1. Diary keeping and client follow-ups are fundamental for business growth, says Rahul Goyal co-founder of GoSpyn “a virtual assistant can make all the difference even if it’s 3-4 hours a week”
The best way to manage a virtual assistant’s time is to breakdown the tasks that will achieve the best results in the least amount of time and delegate these first. If there is time left over, tasks that are more time consuming can be done after.
2. Content development is a slow process but the earlier you start, the better says Terry Koutsios founder and CEO of fivesquid.
Even if you outsource a blogger to write once a week, over time your brand will accumulate content that will not only have SEO benefits but also keep your audience engaged.
“Create a content plan to ensure that the outsourced work is consistent with what you produce in-house, a collaborative process is key here” says Terry.
3. “Doing one week of social media is not enough for brands looking to see real impact” Paul Robinson founder of Social Media Services explains.
“A lot of startups neglect social media because they find too much time is needed to see any results, so outsource to people that have already found what works to get your brand message across”.
Having a social media plan is not enough; being able to implement consistently and test to find what works is fundamental. Social media doesn’t have opening or closing times, someone has to monitor and produce content 24/7.
4. Many small companies do no have the budget to hire professional graphic designers full-time. Joshua Mason from Zelenks thinks constant branding is fundamental for companies starting out, “To ensure customers remember your business, every newsletter, Facebook image, even receipt has to have your brand or your logo at least.”
“Graphic designers can be quite expensive if you are just starting out, so plan out your weekly or monthly design requirements and negotiate package design deals with freelancers or agencies”
The reason why businesses should brand their content early is to not only to encourage potential customers to interact, but if your business has design consistency it creates an extra layer of credibility, allowing customers to trust your product offering more.
5. Backup and fix tech bugs quickly to refrain from losing potential customers that visit your website says Peter, founder of SpotlightStudios.
“For adhoc tasks or technical problems that are urgent, a startup should always have either a company or individual on stand by. Usually technical fixes like a broken html code can be fixed in 20minutes but it could be extremely damaging to the customer journey if not fixed quickly”.
Usually small technical fixes are charged at fixed fees, making them an affordable option for startups looking to maintain a bug free optimised website or app.
