Technology has changed everything. When it comes to business, there’s never been an easier or more rewarding time to invest in technology. Investing in technology doesn’t just mean dollars and cents because we’re going to be looking at some things that are free. Investing in tech for your business also means investing in the time it takes to setup and configure, to train staff members in using the best practices and to be as efficient as possible within any given piece of technology. With that in mind, let’s take a look at 5 pieces of tech that are very useful for marketing in the modern world.
We’re going to include a lot of links to many great resources and tools so that you can explore them and choose the ones that suit your business best. They’re all unique and take their own approaches to accomplishing similar goals.
Something you keep you and your team organized
Larger corporations usually have decades-old systems that have gradually been updated and adapted as new technology comes around, with relics of their former versions often clogging things up. The nice thing about a new, modern business is the fact that they can start at the ground up and build their very own system for staying organized and for project management. Here are a few of the most popular choices for online project management.
Basecamp
Trello
Asana
A good neighborhood for your online real estate
Think of the internet like real estate. A website is a MUST-HAVE for any business, full stop. With that out of the way, you’ll still need webhosting, cloud services, a domain name and more. Each business has unique needs when it comes to a hosting platform, some will do just fine with a simple shared hosting plan from HostGator whereas others will need something more specialized like a custom plan from Macquarie. When it comes to buying a domain name, Namecheap is great if the name you want is still available otherwise you may have to browse an aftermarket such as Snapnames.
Save some time and leverage marketing automation
Automation is absolutely essential in unlocking the full potential of your business. Finding easier ways to do things that require less time, less effort, and achieve the same results will really allow you to scale things in a way you may have never even realized. Here are a few options that are worth checking out. Please note, some of these are meant for corporate clients but don’t let the prices turn you off from automation as a whole because there are plenty of free or less expensive ways to accomplish automation.
Marketo
Hubspot
Zapier / IFTTT
Pardot by SalesForce
Take advantage of intelligence tools to measure your results
One of the most exciting areas in marketing on the internet is the fantastic tools that exist to help you explore the competition and to measure your own results. When it comes to search engine marketing there is a lot of exciting technology whether it’s a traditional search engine rank tracker like Serpfox or a more in-depth tool such as Serpwoo, or even something like Ahrefs to check backlinks, there is no shortage of technology to make your job easier. Something like a Geckoboard can also help to have all of your vital statistics right at your fingertips!
Quickly find help when you need it
Finally, let’s look at an area that fully embraces the connectivity of our modern business world. Finding virtual part-time staff members can help you to scale up operations at the push of a button. If your staff gets really busy with important things, you can bring in a helper for things like data entry. Also, sites like oDesk and eLance are great for finding help with smaller tasks when you don’t have someone on your team that fits that specialty, maybe making some quick edits to a website or helping to create blog content.
Between everything featured in this article, hopefully the wheels are turning and you’re thinking of all the different ways that you can take advantage of these marvels of technology to help make your business life easier, more effective, and more profitable!
Image credit: shutterstock.com
