Small business’ outsourcing: 3 great options
Small businesses are notoriously difficult to get off the ground and run. Two of the most common reasons small business fail are a lack of capital and marketing mishaps. As technology and communication continue to advance, it’s never been easier to reduce the risk of both of these scenarios.
By outsourcing key areas of your small business you can save money, increase productivity, and improve the efficiency of your team. Here are 3 great outsourcing options for a small business that can be taken advantage of right now.
- Virtual Assistants
It may sound like something for a sci-fi movie with AI robots but virtual assistants are very real people and very useful for small businesses. A virtual assistant works just like a regular assistant you would hire in-house but they complete the majority of their tasks from home.
The initial benefit of hiring a virtual assistant the elimination of paying a full-time salary to an in-house assistant. No need to pay out for pension, holidays or sick days wither. A Virtual Assistant works only as an when you need them to and you only pay them for that time. You also have access to a world full of expert assistants who are qualified and trained to offer you the best service possible.
A virtual assistant can complete all the normal tasks such as scheduling, taking phone calls, managing your workflow, updating your calendar, inputting data, completing research, and booking any transport tickets. Modern communication software allows you to be constantly up to date and in contact with your assistant so you never miss a thing and they are always there for you.
Those small business owners who are incredibly busy could even hire two or more virtual assistants that cot the same as paying just one in-house assistant. Not only does this reduce your workload, but it can also help you to create a better work-life balance. You can spend more time with friends and family or concentrate more on networking.
- IT Support
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Small business can be greatly affected by IT issues losing precious time and money. Most small businesses do not require the full-time service of an IT department or manager. Some may depend on their in-house IT team to develop new hardware and software solutions that improve the business, however, their team is constantly trying to fix small IT issues in the office instead.
Hiring an external IT support team can help to solve all these issues. They usually offer a 24/7 service so you and your staff can always get hold of someone. They can help you to identify and fix most of your small IT issues all over the phone or via an instant messaging service. This helps you to eliminate the need for in-house IT support staff, free up current IT team to focus on more important things and best of all save a lot of valuable time.
It’s simple to find the right IT Support partner, just go online search for the best IT support team for your particular IT needs and you can start working with them immediately.
- Marketing
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If you are a small business without a marketing plan or strategy you may as well shut up shop right now. Modern businesses can not survive without expertise in marketing. This is the only way to drive people to your business, allow them to connect with who you are and convert sales.
As a small business, you may not have a clue on how to market your business effectively and you may not have the capital to hire a marketing manager or team. The solution is quite simple. You can hire individual marketing freelancers for specific projects or you can partner with a marketing agency. This flexibility allows you to only pay for marketing services you need and reduce the amount of stress over your marketing needs.
Freelancers are best utilized for small projects such as design work, copywriting, content, email content, and press releases. You will find millions of highly qualified freelancers marketers on websites like UpWork, Freelancer, and Guru. You can add your project to the websites and allow freelancers to bid for the work. You can then use special filters to help you to select the best freelancer for the work.
Marketing agencies are great for small businesses in desperate need of expert knowledge on how to build their brand awareness, connect with their target market, and convert leads to sales. The modern marketing landscape is complex and constantly evolving. Therefore, having a specialist marketing agency with industry experts that stay on top of all the latest changes in SEO, PPC, and Google algorithms can help to keep your business to improve along with it and staying competitive.