You might think your physical business is immune from digitization and in some aspects, it may be. However, that does not mean that it cannot benefit from the use of tech tools. Technology is multi-faceted.
Tech is used in a wide-ranging number of business areas. It helps develop, promote, and grow any business. So, if you are a business that has failed to capitalize on the digital revolution or willingly fought it off, here are some reasons why you should embrace tech tools.
When it comes to running a business in this day and age, technology plays a huge role in that. Not only does technology mean that we’re able to carry out the daily tasks that need to be done in the business, but it allows us to be able to connect with people from all over the world.
Therefore, we can grow and scale our businesses in a much bigger way than we were able to before with tech tools.
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Tech Tools For Your Physical Business To Improve Security
The security of your business comes in many forms. Firstly technology can help improve the physical security of your business or premises. CCTV, alarm systems, and access controls can all help to protect your business from physical threats.
In today’s world, however, the threats to a business are no longer just physical. No matter how reluctant you are to digitize your business, chances are you still use a computer and some form of technology. As a result, your business is at risk of being a victim of cybercrime.
Cybercriminals can seek to obtain sensitive data and use it for ill-gotten gains. This can result in a loss of trust from customers or even negative financial repercussions for your business.
To combat the risk of cybercrime against your business there is technology out there designed to protect you and your business.
Technology Improves Physical Tasks
The development of technology has meant that many tasks that require a physical human element have been simplified or adapted to benefit the business. For example, robotics are used to replace human efforts, which has resulted in improved efficiency in terms of both time and cost.
In addition to this, technology has been used to improve traditional functions such as taking payments. Payments can now be made in person but by a much more secure and effective means.
Software such as Ingenico pos integration documentation allows business owners to take payments (and other functions, such as voids, refunds, and tips) in a simple and securely managed means.
Technology Improves Marketing
Digital marketing is now an expansive and vast industry in its own right. More and more digital marketing agencies are hitting the internet and with good reason.
Digital marketing has proven results for businesses. At the very least your business should have a website and ergo it is using technology and benefitting from the marketing that websites offer.
However, technology can be used for much more than just a company website.
Your business could benefit from the following digital marketing techniques; social media marketing, SEO techniques, and email campaigns. All of which is an incredibly effective means of marketing when done correctly.
QR Codes
QR Codes are another tool that has become increasingly popular.They let you easily connect your offline marketing materials like flyers and packaging to the online world, bringing people straight to your website or special offers with a quick scan on their phone.
To create and manage QR Codes you can use a QR Code generator solution like Uniqode.Uniqode lets you create highly customizable, dynamic QR Codes in seconds, aiding your marketing campaigns.
Moreover, technology can be used to improve a company’s branding or design elements.
For example, software such as Canva can help you create the perfect company logo. You are able to take creative control over the aesthetics and take advantage of limitless options when it comes to the look of your business.
The Technical Side of Your Business
Of course, the technical side of running a business is not something that everyone wants to do or is able to do. But that doesn’t mean it’s something that shouldn’t be done. You can certainly outsource plenty of things in your business, such as the more techy stuff, and many people do outsource this.
Depending on what it is you need in your business, you can work with a Virtual Assistant who can manage these things for you.
Or if it’s something more specialized then you can outsource to an IT company who can offer you cost reduction more so than if you were doing things for yourself.
On the other side, not everything needs to be outsourced. There are plenty of tech things that can be done in your business.
Despite being a bit out of your technical realm, these tasks are able to be automated so that tasks are set up once and then they can run on their own.
If the technical side of your business is something that you need to start taking care of, but you really don’t know where to start, then in this post, we’re going to share with you some of the main tech tools and apps that can really benefit your business.
Today automation by artificial intelligence is aiding many businesses. If you are writing yourself to provide information there are even apps for writing to make it easier on yourself.
Robust Web Hosting Tools
Even if your business is primarily offline, you’re no doubt going to have a website and some kind of online presence to help you reach a wider audience. Since having a website is a good way to give people more information about your business in general.
Because even if you’re offline, they will mainly search for you online, so having a website is just a good idea.
When it comes to websites, you certainly don’t have to spend a fortune getting a professional site with all the bells and whistles set up and designed for you. Especially if your site is only for informational purposes and not really set up for daily uses or transactional in its nature.
What you should have is a solid web hosting plan. Web hosting is basically what allows your site to exist online, and not all hosting is great, so it’s important to find one that’s reliable and makes your site run without issues.
For example, if your hosting isn’t robust enough and doesn’t offer things like enough disk space, then it can run very slow and even have problems when loading. This will definitely not make a good impression on your visitors.
They certainly won’t hang around to wait for it to load, so having a good hosting plan where you can also get good support is a good idea.
Intelligent Email Marketing Tech Tools
Email marketing is a big part of most businesses nowadays. Especially if you’re planning to operate online, then not having an email marketing strategy in place is basically like leaving cash on the table.
However, it can be quite overwhelming when you’ve never used email marketing before. It is overwhelming to know which platform to look at and what features you need.
The good thing about your email marketing is automation. Then maintained through regular checking on campaigns, etc.
When it comes to looking for an email marketing platform, many people will choose to shop at price. But what you should actually be looking for is deliverability.
The whole point of sending emails is that they reach your ideal customers. Therefore, it’s important that the platform you go for has a good reputation when it comes to this key feature.
You can easily find this information online by just Googling the company and seeing the reviews they have. You should also be looking for things like good customer service.
One of the best ways to observe how they perform in this area is by checking Twitter to see how quickly and effectively they deal with things like questions and complaints.
Do you have contacts scattered about? Try UpHabit today for FREE to have them all on an app and get reminders of special days and events.
Secure Cloud Storage
As much as technology is a truly great thing that, in many ways, makes our lives so much easier, it’s also never a good idea to be overly reliant on it since it can fail sometimes and if this happens then it can have really bad consequences – especially in business.
One of the worst things for a business owner to deal with technology-wise is when they totally lose everything they’ve been working on. This happens because their computer decided to crash or completely give up on them. If you have good and secure cloud storage then this isn’t going to be an issue.
For example, you can use things like Dropbox and Google Drive to keep important documents. Not only that but also with Google Drive you can do all of your work directly there. You can collaborate with your team and have everything backed up.
Or even a fully virtual Cloud Phone System so you can keep in touch with team members and customers.
The other great thing about cloud storage is that because it’s all cloud-based, you save space on your computer and devices. This helps your tech devices from running too slow when you have too much stuff on them.
Intuitive Project Management Tools
No matter what kind of business you run being able to manage your day, your time, your team, and your projects is crucial. The best way to be doing this is by using some kind of project management system.
Even if you run an offline business, an online project management system can still be the way to go. It means that anyone can access the information they need at any time.
This system keeps everyone on the same page without having to constantly send emails and make phone calls back and forth all the time.
There are definitely a lot of project management tools and systems online today. These tech tools all range in price and features. It’s really about finding the one tool that suits you and your business.
Some like Trello are more focused on keeping this visual, whereas others like Asana are more for people who think in a linear way. But both offer a great range of features to help you stay on track and manage your business on a daily basis if needed.
Painless Payment Processing for Your Tech Tools
Payments are definitely an essential part of any business. Whether you’re working online or offline, a system to process your payments is something you’re absolutely going to need.
So make sure that you have something safe and secure for you. However, also for those who are going to be paying you is something you should be looking into.
You can use things like Stripe to allow your customers to pay you by credit card. And even set up subscription payments.
Or you can look for other payment processing tools that may be more suitable for your business. I love using Paypal not only for payments but also for their easy-to-use invoicing system. 🙂
Social Media Management Tech Tools
If you are doing your own social media today you really need a good tool to manage it. It can surely take up a lot of time. Not only do you need to post but also do stories, and videos, respond, and track your social media today.
Some of my favorite social technology tools include Agorapulse, The Buffer, Status Brew, and Canva. I include Canva as it’s invaluable for creating the graphics you need for your social media posts and stories. Canva has saved me so much time along with Agorapulse.
What tech tools are you using today for your online or physical business? I’d love to know more from you in the comments below!
She has 30+ years of experience in marketing/advertising with 12 years of experience in content marketing, social media, blogging, and SEO.
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Hello Lisa,
These kind of tools are highly recommended if you are doing online or offline businesses because today you can’t get success in high competitive era.
Social media management is crucial if you want to expand your business size, it helps you to connect with world.
Indeed, mode of payment is integral part of any businesses so here we need to accept potential payment interface.
Eventually, thanks for exploring your wonderful ideas with us.
With best wishes,
Amar Kumar
Hi Amar, thank you. Are you using all of these tools as well? They do work both for online and offline business. Thanks for coming by and have a great day!
Great idea about cloud storage Lisa.
I admit I’ve been negligent and important files for my business are hanging around in my computer and flash drive, either of which, or both, could betray me unexpectedly.
I think I’ll do a backup in cloud storage, just in case.
I believe Dropbox has a free limited tier, right?
Hi Nikola, yes, a must tool today. You are correct, there is a FREE version – the basic plan. Love to know how you like it! Thanks for coming by on this one and have a great day and new week ahead Nikola.
Hello Lisa,
In this technology-driven world, We have various intuitive online tools to set up and run a successful Business. Web hosting is definitely plays a great role in building your business and provides a foundation to it. Email marketing is also very important to build a successful business. Thanks for sharing these helpful insights.
Have a Great Day.
Vishwajeet
Hi Vishwajeet, thank you. You are so right about having these tools to run our businesses. I’m working on new email formats and testing them out as we speak here. You are most welcome and I appreciate your input. Have a wonderful day and week ahead Vishwajeet.
Hi Lisa,
Technology has taken over the workload from humans, allows marketers to focus on what is more important. As a blogger and content marketer, you need these tools to streamline your work and move forward with your business. Be it emails for newsletters, social media management, and so forth. All these activities can be automated, and thank you for the list of tools to offer.
Hi Moss, it certainly has – almost to the point of being scary! But I do love using more tools as I can scale my business more along the way. Just last night I was researching how to show my mobile device onto a screen. There is a way to do it. I’m gearing up for an Instagram class I’ll be teaching. Tools surely help! Thanks for coming by on this one and have a wonderful day Moss.
All keen insight Lisa. Web hosting comes to mind for me. I have a VPS and also invested in a CDN to speed things up. People love speed because people leverage when able to see content and read it quickly. Like when I just opened your site super fast; I discern information and do so pronto. Leveraging.
Hi Ryan, oh yes – I have those both now as well. I finally invested in them a year ago when I upgraded the website. I’m glad to know you found my site fast. I always try to double check monthly and see if anything has changed it. I hope things are well your way Ryan and have a great rest of your day there.
Lisa, thanks for your great ideas. It’s amazing how much more technology we need nowadays. Are there good free options for email? How about email marketing? How do you stay off of the dreaded blacklist?
Hi Hamilton,
Sure, there are some incredible free email tools in the market. The following are fantastic:
MailChimp
Benchmark
Zero Bounce
SendinBlue
OmniSend
Sender
However, although I haven’t used all of them, I started with “MailChimp” and I’m still using the email software. MailChimp allows you to acquire up to 2,000 email subscribers and send 10,000 emails all for free.
Hi Hamilton, welcome to Inspire to Thrive. I love using Mailchimp, it’s easy and FREE to use unless you want more bells and whistles. There are ways to do that, it depends really on your subject lines. Here is one I had a contributor write about a few years back. Thanks for coming by and have a great rest of the weekend Hamilton.