Let’s face it: There’s plenty of business-orientated tech solutions out there that promise to deliver something essential to your business. Some might do exactly as they claim, whereas others might fall short and end up being a waste of money. But the range of solutions out there at the moment is seriously impressive, and there are many apps and products worth trying – even on a trial basis.
Below we want to look at five of the best products out there at the moment, each of which offers something unique and, arguably, beneficial. In truth, we could have picked out dozens of apps that could offer something to enhance your business, but this quintet stands out in 2021:
Canva
If it’s not feasible to hire a graphic design team for your organization, then Canva might be the cost-effective answer to your problems. Simple to use and highly versatile, Canva is a graphic design tool that allows you to create everything from brochures to video presentations, letterheads to logos, and social media posts to calendars.
It’s perfect for small businesses that want to start operating as a brand in the digital space. For instance, Canva’s tools could help restaurants design unique branded menus with ease. It is not quite as sophisticated as, say, Adobe Creative Cloud – but that’s the point. Canva is set up so non-experts can use it. A basic free plan is available, and it costs around $10 per month to upgrade to the standard paid plan.
Spike
Spike might just be the best Android email app for business available today, although it might be a little misleading to describe it as only an email app. In Spike’s own words, it has “recreated email” for the modern workplace, creating an all-in-one collaborative tool that covers all the communication needs of an enterprise.
At its heart, Spike reimagines email as WhatsApp-style messaging, getting rid of all the unnecessary stuff and making it like a real conversation. It also has all those collaborative solutions – video calls, file sharing, productivity tools – that you would get with products like Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Spike will make you rethink how your company uses email – probably for the better. Free personal plans are available, and Team business account plans can be added for as little as $8 per month.
Hunter
Hunter’s goal is to help businesses “make connections”. That’s a broad term, of course, and it sounds a bit more sophisticated than email address finder, which is the heart of Hunter’s business. But that’s what Hunter does – allows you to find the email address of potential leads for your business. For example, that could be an email of a cold client interested in your product, or the personal email address of an employee – let’s say the sales manager – of a company you are trying to connect with.
Hunter does other stuff, too, such as finding personal phone numbers, or contact details of an article author. If all of this sounds a bit creepy, you should be aware that Hunter is very much above board and transparent. The idea is about fostering relevant connections; not performing a cold emailing service. Again, a free plan is available, which will offer 25 searches per month. The premium Enterprise product is just shy of $400 per month, but this allows up to 30,000 searches and 60,000 verifications.
Populr
Populr has the tagline, “Create a Page for Anything in 5 Minutes”. And that pretty much sums up most of you need to know. The idea is that you can create a super quick landing page for anything, whether it’s to showcase a new product, launch a marketing campaign, use for in-house HR reasons, and a host of other uses. While some of the world’s largest corporations use Populr, it is – in our view – particularly useful for individuals and small-scale startups. For instance, freelance writers who want a bio page without launching a full website.
As with everything on this list, Populr does more than the one thing it is most noted for. Populr also offers marketing and engagement tracking tools, as well as other campaign solutions. A free plan is available, which offers some generous features. It’s $20 and $50 per month for the Pro and Team plans, whereas Enterprise level prices are available on request.
Blinkist
A change of pace to finish, featuring an app that is more geared at personal development than growing a business. Blinkist has been a roaring success since it was first released in 2012 – with over 20 million unique customer accounts today. If you haven’t heard of it – Blinkist is an app that digests books, breaking over 3,000 non-fiction books into 15-minute summaries (written and audio). Much of the content is geared at the business world, with best-selling books like John C. Maxwell’s Laws of Leadership available.
But Blinkist is also marketing itself towards employers who want to encourage their employees to learn and grow. Special packages are available for teams, and it even offers an analytics package so you can see what interests them. Blinkist offers a seven-day free trial, after which it costs $12.99 per month for a personal account (50% discount if annual sum paid in full). The employee teams packages prices are available on request.
