Running a business is fast-paced. When it comes to a start-up, you can often find yourself being pulled in different directions. From economic awareness to finances, and marketing strategies to customer demand, there’s a lot that has to be done to make a business successful. Luckily, there are ways to make these tasks more manageable via tools that are designed for optimal organisation, planning and execution. Let’s take a look at them.
Monitor the economy
To start a business, knowledge of the economy is powerful. It will allow you to understand your position and how your business will impact the economy, and vice versa. Economic data and reports can inform strategic decisions and allow business owners to plan for costs and revenues, determine the timings of investments, and prepare for any economic downturn.
While developing an understanding is important, this knowledge must be maintained too. After all, the economy evolves every day. The US economic calendar is a useful tool that allows businesses to monitor the landscape they operate in.
Displaying global events, the calendar includes data on the balance of trade, inflation rates, and retail sales, each of which can be filtered by location. By accessing this information in the calendar, businesses can understand when it’s best to make investments to make the most of their money.
Online accounting software
The aim for most businesses is to make a profit. With a business plan comes an idea of finances, like running costs, spending on stock and marketing strategies. Once your business is up and running, money will be coming and going, so it’s important to keep track of it.
Online accounting software is a useful tool for this. Platforms like Xero can monitor transactions and provide snapshots of cash flow so that you can see what you’re spending vs what you’re earning. It also has the capability to send invoices and submit VAT returns to HMRC. Having all of this in one place is a useful tool for keeping a business’s finances organised.
Marketing strategy
Marketing contains many pillars. From strategies to research, and product development to promotion, marketing is fast-paced so keeping up to speed is key. Platforms like Survey Monkey can assist with market research and will allow you to collect data from your target audience in one online space.
As for promoting your product or service, this can include digital forms of marketing like SEO, digital advertising, and content creation. Thanks to social media, good content has never been more important. Content marketing systems (CMS) are useful here and allow you to manage all of your content from one place.
Customer relationship management
Starting a new business means acquiring and retaining new customers. As your number of customers begins to rise, it’s important to maintain relationships as this will lead to brand loyalty. As the numbers add up, you may start to feel as though you have too many customers to keep track of.
That’s where a customer relationship management (CRM) system comes into play. Software like Zendesk can provide insightful customer data so that you can respond accordingly and manage customer expectations. This often comes with the option to assist with marketing efforts like emails and is a good way to communicate with your customers efficiently.
Running a business takes time, and effort and often requires multitasking. With an abundance of tools available, you can run your business efficiently.
