for easy import and export of data, managing contact database, and has a search/filter feature to filter out data according to your priorities.
2. Prospr At Work
Prospr At Work does it for manages your employees for you, making the process much easier than ever before. They offer a SaaS-based workforce management suite that helps businesses run their most successful versions of their business. Their tools include Smarter Scheduling, Automated Shift Management, Communication Tools, Mobile Ticketing, Learning & Development & more!
3. Microsoft Teams
Teams provides a quick and easy way to communicate with other team members. You can communiate using a video/audio call video or audio chat through the teams communication tool, and exchange files and other documents with the people within your team or outside, depending on who all have access to the username. This tool helps you stay away from email distractions by integrating with all software and systems available.
4. Calendly
Sending alerts for scheduled appointments is a dated way of doing things. You need to look for communication tools that go beyond emailing and working in real-time with your team. Calendly is one such tool that can be used to collaborate with your team, and communicate the time for the meetings, as well as ensure that you don’t book the same meeting twice or, you don’t have two meetings on different schedules at once!
5. Evernote
Although you may be able to manage a task list, you are unable to plan and manage it with colleagues. You can share your ideas and brainstorm with them but you will never remember what you were planning to achieve. Instead of waiting until you begin the project, Evernote is a communcation tool allows you to plan, share your ideas and even brainstorm with colleagues. With the task management abilities of this tool, you can stay organized and steer ahead with your project.
6. Workplace by Facebook
Working remotely can be a difficult task if you lack a two-way conversation with people on your team. Workplace by Facebook was designed just for that objective. This tool makes communication in real-time easy and efficient. From managing your to-do list to delegating tasks by acting as a task management app, the workplace is a software that is a must-have when it comes to communication.
When you are coordinating tasks or brainstorming, use this tool to create seamless communication with your employees. You can keep them engaged by completing data collection and gathering data that will help you make informed decisions.
7. AnyDesk
By using Anydesk, you can see how to remotely edit documents on the computer of your customers. You can remotely see the screen and demonstrate how to do that instead of explaining the instructions. Anydesk solves this problem for IT teams who would remote inspect the devices and rectify them in real-time.
8. Gsuite
Gsuite is one of the great communication tools with collaboration and productivity abilities. It has email, sharing, document creation, and accessibility tools that make your life efficient and quick. You can easily communicate any information you wish using the chat tools available with Gsuite. The sharing tools offered make connecting with others in your workspace easy and effective.
9. Teamphoria
Teamphoria is a tool to boost Engagement with recognition, real-time communication tools, pulse surveys, performance management, and goal setting. Their target market includes rapidly growing organizations (like startups), companies with a remote or highly dispersed workforce who are constantly seeking new ways to improve their operations and reach their goals. Teamphoria pricing starts at $3 per month. They do not offer a free version.
Conclusion
Communication is a key part of any startup. Whether you’re marketing your startup or just communicating with the customers, you need to be able to communicate effectively. However, now it has become much more than face-to-face talking or E-Mails. With complete business working online, new and upcoming tools help to ease out the online communication process not only with potential customers but also employees. From the exchange of basic data to video calling and sharing documents – there are communication tools for everything. You just need to search for the ones that are right for you and your business.
