I have served small businesses for more than 10 years — Here are three investments to consider that will help you succeed

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Here are key areas of investment to help entrepreneurs transform their business operations and catapult their business growth.

Key Takeaways

  • 1. Unlock the power of AI and automation.
  • 2. Manage the employee experience.
  • 3. Reach new and existing customers with breakthrough marketing.

I’ve been fortunate to spend more than a decade of my career serving the small business industry. One thing that I’ve seen consistently over the years — whether it’s a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Missouri, an ecommerce business based in Virginia or a hair salon in Texas — is that in order for a small business to grow and thrive, owners must invest strategically in tools and technologies to help them succeed.

This extends beyond simply going online to order a laptop for all your business dealings or setting up a company website — although those are good places to start! The right tools can help power a business, taking it to the next level of growth while making the owner’s life easier and more manageable.

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Here are three areas business owners should consider investing in that can help transform their operations and catapult their growth.

1. Unlocking the power of AI and automation

Artificial intelligence is the hot, new buzzword — the technology trend that’s generating the most excitement around its potential use cases, particularly as more and more people experiment with generative AI like ChatGPT.

For business owners who are strapped for time, the opportunity to automate tedious and time-consuming tasks is extremely appealing. In fact, according to a recent survey we did, almost all small business owners are eager to automate operational tasks with the help of AI: from expense management (69%), to invoicing (68%) and completing payroll (51%). They look forward to offloading some of these monotonous but important tasks to technology solutions.

I recommend evaluating key areas of your business operations that are critical to your cash flow, for example, monthly invoicing. Finding ways to improve efficiency by automating repetitive tasks will help save time and money every month, compounding the overall benefit.

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The impact of the potential time savings from AI is huge, with 43% of business owners saying they’d use the time to develop customer relationships and 36% would develop more products and services with the extra time. The true power of AI is it creates the capacity to focus on building relationships, creating new offerings, and innovating — areas where the human touch is still essential to success.

2. Managing the employee experience

Another area where technology can make a huge difference is the complicated process of onboarding, managing and paying employees. Personal relationships between a business owner and employees are of course crucial, but by investing in a human capital management (HCM) software solution upfront, business owners can greatly simplify some routine tasks.

Calculating payroll for hourly workers, managing schedules and deducting appropriate taxes are all things HCM solutions can effectively take off a business owner’s plate. This results in significant time savings (similar to the monthly invoicing example above, these are tasks that repeat consistently, compounding the overall benefit). It also ensures greater peace of mind as tax compliance is an area that many business owners struggle to navigate with confidence. Finally, it helps employees, as it provides greater transparency and accessibility to paystubs and other important financial documents.

Related: Three Reasons Why It’s Never Too Early to Invest in HR

3. Reach new and existing customers with breakthrough marketing

According to our recent survey, half of small business owners agree that customer retention is among the most important business metrics for judging the success of a business. Businesses need customers to buy their products and services, but 20% of businesses said acquiring customers is the biggest obstacle inhibiting their growth, second only to the rising cost of inflation.

Automation tools can help with both of these challenges by making it faster and more efficient to manage your company email and social media marketing. Whether it’s leveraging an email marketing solution to reach new and existing customers or experimenting with paid ads on social media platforms, more and more companies are taking the guesswork out of marketing for business owners so they can better target, reach and communicate with their intended audiences. Now businesses can leverage the templates, insights and best practices that are available to them via these platforms rather than reinventing the wheel with every ad or email blast. Additionally, the metrics and insights provided on the backend can help businesses to test and learn, seeing what resonates with their audiences and truly moves the needle.

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Our survey found that four in five small business owners plan to invest in digital tools this year. That’s great news for all of us who love and support small businesses, as it will undoubtedly help many companies continue to grow and reach new goals. For any entrepreneurs ready to invest in their brand’s future but unsure where to start, I recommend exploring the capabilities of AI and automation and how tools can help streamline the employee management experience, customer communication and marketing. With the help of technology and tools, the sky is truly the limit for small businesses everywhere.

www.entrepreneur.com

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sanya-onayoade

Sanya Onayoade

Continental Editor, North America

SANYA ONAYOADE is a graduate of Mass Communication and a Master of Communication Arts degree holder from the University of Ibadan. He has attended local and international courses on Media, Branding, Public Relations and Corporate Governance in many institutions including the University of Pittsburgh; Reuters Foundation of Rhodes University, South Africa and Lagos Business School. He has worked in many newspaper houses including The Guardian and The Punch. He was the pioneer Corporate Affairs Manager of Odua Telecoms Ltd, and later Head of Business Development and Marketing of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO Plc).

He has led business teams to several countries in the US, Asia and Europe; and was part of an Aviation investment drive in West Africa. He has also driven media and brand consultancy for a few organizations such as the British Council, Industrial Training Fund, PKF Audit/Accounting Firm and Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme. He is a Fellow of Freedom House, Washington DC, and also Fellow of Institute of Brand Management of Nigeria. Sanya is a member of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a 1998 Commonwealth Media Awards winner and the Author of A Decade Of Democracy.
Morak Babajide-Alabi

Morak Babajide-Alabi

Continental Editor, Europe

Morak Babajide-Alabi is a graduate of Mass Communication with a Master of Arts Degree in Journalism from Napier University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He is an experienced Social Media practitioner with a strong passion for connecting with customers of brands.

Morak works as part of a team currently building an e-commerce project for the Volkswagen Group UK. Before this, he worked on the social media accounts of SKODA, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. In this job, he brought his vast experience in journalism, marketing, and search engine optimisation to play to make sure the brands are well represented on social media. He monitored the performance of marketing campaigns and data analysis of all volumes of social media interaction for the brands.

In his private capacity, Morak is the Chief Operating Officer of Syllable Media Limited, an England-based marketing agency with head office in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The agency handles briefs such as creative writing, ghostwriting, website designs, and print and broadcast productions, with an emphasis on search engine optimisation. Syllable Media analyses, reviews, and works alongside clients to maximise returns on their businesses.

Morak is a writer, blogger, journalist, and social media “enthusiast”. He has several publications and projects to his credit with over 20 years of experience writing and editing for print and online media in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Morak is a dependable team player who succeeds in a high-pressure environment. He started his professional career with the flagship of Nigerian journalism – The Guardian Newspapers in 1992 where he honed his writing and editing skills before joining TELL Magazine. He has edited, reported for, and produced newspapers and magazines in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Morak is involved in the development of information management tools for the healthcare sector in Africa. He is on the board of DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited, a company with branches in London, Lagos, and Abuja, to make healthcare information available at the fingertips of professionals. DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited achieved this by collaborating with notable informatics companies. It had partnered in the past with Avia Informatics Plc and i2i TeleSolutions Pvt.

Out of work, Morak loves walking and also volunteers on the board of a few UK Charity Organisations. He can be reached via http://www.syllablemedia.com
Ademola-Akinbola

Ademola Akinbola

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

Brief Profile of Ademola Akinbola

Ademola AKINBOLA is an author, publisher, trainer, digital marketing strategist, and a brand development specialist with nearly three decades of experience in the areas of branding, communication, corporate reputation management, business development, organizational change management, and digital marketing.

He is the Founder and Head Steward at BrandStewards Limited, a brand and reputation management consultancy. He is also the Publisher of The Podium International Magazine, Ile-Oluji Times, and Who’s Who in Ile-Oluji.

He had a successful media practice at The Guardian, Punch and This Day.

He started his brand management career at Owena Bank as Media Relations Manager before joining Prudent Bank (now Polaris Bank) as the pioneer Head of Corporate Affairs.

The British Council appointed him as Head of Communication and Marketing to co-ordinate branding and reputation management activities at its Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt offices.

In 2007, he was recruited as the Head of Corporate Planning and Strategy for the Nigerian Aviation Handling company. He led on the branding, strategic planning and stakeholder management support function.

His job was later expanded and redesigned as Head of Corporate Communication and Business Development with the mandate to continue to execute the Board’s vision in the areas of Corporate Planning and Strategy, Branding and New Businesses.

In 2010, he voluntarily resigned from nacho aviance to focus on managing BrandStewards, a reputation and brand management firm he established in 2003. BrandStewards has successfully executed branding, re-branding and marketing communication projects for clients in the private and public sectors.

Ademola obtained a M.Sc. Degree in Digital Marketing & Web Analytics from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2016, and the Master of Communication Arts degree of the University of Ibadan in 1997. He had previously obtained a Higher National Diploma (with Upper Credit) in Mass Communication from Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta.

He has published several articles and authored five management books.

He has benefitted from several domestic and international training programmes on Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Change Management and Organizational Strategy.
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