Ever since the internet became part of our everyday lives, small businesses have been taking full advantage of the advances in technology and connectivity to drive profits.
As technology continues to advance, services that were previously only available to larger businesses with bigger budgets become more accessible to small businesses.
You are probably already plowing a fair amount of your budget into technology in order to increase turnover, but the ways in which technology can help us save money as well is an area that goes overlooked by many small businesses.
Take a look at these three ways technology can help your small business save money.If you can drive down costs, then your profits will rise.
Make greater use of social media advertising
Advertising on social media is a cheaper and more effective way of reaching a larger audience. 81% of Americans are already signed up to at least one social media platform, and that number is only going to increase as more smart devices enter the market and increase our ability to connect.
By taking out a sponsored post on Facebook, you are instantly reaching a much larger audience than the several thousand people who might happen to glimpse your ad in a local newspaper or the few hundred who could glance up from their vehicles as they drive past your billboard.
Not only do you reach more people,which could drive more clients to you, but it can also be cheaper to use sponsored posts on social media than more traditional ads in more traditional media forms. As a result, you will be bringing in more money for less expenditure.
Accept cryptocurrencies
You’ll have heard of Bitcoin by now, but do you know much about how accepting cryptocurrencies can help your business save money? With cryptocurrencies, once a client has paid for a product or service then the money is in your account and can’t be taken back. It removes the risk of chargebacks, as can happen with reversed credit card transactions.
Another advantage that cryptocurrency has over a credit card is that while a credit card payment can result in your paying anything between 2-4% of the transaction amount, there is just one low, flat fee charged per transaction. You can then pass this saving onto customers paying by cryptocurrencies in the form of discounts on the products or services they are using, oryou can take home the money you have saved yourself.
Take your business paperless
Turning your business paperless will save costs on ink, paper and filing systems. It will also mean you waste fewer hours of manpower searching manually through piles of paper when you can just search electronically for the information you need.
If you’re worried about losing that information should there be a catastrophic failure of your systems or an accidental data wipe, then you don’t have to be anymore.The advent and increased use of the cloud mean you can upload your files into cyberspace where they will remain forever, just waiting to be recalled whenever you need them.
