5 Apps and Programs Every Business Owner Should Have

Illinois Business Community

Programs

•  Square – accept credit/debit payment

•  Shiftgig – hiring site for service & retail industries

•  Quickbooks – keep track of finances

•  Drip – monitor marketing email campaigns

•  Tweetdeck – manage your Twitter presence

Square

•  What is it? – Square Register + Square

Wallet – Allows businesses to accept

credit/debit payment –  Includes free swiping

attachment

– Designed for small businesses – Has also attracted large

corporate attention

Square

•  How do I use it? – Download the app

– Register your business

– Register your accounts

– Send for free card reader

– Begin charging cards

Square

•  How will this benefit my business? – Adds legitimacy to your

business

– Makes it easier to accept payment

Shiftgig

•  What is it? – Professional networking website for service,

hospitality, retail industries

– Where job

seekers and

businesses

can connect

Shiftgig

•  How do I use it? – Sign up, create a

profile

– Post a job

– Seek out applicants, for wait for applications

Shiftgig

•  How will this benefit my business? – Streamlines the hiring

process

– Allows for better sense of who’s looking for work

– Creates easier mode for communication

Quickbooks

•  What is it? – App / website that

organizes finances

– Sync information between computer and mobile

– Create invoices, track sales and payments, store receipts

Quickbooks

•  How do I use it? – Sign up for free trial

– Register business

– Load existing financial information

– Sync with other devices

Quickbooks

•  How will this benefit my business? – Keep track of financial

information

– Have a backup of financial information

– Convenience of access on other devices

Drip

•  What is it? – Email marketing

service that allows you to monitor progress

– Offers plenty of tools to get the most out of your experience

Drip  

•  How do I use it? – Sign up for free

3-week trial

– Create campaigns

– Monitor progress

– Adjust if necessary

Drip  

•  How will this benefit my business? – Allows you to understand email marketing

effectiveness •  Learn who is listening to you

•  How to get

more people

to listen

Tweetdeck  

•  What is it? – Browser or desktop app managing Twitter

– Organizes columns for easy feed creation

Tweetdeck  

•  How do I use it?  – Download for desktop, or use within browser

– Sign in with existing Twitter

– Create desired columns

Tweetdeck  

•  How will this benefit my business? – Tending to Twitter: •  Promotions •  Reaching out to potential customers

•  Customer service

– Many features for easy organization •  Schedule Tweets for later •  Feeds based on:

–  hashtags, users, keywords, interactions, messages

Bonus: Yelp

•  What is it? – business review

website and app

– offers information on businesses

– particularly big with restaurants, but not exclusive

Yelp  

•  How do I use it? – people can review you even if you don’t use it

•  make sure you’re paying attention

•  interact with customers  •  implement

potential

changes

Yelp  

•  How will this benefit my business? – gain important insight into operations

•  people trust online recommendations

– opportunity to interact with customers •  good

customer

service

humanizes

you