The success stories of Silicon Valley’s tech billionaires has received international attention over the past decade. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, earning over 11 billion dollars in profit last year and Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, accumulating over 50 billion dollars at the age of 34 is hard to ignore. But did you know that technological advances are helping small businesses receive substantial increases in wealth as well? In this short blog I will be discussing just a few ways in which small businesses are profiting from modern advances in technology.
Project Management Software
Many small business owners will tell you that one of the most important things they’ve done in order to reduce their workload is start using project management software. Project management software allows its user to schedule meetings with clients, manage their budget, create schedules/manage their time and even allows employees to perform task from offsite locations. This software decreases the amount of employees needed to process paperwork and can save a small business owner a lot of time as well as money.
Graphics and Animation
Few things catch the eye and leave a memorable impression more than a company’s logo. For many consumers, a company’s logo will be their first impression of the company. Logos should be well thought out but also simple, a good logo will represent and embody your entire business in one symbol. There are many forms of graphics designing software and logo maker software that are readily available at an affordable price. This allows any business owner to bring their visions into a reality without hiring a professional artist.
Targeted Ads
Contrary to popular belief innovations in artificial intelligence are not limited to the design of manlike robots and government surveillance systems. Recent advances in the field of AI have made it possible for small business owners to target specific audiences who are more likely to be interested in their services. Advertisers, search engines and social media platforms combine their efforts to show audiences ads that are relevant to their interests, this has been shown to produce much higher conversion rates than traditional marketing.
Search Engines
Believe it or not but people do use websites like Google and YouTube to look up more than just cat videos. In fact, google is by far the most used website in the world. Billions of people use Google everyday. When searching for a business in one’s area search engines are typically the first resources utilized. Google’s ability to pinpoint it’s user’s location allows it to display businesses that are close to it’s user’s location. This allows small businesses to be discovered and increases their ability to compete with more established, nationwide companies.
Social Media
Nearly half of internet users around the world have some form of social media, that’s somewhere around 2.1 billion people. Social media platforms allow users to interface in a digital community. This breakthrough in technological development has revolutionized the way people interact. Social media platforms allow small businesses to form a more intimate connection with their customers as it allows the customers to leave comments, reviews, suggestions and overall feedback about their experience with the company. Websites like Yelp also allow regular people to rate the experiences that they’ve had with companies, allowing companies whose axioms are based in customer care and merit to be promoted by the people who enjoy their services. There are entire business courses specifically devoted to explaining social media marketing techniques. The full potential that this form of marketing possesses is still being unveiled.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you do not have to be Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos to benefit from recent innovations in technology. With software that allows you to organize your company and design graphics, advertisements that target specific audiences, websites which allow people to search for businesses in their local area and platforms which allow users to share their experiences with their favorite companies, getting a small business off the ground has never been easier.
