To be a player in today’s highly competitive marketplace, small business owners need to be focused on finding new ways to grow their business. One of the most powerful tools available to founders who want to raise revenue, improve efficiency, lower costs and boost productivity is the internet. Here are a few tips on ways burgeoning enterprises can harness the power of the web to grow and thrive.
Use rich media emails to increase revenue
While social media is the latest powerful trend in terms of electronic marketing channels, email, which has a 120 percent return on investment, is still king. As there are various ways to approach email marketing, sending out email blasts rich in media such as images, audio, and GIFs have proven highly effective at increasing profitability. Computer giant Dell saw 109 percent increase in revenues after utilizing a GIF-heavy email campaign. It should be noted that small businesses interested in using rich media emails need a quality high-speed internet solution to facilitate the process. Although very appealing to consumers, all of those rich media assets eat up a lot of bandwidth.
Boost efficiency with backing up data online
As efficiency fuels profitability, it’s important for today’s small businesses to export as many of their processes to the cloud as possible. Storing and indexing inventory data, customer profiles, human resources data and company documents online offers several benefits to small businesses. Chief among them is the ability to access key information off-site and continuity of services in the event of a fire or natural disaster. Of course, to take advantage of those benefits, companies need a high-speed internet service that has 24/7 customer service support.
Use cloud-based apps to cut costs
Generally speaking, small businesses have more ideas than capital. Founders should try to cut costs wherever possible, and thankfully, recent digital innovations have made doing so a little easier. Using cloud-based team collaboration tools, mobile payment services, video conferencing applications, automated social media programs, payroll management and customer relationship management software can not only save money, but also make a company more agile. Bandwidth-heavy cost cutting cloud-based apps are best used in conjunction with no cap high-speed internet service.
Utilize high-speed WiFi to improve productivity
Whether a company is operating out of a retail location, an office or a warehouse environment, high-speed wireless internet can play an essential role in improving productivity. For direct retailers, it can be used to take payments, access inventory or update customer information. In an office, it can be used for email blasts, video conferencing and project collaboration, while in a warehouse environment, it can be used to speed up inventories, order processing and to check supply off-site. However, for all of those features to work, small business owners need to invest in a no cap, high-speed internet solution that has 24/7 customer support.
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For more tips, inspiration, and Minnesota small business stories, visit smallbusinesspulse.com.