As a small business owner, you probably feel like you have to do it all.
This is one of the traps we tend to fall into. It’s our business, therefore it’s our responsibility. (Whatever “it” is.)
However, in this wonderful technological era of ours, there are so many wonderful business automation tools out there that you can use to make your business more efficient and effective.
I know “automation” is a hot-button topic right now, with so many complaints of automation taking away jobs in some sectors. But it’s also really important to your business.
Automating Certain Parts of Your Business Can Increase Your Bottom Line
There are so many business automation systems that you can set up and then not worry about for a while, or at all, if you do it right.
And doing this gives you, and your employees (if you have them), more time to work on the things that matter for your business.
For instance, it gives you more time to spend with customers, giving them the personal touch you want your business to be known for.
You’ll be able to spend more time improving existing products and services or creating new products and services to surprise and delight current and future customers.
Making a good first impression with potential customers is incredibly important, especially in our “I want it now” society. Having certain automations in place will make it easier for you to respond quickly, even when you’re not around to do it in person.
All of these factors can help your business grow, which means more work for you and your employees. It also potentially means being able to hire more employees for your business.
Here are 5 business automation recommendations that are easy to set up and will make life so much easier for you and your business.
If you don’t already have one, you should really have an email marketing platform like Drip or MailChimp, or a customer relationship management (CRM) platform like HubSpot.
Each of these platforms has a free option, depending on how many subscribers you have. Prices go up based on the size of your email list.
Most people use email marketing platforms to collect email addresses and send out broadcast emails announcing sales, new blog posts, etc.
If you have a mailing list of any size, like more than 10, you’re required to use an email marketing platform to send emails. Otherwise your ISP (the company that you work with to receive your email, like Gmail or Yahoo) will shut your email account down and you won’t be able to send emails to anyone.
Email marketing platforms are one of the most useful business automation tools out there.
Here’s why.
It is incredibly easy to set up automated responses to everything from customer service inquiries to welcome emails when someone opts into your lead magnet or buys your product.
Believe it or not, I know business owners who run high-earning businesses who haven’t set these systems up. It’s just beyond me.
You can set up “campaigns” (the common term for an automated set of emails) for just about anything, including:
- Welcoming a new subscriber to your community.
- Sending a potential customer information about a specific product or service when they click on a button or opt into a lead magnet.
- Confirming a purchase.
- Reminding a customer that they started to purchase but abandoned their shopping cart.
- Handling customer service requests.
- Handling reactions to surveys.
- Reminding a subscriber that they’ve signed up for an event or webinar, and getting them excited to attend
- Following up with a customer to make sure they received their product.
- Onboarding a new customer to help them learn how to use your service.
The list goes on and on.
The point is, you can set these campaigns up to deliver based on a user’s actions. When someone triggers a campaign, they’re automatically sent a series of emails, based on the action they took. This gives them the information they were looking for and saves you a lot of time.
Once you’ve spent the time setting each campaign up, you don’t have to touch it again unless the information changes or you decide you want to refresh the campaign.
Yes, this may seem impersonal and yes, most people know these emails are automated. But keeping a conversation going with a current or potential customer is one of the best ways to build that person’s trust and confidence in your company.
It shows that you’re there to help and you want them to be happy with their decision to work with you.
What’s more, many email marketing platforms help you personalize each email so it feels more like it’s from a human who knows exactly what’s going on, instead of being an automated response.
Setting up automated campaigns in an email marketing platform is a fantastic step in your quest toward practical business automation.
Scheduling
Tired of going back and forth with someone via email on when they’re available to meet?
Thank heavens business automation has solved this problem!!!
You can now connect your personal and business calendars to a scheduling app and send someone a link that shows when you’re available. They click on the time they’re available and an appointment shows up on both of your calendars.
You can even put a link or widget on your website where someone can schedule an appointment without resorting to email
Easy as pie.
This is one of my very favorite ways business automation has made life easier. I got SOOO sick of going back and forth with clients about available times on each of our schedules. (Oy!)
I personally use Calendly and recommend it highly, as it has a free option if you only need one appointment type. If you need more than one, it’s quite reasonable at $8 a month.
Other scheduling platforms out there include Acuity Scheduling, Simplybook.me and Appointy. There are a bunch of them out there, so find one that suits your needs and go with it.
Landing Page Builder
Especially if you create lead magnets for opt-ins and sales pages on a regular basis, a landing page builder is a must-have business automation tool.
My personal favorite is still Leadpages. In the interest of full disclosure, I used to work for Leadpages, so I’m biased. But I think their product is still top-notch and easy to use.
Other landing page builders include ClickFunnels, Unbounce and Kickoff Labs.
Why do you need a landing page builder?
They make it so easy to set up and deploy a landing page, without having to do a bunch of programming, or getting your developer to do it for you.
They all come with templates you can use to build out a landing page quickly and easily. They have a simple call to action button that you can use once, or multiple times, to direct someone to take the action you want them to take.
For anyone who doesn’t know the purpose of a landing page vs. a website: a landing page is focused on one goal and one goal only, such as getting someone to opt-in for a lead magnet or making a sale.
A website may have several goals, including telling visitors about your company and what you stand for, selling products, sharing company news, housing blog posts, etc.
Landing page builders let you set up a page and house it either on their servers or on your own website. You can update the page as needed, through the landing page builder’s platform. Otherwise, you can set it up once and let it do its job.
Many landing page builders (including Leadpages) will even deliver a lead magnet for you or include a payment system like Stripe within their platform. All of this makes it much easier to build and deploy whatever you need quickly.
Even better, once you’ve set up one template, you can duplicate it, change out the information, and deploy it again. This takes even less time. I do this regularly for thank you pages and the occasional opt-in page, depending on what I’m promoting.
If you do a lot of promotion online, make sure you have a landing page builder in your business automation quiver.
Social Media Scheduling Platform.
Social media is a black hole that will suck all of your time if you’re not careful.
Yes, this is partially by design. They want to keep you on their respective platforms so they can show you ads and collect your information. (Nope, I’m not skeptical of their motives at all…)
This does not change the fact that social media platforms are an excellent place to promote your business.
How do you avoid the trap while still getting the word out about what you’re doing?
Deploy a social media scheduling platform.
These are integrated platforms that let you manage and post on multiple social media accounts. They cut out the chatter from your family and friends so you can focus on posts related to and about your business.
I use Hootsuite. They have a free plan that lets me post to 3 social media accounts. After that, the price goes up based on number of user sign-ins and number of social media accounts. (BTW, a second Facebook page or Twitter profile counts as a separate account.)
MeetEdgar and Buffer are two other popular social media scheduling platforms.
These platforms let you sit down once a week or once a month, depending on how you choose to work, and schedule as many social media posts as you want to.
Once scheduled, these posts will go out at your chosen intervals without you having to lift another finger.
As you see fit, you can check in on those posts to see if you’ve gotten any comments you need to respond to. You can respond right there in the social media scheduling platform, instead of disappearing into the time-suck of the social media platform itself.
This makes managing your social media accounts so much easier!
FYI, most social media platforms have a place where you can schedule posts in their system. I prefer to avoid these whenever possible so I don’t get dragged into the social media feed while I’m working. Words always grab my attention. It’s an occupational hazard.
Prescheduling your social media posts is a great business automation option and can save you a lot of time and effort in the long run, while still building a relationship with your online audience.
Connecting It All Together
Most of these platforms play nicely with each other through direct integrations.
To find these, you go into the settings of your chosen platform and look for the Integrations section. Then look for the platforms you use regularly so you can connect them all together.
For example, I know Leadpages connects to Drip, MailChimp and Calendly, because all of my accounts are integrated.
However, there are platforms that don’t play nice. (They also tend to be the platforms that run with scissors and like having things their own way.)
When this happens, there is a potential solution.
Enter Zapier.
Zapier sets up integrations between different platforms that may not include a direct integration.
Many companies forego creating a direct integration and use Zapier instead, knowing that you may want to integrate several steps within a Zap (that’s what a single integration system is called) to do more than one thing.
Zapier doesn’t include a solution for absolutely everything, but it can solve a lot of integration problems. Software companies of all types create Zaps that let you integrate their software with other companies. It’s always worth looking at as a business automation solution.
Plus, companies are adding new Zaps all the time. If you don’t see what you want right now, check again in a month. Or send a request to your chosen platform for a Zap to another platform. These folks are usually pretty accommodating, as they want you to continue to use their software.
Zapier can solve a multitude of connection problems. They offer a free plan of up to 5 Zaps. After that, they’ll charge you based on how many Zaps you run.
Go Forth and Automate the Heck Out of Your Business
Now that you know how to save yourself time and effort, go do it!
Seriously. Business automation is one of the smartest decisions you’ll ever make. You’ll get a great return on it, once you’ve set everything up.
Please note, I always say “once you’ve set everything up” because this does involve some time and effort.
If you’re a DIYer, all of these companies have tutorials on how to make everything within their platforms work just as you want them to. They also have customer support staff to answer questions and help you figure things out.
If you have no desire to learn any of this automation stuff, each of these companies offers a phalanx of professionals who are happy to help you take care of all your automation needs.
I am on the list of Leadpages Certified Professionals, for instance.
If you have questions on business automation or if you want help deciding on tools and figuring out how to use them, please schedule your free consultation with me below.
BTW, this button goes to a Calendly link, just to show how cool business automation is. I