Growing your business is no easy feat. Between working on your product, marketing, and other aspects of growth, it can feel like you’re constantly running in circles. While some days are better, there are always new challenges and opportunities to tackle as a business owner. So we’ve put together this comprehensive guide to help you grow your business faster than ever with the best tech and equipment available to small businesses today. Keep reading to learn more about essential tech and gear to help you thrive as a business owner in today’s fast-paced world.
- Strong Internet Marketing Platform
Your website should be the hub of all your marketing efforts. No matter the channel you’re using — whether it’s Facebook ads, email marketing, mobile marketing, or even printed flyers you’ve put out at events — your website is the central command for all data and tracking. If your website isn’t up to par, you’ll have a hard time driving efficient marketing efforts. To help you streamline your marketing efforts, look for an Internet marketing platform that lets you seamlessly integrate your website with your other marketing channels. Ideally, you want a platform that can handle features such as easy-to-use web design tools, SEO and keyword research tools, analytics and tracking, and message automation.
- Robust Customer Engagement Tools
While your marketing efforts will help you bring in new customers, the existing customers are the ones that will ultimately grow your business. One of the best ways to engage with your customers is through a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. CRMs allow you to track important customer information, track sales, and assign tasks to team members. By choosing a CRM compatible with your other business tools and integrating it with a robust customer engagement platform, you can streamline your company’s efforts and genuinely get the most out of your customer relationships. Plus, you can tap into a host of features designed to help you drive more sales from your current customer base. For example, you can set up automated email campaigns to help you increase your sales volume without adding additional pressure on your team. You can also use an AI-enabled CRM to help you create even more personalized and well-timed sales emails.
- Good Quality Product Photography
When it comes to growing your ecommerce business, you can’t afford to skimp on product photography. While you may be tempted to start squeezing every last penny out of your business, you’ll end up losing a lot of sales if your product photos look amateurish. Your product photos are one of the first things potential customers see while browsing your website. If they are unimpressed or even put off by your photos, they’ll likely click away and go to another website where the images are more to their liking. You can’t just hire photographers and expect them to produce quality images for your products. Instead, you’ll need to hire a professional with experience in product photography who understands how to edit photos for the best impact and has the appropriate equipment to produce the best results.
- HVAC system
If you have a physical office space, you’ll want to ensure everything is in place to keep your employees comfortable and productive. Your HVAC system is essential in regulating the heating and cooling of your office space. A solid HVAC system will also help you control the temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels, and more so your employees stay comfortable. And they’re easy to repair too, with lots of parts available online- just search ‘hvac parts near me,’ and you’ll find a variety of parts to suit your needs. You can also control a modern HVAC system remotely. This is particularly helpful if you have employees who work from home and need to change the temperature in the office space. It can also be beneficial for managing energy costs by reducing usage during certain hours of the day.
- Solid Voice-over-IP (VOIP) Phone System
If you have employees working remotely, you’ll want to invest in a solid VOIP phone system. This lets you make and receive phone calls over the internet rather than with a traditional landline or POTS connection. In addition, you’ll want a system that provides a built-in caller ID, call forwarding, voicemail, and the ability to transfer calls between employees.
