Since the pandemic, employers and employees have embraced remote working as the new normal. In fact, in 2021, many individuals started their own remote businesses trying to take advantage of the work-from-home atmosphere and availability of remote working tools and technology. So, what can you do to boost your remote business and maintain its success?
How to Run a Remote Business Stress-Free?
Successfully running a remote business is not as challenging as it is made out to be. With the right tools and team and clear goals, your business can take flight even with employees distributed across various regions. So, how can you successfully run a remote business? Here are 7 practical tips to pay attention to.
1. Make Your Business Easy to Find
First and foremost, you need to make your business visible to interested employees and customers. Start by creating a website and creating a Google My Business account. Then, create accounts on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and so on, and link them to your website. Next, consider social and paid ads to get the word around. These are the core basics of increasing business visibility. Some other ways to increase your digital presence include:
- Writing valuable and informative content on your website and sharing it on social platforms.
- Sending out emails to people who sign up for your newsletter and your services.
- Participating in marketplaces, seminars, webinars, and industry conferences.
However, merely having an online presence is not enough. You need to make it easy for interested prospects to connect with your business. For this, your business should have:
- The business address, email, and phone number displayed on the website should be easy to find.
- A well-monitored phone line (even if your customer service team is small, aim for responsiveness and availability).
- An active LinkedIn account where you post available job positions.
- An active email account that responds to customer queries within a day.
- A live chat or chatbot option on your website that assists web visitors.
- An online support center or knowledge base where users can go for self-service.
Setting up your business this way can make it easier for users to connect and interact with your brand and your employees.
2. Use the Right Tools and Technology
Next, you want to invest in tools and technology that can support your remote business. This is crucial as a remote business means remote employees. And you need technology that is reliable and secure to connect all your teams without affecting productivity. Consider cloud-based work management platforms to ensure proper workflow and easy access for all users. Here we list some common remote business tools to consider.
Project management systems help users plan, create, organize, and manage projects, tools, team tasks, and more. Here are several of the best options:
- Teamwork
- Monday.com
- Slack
- Zoho Projects
- Hive
- ClickUp
- Basecamp
CRMs and lead generation tools to track customers and sales progress:
- HubSpot
- Pipedrive
- Smartsheet
- LeadFeeder
- Unbounce
- Sumo
- Salesforce
Content management systems are used to create, manage, and modify digital content — that is, content that is published on your website and social media platforms:
- Microsoft Office
- G-Suite
- WordPress
- Squarespace
- Adobe
Softphones, chat, chatbots, and video conferencing tools for internal and external communication:
- Zoom
- G-Chat
- Intercom
- Drift
- Landbot
- Birdeye
- Skype
- GoToMeeting
Platforms that support webinars, presentations, and podcasts:
- Demio
- Livestream
- Crowdcast
- GoToWebinar
- Buzzsprout
- Podbean
- Podcasts.com
- Soundcloud
Digital marketing tools to improve and maintain brand awareness and web traffic:
- Mailchimp
- Benchmark Email
- Marketo Engage
- Google Analytics & Adwords
- Ahrefs
- Moz
- Surfer
- SEMRush
- Buffer
- Social Pilot
- Instasize
- Biteable
- Landscape
- Feedly
3. Create a Communication Plan
Besides increasing brand awareness for your customers, readers, and web visitors, you need to also plan how your remote business will communicate internally and externally. You want a service that connects all your remote employees, irrespective of their locations.
A general recommendation, and common practice, is to use cloud communications. This is because almost everyone has an internet connection and can use their own devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc) to communicate.
You can use an international call forwarding service and forward incoming business calls to your remote customer support employees wherever they are located. VoIP numbers are not attached to specific locations, making it possible for users to connect from any location and any device. This flexibility allows remote teams to be well-connected and continue offering customer service uninterrupted. Additionally, you will want to get in-house chat tools such as G-Chat or Slack for your remote employees to keep tabs on projects, major announcements, and more.
4. Set Clear Goals
Set clear goals and expectations and share them with your remote teams. Everyone needs to be on the same page for a business to work successfully. Make it a point to review these goals every month or quarter and adjust them accordingly. Also, stay up to date on current trends in your industry so you can modify your goals and strategies to be more relevant.
5. Hire Talented Remote Workers and Give Access to Training Programs
For quality work, you need to hire quality talent. If you try to hire cheap, inexperienced, untrained individuals, then your business will not grow in the direction you want. Take time to assess your applicants and conduct interviews and tests (based on your industry and needs). This is even more crucial when hiring remote employees because such hiring does not happen in person.
Don’t stop at just hiring your remote employees. Help them onboard by offering week-long training or access to webinars for products and software they will be using. This will help them assimilate well without wasting too much time figuring things out themselves. Additionally, if you hire employees who already know how to use your technology and software, you will save more time.
6. Reward Your Remote Workers
Most remote business owners think that they can slip up on this aspect. But your remote workers are as real as in-house employees, and so rewarding them should be a priority. These rewards don’t need to be excessive, time-consuming, or expensive. You can do simple things such as gift cards, a day off every month, personalized gift baskets, company swag, and so on. With remote working, it is easy to feel alienated and isolated. These rewards can help your employees feel seen and appreciated. And happy employees do great work for a business.
7. Post Customer Reviews & Testimonials
Lastly, don’t underestimate the power of genuine customer reviews, feedback, and testimonials. Highlight these reviews on your website and social media platforms. You may even reach out to your customers and ask them to leave you a review on industry-specific review websites. Some businesses choose to reward customers who leave a review with gift cards or week-long free service. Others conduct detailed case studies of how their customers use their service to solve an issue. Whichever way you choose, remember words and recommendations from customers can go a long way in bringing new customers aboard.
Want to Learn More?
There is a lot that happens behind the curtains when running a remote business. As a business owner, the best thing you can do is to stay educated and up to date on the latest in your industry. Subscribe to industry blogs, follow experts and thought leaders, attend webinars and conferences, and continue to build your business as a credible one. Good luck!
Macronimous is in the web development business and has been, since its inception, in the remote working space.
By default, as with most businesses like ours, client-centric communication is our key strength – the ability to communicate well and transform client visions into Internet reality.We have certain standard tools evaluate over a period for effective communication with international web development clients.This blog is to share what we use internally.
You may like to evaluate one or more of them.
Click to read the full blog.
