Essential Services for Small Businesses with Remote Workers

Growing a small business is hard enough. But when it comes to remote work, it can get even more complicated. Many small businesses don’t have the resources or the staff to hire a full-time remote worker. That’s where essential services like online marketing and customer service come in. These services can help your business grow and become more successful without having to sacrifice your time or resources. Below are essential services for small businesses with remote workers.

Payroll services

Payroll processing is not something most people think about until they are out of money. To stay ahead of things, you need an automated payroll system. This allows you to automatically take money from your clients (or employees) every pay period and deposit them into your bank account regularly. An international payroll service for companies with remote workers living overseas can also be beneficial, as it removes some of the stress of working with multiple currencies throughout the year. It will automatically process the wages and deductions so that you do not have to worry about it.

Accounting software

Keeping track of your books doesn’t have to be complicated. If you have a basic understanding of spreadsheets, accounting software can make keeping everything organized very easy. Whether invoicing customers and tracking accounts payable or keeping track of profit margins and inventory levels, these programs can handle all the heavy lifting for you. They can generate reports for you and give insight into how each part of your business functions, which helps you identify areas of improvement.

CRM

Customer relationship management or CRM software has changed drastically over the years. When I first started my business, there were only a few options available, and they weren’t robust at all. Most of the programs would force you to input data points manually, which was incredibly painful. Nowadays, you have access to countless CRM systems to pick from, including but not limited to Salesforce, Zoho CRM, Pipedrive, and WorkflowMax. Each one is different depending on what type of information you are trying to manage. Do you want to know who purchased the products? What price did they purchase them at, and how many of those buyers buy their product? There’s no better program than one that can provide answers to this type of question.

Marketing automation

Online marketing is crucial if you aspire to grow your company beyond local reach. As mentioned earlier, many small businesses don’t have the resources to go after national clients, let alone international ones. With the right tools in place, though, you can automate much of your marketing and grow your client base by sending personalized emails based on user preferences. You can offer additional discounts or special incentives to new clients based on past purchases or other actions that encourage repeat visits. Once again, online marketing systems like Marketo, Eloqua, and HubSpot are great tools for helping you automate your online efforts.

Email autoresponders

Many people forget about email marketing because they assume it requires many technical skills and time to set up correctly. The truth is, email autoresponders are relatively easy to set up and require little maintenance. Not only that, but they can save you a considerable amount of time and effort in the long run. A typical monthly newsletter can cost upwards of $200 per month or more just to create and ship. Automating your emails and making sure they get delivered through an email autoresponder system could turn this number around almost immediately.

Google Analytics

This tool will allow you to monitor your website traffic in real-time. It essentially allows you to see where visitors are coming from, where they’re going and how they got there by providing detailed reporting. This makes it possible to figure out what types of content perform best, what links tend to drive the most traffic, and so forth. And since it’s automated, you won’t need to spend hours every week doing manual searches through browser history.

Content curation & sharing sites

Curation and sharing websites help you find the information you need quickly. They aggregate articles, press releases, blog posts, videos, and images across multiple sources. Examples include Digg, Stumble Upon, Reddit, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. These types of sites can also help find authoritative web pages. For example, someone might share a news article about a subject online, and then there may be another site that references that original article specifically. Curation helps keep your site updated and relevant.

Social networks

Most social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram offer excellent potential for small business owners looking to market themselves. These sites enable you to advertise free using paid advertising platforms like Adwords. So, when someone clicks on your ad link, they directly connect with your page. Since these ads are targeted, your budget goes further while still generating substantial results.