Want to give your business a boost over the coming year? Here are some technologies that might help.
1. Use video for marketing
Video might not be your thing, but it may pay to investigate what it can do for your business because online video consumption is increasing. As we’ve mentioned previously, YouTube makes it simple to upload videos – as does Facebook – but if you need to be more targeted, online services such as VidCorp may help deliver your content to the right people at the right time, and on any device (pictured above).
2. Improve the user experience delivered by your website
Most small businesses have websites in order to help sell their products and services. Conversion rate optimisation specialists can help maximise the likelihood that someone visiting your site actually buys something (if it's an ecommerce site) or becomes a lead for an offline sale. A high proportion of abandoned shopping carts is one sign that this aspect of your site need attention.
Conversion rate optimisation businesses include Conversion Kings , King Kong, Search Engine Experts and Webprofits.
3. Engage more personally with your customers
Even though so much of our customer communication is online, face-to-face communication with customers can be important. One way of achieving this is to run events such as seminars and VIP nights.
Services such as Eventbrite and TryBooking simplify registrations, ticketing and so on, leaving you to concentrate on the event itself.
4. Put your HR on a sound footing
As soon as you start employing people you need to get you human resources (HR) act in order, as mistakes are easy to make and potentially very costly. Cloud-based HR systems can reduce the risks, save you time, and maybe even help take better care of your employees.
Examples include EnableHR, Employment Hero and Flare.
5. Save time through outsourcing
You can improve your productivity by getting other people to take care of tasks that don't need your personal attention.
Services such as Airtasker , Fivrr and Upwork can connect you with individuals that can complete various tasks for you, from assembling a set of office shelves to creating a new app or acting as your virtual assistant. There are also similar services that focus on a particular area, such as 99designs for design tasks.
Note that we have not evaluated any of the above services; we’ve mentioned them only as examples of businesses active in these fields.
