So you intend starting your own business. Great! Don’t start celebrating just yet, however. Deciding to start is only a first step, and a long, emotional path lies ahead of you. Not only do you have to make sure you have a product that people are willing to part with their hard-earned money for but you also have to figure out how to juggle marketing, administrative, customer relations and sales tasks among others. Eventually, you will start thinking about scaling your business, which only creates even harder questions of you. Here are some of the groundwork or structure that needs to exist to grow your business in the 21st century.
Accounting Software
This cannot be stressed enough. Without it, you may have a hard time managing all the moving parts that make up a growing business. The best accounting solutions for small businesses do much more than merely filling up the in and out columns. They make business simpler by managing finances, keeping track of expenses and inventory, ease customer relations by tracking payments to vendors and making transactions with customers.
CRM Software
In this day and age, business is more an ongoing conversation between customers and the businesses they patronize, reason why your small business needs customer relationship management (CRM) software to stay on top of communications between you and your customers and potential customers. CRM software helps you track social media profiles of existing and potential customers as well as keep track of direct communications like email. These are just a few of the many options available. Don’t put off getting one because you only have a few customers at the beginning, and your business will only benefit as it grows.
Social Media Profiles and Blogging
It’s a digital world, ignore this fact at your own risk. The chances are strong that, no matter the business you are in, your audience spends a significant amount on social media, which includes adults. Statistics from Outbound Engine show that 65 percent of adults have social media profiles. Create social media profiles on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and share photos, events, news and special offers with people who show an interest in your business niche. Eventually, you begin to see an uptick in the amount of the traffic and business you receive from these social media platforms.
Blogging is also a must-have feature if you intend starting and growing a business in the 21st century. Starting a business blog has never been easier than it is now with free platforms like WordPress. You no longer need to be a programmer to set up a blog, and you can set one up in less than 10 minutes. Going forward, your blog will be the primary platform on which you share the identity of your business with the world, showcase your expertise, and communicate with your customer base and market.
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