If you run a business in the 21st century, you’ll know that you already use your smartphone for a lot of different tasks. You’ll take calls on it, of course, but you may well do plenty more besides – perhaps you organize your diary through it, or you might even do your banking.
What if we were to tell you that you could actually run your entire business with just a smartphone? It may not seem possible, but with the advent of so many business apps and so much information, it can be done, no matter what kind of business you have. With that in mind, here are just some of the ways you can run a business with a smartphone, and there are plenty more besides.
Communication
Since we’re talking about a phone, albeit a much more advanced one than a standard phone you might have to make calls on, we can’t ignore the fact that using one makes communication within your business much easier.
If you’re a savvy business owner, you’ll offer a variety of different ways for your customers and prospects to get in touch with you. This might be email, phone, text, social media messaging, and more. If you set up the right apps and functions on your phone, every single one of these communications can come through that piece of technology. You’ll never miss a customer query or a new order again if you set everything up on your phone the right way. Some of this can be done by using what is already on your smartphone, and some will require you to reach out to specialists such as Boomerang Messaging to ensure you have the right tech. In either case, you can hear from and respond to your customers quickly and effortlessly through your phone.
Marketing
If you run a business, you need to take marketing seriously. You’ll never grow – and potentially never get off the ground – if you don’t. Yet when you’re busy, especially as a startup, you might find it tricky to find the time to do any kind of promotion. When it comes to engaging a marketing specialist, your budget might not cover it. So what are the options?
When you have a smartphone, you open up a world of possibilities when it comes to marketing. Take social media, for example. If you run a business, you should have at least one social media account; how many you have and what platforms they are on will depend on where your market research tells you your customers spend their time. Since you can have social media apps on your phone, you can instantly respond to people, but you can also instantly create a new post or ad on the go. Although it’s still important to have a marketing strategy in place, if you can boost that strategy with ad hoc marketing through your phone, that’s great.
Payments
Making sure you pay your business bills on time is important. It helps give your business a good reputation, and it also ensures that you always have access to goods and services when you need them – your accounts won’t be closed, and you might even get preferential treatment if you pay on time because your suppliers will appreciate the effort you’re making.
If you’re never in the office or in front of your computer, making payments on time can be hard. You’ll forget what to do and when, and you might accidentally miss something altogether. When you activate your phone’s calendar for reminders and have internet banking set up, this no longer has to be a problem, and you can pay everyone on time.
