Running a business requires the ability to juggle many aspects of daily business operations. More often than not, looking for ways to streamline your workflow and cut costs end up at the top of your daily to-do list.
Here’s a look at a few smart ways you can reduce expenses and leverage technology to achieve your goals:
-
Outsource marketing.
Marketing is an essential activity of any successful business. It’s also likely that as a startup or fledgling business, you may not have the budget to hire a full-time marketing person or team. Thankfully, there are online staffing platforms like Elance, Freelancer, Outsource.com, and oDesk that enable you to hire expert freelancers.
You can hire professional, experienced freelancers to write website content, guest blogs, press releases, email marketing content or hire graphic designers, data entry specialists, and more. You can also hire freelancers to create social media marketing campaigns for your next product launch.
-
Outsource IT.
In the early-stages of your business you won’t likely need a full-time IT, short for Information Technology, specialist. If you don’t have the technical expertise to manage software, programming, database admin, computer networking, web programming and design you can opt for outsourced IT services firms.
They can handle just about anything related to your technology needs. Just think if you need back-up and disaster data recovery, or help with securing your network from hackers and more, a reliable IT professional can help you sleep easier at night.
-
Use the cloud.
The cloud is a great way to store data and collaborate with team members in the office or across the globe. Cloud applications enable you to work more efficiently and can offer significant cost-savings when compared to traditional alternatives.
Popular cloud apps that every business can benefit from include Dropbox, DocuSign, LucidChart, Google Apps for Business, Skype, Switch and more. Doing business in the cloud will save you time, improve productivity, enhance collaboration and streamline workflow.
-
Leverage Analytics
Additionally, Google Analytics can tell you a great deal about your business and how your online web presence is faring, helping you to better revise your website and other content so as to draw more website traffic and increase revenue and your customer base.
Use tools like Clicky to monitor, analyze, and react to their traffic or Clicktale to build a better online customer experience by using heat maps. You can even get videos of real people speaking their thoughts as they use your products with Usability testing apps like UserTesting.
The above tips are just a few ways in which you can utilize today’s advancing technology to fuel your business and work more efficiently. Most importantly, they can help you improve your business and work smarter.
This article has been edited and condensed.
Sheza Gary, a NY-based Project Strategist since 2009, has been involved with launching startups and tech companies for 5+ years. Sheza has a keen interest in sharing her own experiences with business plans and upcoming business supporting technologies. She loves public speaking. Connect with @shezagary on Twitter.
© YFS Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Copying prohibited. All material is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited. Sharing of this material under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International terms, listed here, is permitted.
In this article
