Small business marketing has often been a difficult endeavor for small business owners. Marketing involves a great deal of time and effort, and can require a significant financial investment. Previously, only large corporations could afford marketing automation, but that’s no longer the case. Read the five most profitable benefits of this new IT innovation here.

Instant responses to email requests
If a customer or prospect sends your business an email via your website or a “Contact Us” form, any delay in response could ultimately cost you a client. But if you have a marketing automation plan in place, you can customize automatic email responses to respond to these leads as soon as an email is received. This either provides potential customers with the information they requested or informs them that you will be responding in greater detail soon.

Stop leaving voicemails and start closing deals
There’s a reason most people prefer to communicate via email: Keeping in touch over the phone can be tough if both parties are always busy. An automated system solves this by logging when you’ve contacted leads and automatically emailing them about follow-up times. The call, email, and its response are all logged in your CRM and calendar without a single minute wasted on inputting mundane information.

Inbound lead assignment
When you have phone calls, emails, and meetings piling up, it’s hard to keep track of which customer goes where and who is working with them. With marketing automation software and tracking, customer service representatives are automatically assigned to inbound leads based on specialties and demographics so they can begin working on building profitable rapport right away.

Give and you shall receive
Potential clients and leads get dozens, sometimes hundreds, of business emails every day. You need something to set your business apart from the rest. By offering valuable content such as how-to guides and total cost of ownership tools in exchange for contact information, you can provide prospects with content they actually want.

All it takes is a web form and some creative writing that ultimately leads visitors back to your products and/or services. Your automation software delivers content to anyone who provides contact information, and it downloads metrics that can be tracked and analyzed by your solution.

Never type another phone number again
Networking events mean new contacts and new leads. They used to mean having to keep track of thick stacks of business cards, but cutting-edge marketing tools now make it possible to take a picture of contact information and automatically store it as part of a cloud-based database. Call-ins, scanned business cards, and received emails all get organized into a single digital Rolodex with recommendations on whom to contact and when it is best to do so — without one minute of tedious data entry.

Every business owner knows that automating mindless tasks is a worthwhile investment. But not everyone knows just what sort of tools are available to help you cut down on wasted work. Our team specializes in using technology to add value to your business, and we believe that if you’re not utilizing any of the solutions above, that’s the best place to start. Get in touch with us today to make your marketing technology work for you.

The post Boosting SMB marketing with automation appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Using the cloud is so common these days that most small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) have at least one cloud service supporting their operations. An increasingly popular cloud-based service is enterprise resource planning (ERP). But what is it? And what are the advantages of using a cloud-based ERP? Here’s a quick and informative overview.

Define: Cloud-based ERP

ERP is management software, usually offered as a bundle of applications, that aims to help businesses automate the collection, storage, management, and interpretation of data from various sources like accounting, inventory, marketing, service delivery, etc. With ERP, business owners and managers can get an integrated real-time view of business processes, resources, and commitments.

Cloud-based ERP solutions are simply a suite of ERP apps delivered to users over the Internet, usually accessed via a browser. The software usually does not need to be installed on computers and is offered on a per-user, per-month, flat-rate fee.

Companies using a cloud-based integrated ERP solution have experienced the following five benefits:

1. Increased ERP performance

One issue with in-house ERP solutions is that they require proper set up and maintenance to function at their most efficient. If all that is done poorly, then performance suffers.

With cloud-based solutions, the provider takes care of hosting the solution. You know that experts are the ones maintaining the system, so you’re assured that your ERP should perform at its peak performance.

2. Decreased operating costs

An in-house ERP solution requires the purchase of the software, its related licenses, and the hardware to support it. Plus you need to hire staff to install and maintain it. All that will drive up the overall IT budget, something most SMBs cannot immediately afford.

But with a cloud-based ERP, you normally only have to pay a flat-rate monthly fee, so the total cost of implementation will likely be far lower. Many providers can also manage the solution for you. This will even out your operating costs, and if implemented correctly, will result in an overall decrease in expenses.

3. Enhanced access to information

Companies that don't have any ERP will likely struggle to find the information they need, when they need it. ERPs can help consolidate the relevant information in a more effective manner than, say, spreadsheets.

And since cloud-based ERP solutions are accessible via the Internet, you now have access to your information from anywhere with an Internet connection.

4. Increased security

ERP systems process critical business information, so you will want to keep your data secure from outside sources and unauthorized users within your organization.

To keep your data safe from unauthorized outside sources, cloud-based ERP solutions offer enhanced security measures that protect your data when it is at rest and when it moves from your systems to the host servers.

And for internal data security, users will need an assigned account to access your ERP systems. This gives you control over who is given an account or not. Furthermore, you can also limit who can access your system via central admin panels.

5. Continued support

Cloud-based ERP solutions offer 24/7 support. ERP solutions providers can fix problems faster than if you leave them to your employees.

Providers also make sure that solutions are kept updated. Hackers have been known to attack businesses that use outdated versions of popular ERP programs.

If you want to learn more about cloud-based ERP solutions, contact us. We’ll be glad to assist you.

The post Cloud-based ERP and its benefits appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..