Why Automation is Essential for Every Business and How To Get Started

(Newsletter Issue #3 - originally sent March 2023)

Hey!

This is Tyler, founder and owner of ZeroToDigital, a marketing and web development agency located in Loudon, NH. Every month, I send this free email to businesses and individuals who are motivated to grow and optimize their businesses, websites and digital marketing.

Here are this month’s stories. Enjoy!

Why automation is crucial for any business to survive (and even grow!) during an economic downturn

An economic downturn is characterized by slowing growth, reduced consumer demand, and increasing unemployment. In such a challenging business environment, companies must adapt to survive, and automation is a key tool in their arsenal. Here are some reasons why automation is essential for businesses during an economic downturn:

1. Cost reduction: Economic downturns often lead to reduced revenue, forcing businesses to focus on cost control. Automation can help by reducing labor costs associated with repetitive tasks and time-consuming activities. By automating these tasks, companies can allocate human resources more efficiently and focus on tasks that require critical thinking or creative problem-solving.
2. Increased efficiency: Automation enables businesses to streamline their operations, eliminating inefficiencies in processes and workflows. By automating repetitive tasks, businesses can minimize errors and reduce the time spent on manual tasks. This increased efficiency allows companies to maintain or even improve their productivity, despite the challenging economic environment.
3. Improved competitiveness: In an economic downturn, competition among businesses can be fierce, as companies struggle to maintain or grow their market share. Automation allows businesses to stay competitive by increasing their overall efficiency and productivity. As a result, businesses that adopt automation are better positioned to outperform their competitors and gain an advantage in the market.
4. Enhanced scalability: As businesses face unpredictable demand during an economic downturn, automation allows them to scale their operations up or down more easily. Automated systems can be adjusted to handle fluctuating workloads without the need for significant investments in human resources or infrastructure. This flexibility enables businesses to respond more effectively to changes in the market.

Fortunately, any local business can leverage the power of automation. See more below.

How local businesses can get started with automation

Automation isn’t only reserved for large, international businesses with hundreds of employees, or even just logistics companies and warehouses. Any business can get started with the following steps:

1. Identify areas for automation: Analyze your business processes and identify tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, or prone to human error. These tasks are ideal candidates for automation. Common areas include invoicing, payroll, inventory management, customer support, and marketing.
2. Set clear objectives: Determine the goals you want to achieve with automation, such as increased efficiency, cost reduction, improved customer experience, or enhanced employee productivity. Clear objectives will help you measure the success of your automation efforts.
3. Research available tools and solutions: Conduct research on automation tools and platforms available in the market that cater to your specific needs. There are many options, including Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, and marketing automation platforms, among others.
4. Start small and scale up: Instead of automating every aspect of your business at once, start with one or two processes. This approach allows you to test the effectiveness of the chosen tools, learn from the experience, and make necessary adjustments before scaling up.
5. Train your employees: Employee training is essential for successful automation. Ensure your staff understands the benefits of automation, how to use the new tools, and how their roles may change as a result. This will help with the transition and ensure that employees can effectively work alongside automated systems.
6. Monitor and optimize: Continuously monitor the performance of your automated processes and make improvements as needed. Collect data and analyze the results to understand the impact of automation on your business. This will help you fine-tune your strategy and make informed decisions about scaling up or implementing new automation initiatives.

Fortunately, we can make it even easier for you. We’ve helped businesses of various sizes and industries automate certain aspects of their businesses to both cut costs and increase profits, and we can help you, too!

Quick hitters

• We just created a new job posting website exclusively for New Hampshire-based businesses leveraging artificial intelligence. It’s called NH Hired.
• Websites can still help businesses grow even during recessions
• 143 digital marketing terms and definitions to know
• A visualization of the compounding power of SEO

One last thing ...

We at ZeroToDigital help businesses every day with digital marketing and website development services, such as: design, lead generation, optimization, hosting, analytics, and more (see a more complete list of services here)!

Let us know today if there's anything that we can help you with. There's no pressure, we'll at least try to point you in the right direction. ????