Streamlining Your Business Doesn’t Have To Be Complicated
Adaptability is necessary for business owners to succeed. That’s just the cost of admission to getting into the business of running a business. Since the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March, we’ve all learned more lessons in being flexible than we ever thought would be possible in a lifetime.
Over the past few months, we’ve seen distilleries making hand sanitizer, bars offering to-go cocktails and pizza shops teaching people how to make their own mozzarella at home. It seems like everyone has a sign up near the register with their Venmo username and more businesses than ever are building simple websites to provide customers with information and an ordering system.
But, have you ever thought about how your business process can adapt to survive the next economic crisis? Just like the Internet allowed your business to be open 24-7 online, there are tools and software that allow you to speed up your workflow as well as ensure things continue to run smoothly whether you are working in the office or working from home.
#1 Set up Chatbots
I’m sure by now you’ve interacted with a chatbot, whether it was with your Internet service provider, a billing company or technical support. Although automation is a buzzword you’ve probably heard, it’s not that hard in reality. You can set up automated responses on Twitter as well as Facebook pretty simply. Outside of social media, there are companies like Salesforce and Hubspot that provide services including their most renowned customer relationship management systems.
#2 Plan your social media posts
Being the content director at Sparkable doesn’t just make me the self-anointed word nerd of the group, it also puts me in charge of planning out content. We’ve been helping customers create and execute content calendars for years. They’re a great way to ensure that you stay on message and don’t forget to get ready for a Father’s Day sale. This isn’t exactly a “Set it and forget it” solution, but it takes a lot of the thinking and guesswork out of creating impactful content for promotion.
#3 Analyze your data
One of my favorite sayings of the past 10 years or so has been “Plan your work and work your plan.” I heard a politician say it back in my days a journalist but the idea has stuck with me throughout many projects inside and outside Sparkable. Whether I am getting ready for the fishing season or planning a content campaign, having all the data available enables me to make the best decision.
Just like I check to see what hooks and lures I need to replace in my tackle box before I go fishing, I look at Google Analytics before beginning any type of campaign. It’s free and easy to use and if you’re not tech-savvy, whoever built your website can help you set it up in no time. What’s more is you can create a dashboard that enables you to quickly see how things are going on your website, including your traffic sources and top pages on your site. By setting this up, you can quickly find all the information you need to make your next idea more successful than the last.
You’ve probably heard some or all of this before. That’s OK. Sometimes it takes hearing the same idea a different way can help you take it and make it own in a way that helps your business going forward.
Of course, Sparkable can help. We tell people that we can do anything, which is pretty much true (remind us to tell you about the work we’ve done to help providers in the funeral service industry and the sex toy brand we built) but, you can probably do a lot of this on your own. In reality, automation is not that expensive or complicated. Does anyone remember those microtapes we used in answering machines? Now we have voicemail. But, both take messages when we can’t answer the phone.