Running a business with technology today
Kayleigh Bishop
Business Manager | Business Consultant | Business Support | Mentor | Helping your business to run with less intervention from you, so that you have the space and freedom to focus on growth & personal well-being ??????
National technology day is worth talking about right?!?
I couldn’t resist writing a post about this, as it it is so relevant in today’s society, on both a personal and professional level. Our advances in technology have grown rapidly in the last century and we heavily rely on it in our day to day living. Whether that be Facetime with family and friends, connecting with colleagues across the globe to sophisticated engineering of goods.
That said, investing in technology can be a challenge for entrepreneurs and SMEs. If done well, information and communications technology can be a game changer for any business. In fact, I would go as far as to say it is imperative you have some form of technology to survive in today’s world.
So, what can a small business do to up its game with technology in mind?
??Create robust online strategies
Think about the purpose of your website. Is it to inform your customers? Facilitate the sale of good or services? Is your online presence tying in with the rest of your business plan?
A well-defined online strategy will help your investments in this area pay off through increased sales volume, higher quality of customer service and solid engagement rates.
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??Optimise your website
A website is your company’s shop window, yet there are so many underperforming, poorly designed sites out there that just don’t fit the overall business strategy.
Make sure your site isn’t too “text heavy” and requires endless scrolling and searching for information. Prominently feature your contact details and a call to action to make sales and communication easy for your customer.
If in doubt, I highly recommend seeking a tech wizard to build you a quality website to prevent any false starts.
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??Get busy on social media!
Creating a robust social media strategy is game changer in today’s world of business. It’s all about the soft sell, engaging with your audience, providing value, information, creating a sense of community, whilst remaining consistent.
There’s no hard selling here. Aggressive marketing is a complete turn off, so be careful and smart with your strategy. Implement a 80/20% ratio of informative posts, stories and testimonials to "salesy" call to action posts (the latter being the 20%)!
Think about your audience. What do they want? What do they want to hear? What can help them? There’s so much I could say about social media marketing I could go on for hours, but those are some basic fundamentals you could start to work with.
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??The mighty CRM system
?A force to be reckoned with! Customer relationship management systems play a vital role in how we manage and interact with our database of customers and prospects. Not only is it a super-efficient organisation tool to track business activity and development, but it streamlines the whole sales process, which in turn increases productivity and profitability.
Think about capturing the information you need in order to service and communicate with your customer, but also bear in mind GDPR regulations. The information you gather and store must be for "genuine" reasons and you must make your data subjects aware of what data you’re collecting, why you’re collecting it, how you store it, for how long and opting out measures. Always plan with an ICO inspection in mind! ?
This article highlights just a snapshot of the technology available to enhance your business activity and presence. If you’d like to know more about how you could up your game or improve your tech status, get in touch with me today and we can explore a world of wizardry together!
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Have a great weekend!?
Kayleigh Bishop
Director
Flo Right Business Support