Are you a small business owner running everything by yourself or with one or two staff? While small business owners are incredibly hard-working and talented people, they can’t be experts in everything, and there are some parts of running a business that you have to get right. If you drop the ball in some areas, it could be hard to recover. That’s why outsourcing makes sense for small business owners. This helpful article will share the five things you should definitely outsource as a small business owner, so read on to learn more about what they are.
1. Social Media Management
If you’re a small business owner, you’re great at your job. Whether that’s building things, fixing stuff, or helping people solve problems, one aspect of your small business that you might not be great at, and there’s no shame in this, is social media management.
You should definitely consider outsourcing social media management to an agency or person with expertise in this field. There is so much to consider with social media management, especially if you want a presence across all social media platforms. Even Facebook, X, TikTok, and LinkedIn all require a different approach and an intimate knowledge of each platform in order to be effective.
With outsourced social media management, the manager can focus on developing your brand, interacting with your audience, running paid social media ads, monitoring your various inboxes, and tailoring a social media marketing strategy that’s right for your business.
2. Accounting and Bookkeeping
Another task that takes precious time and key resources away from a small business owner is the relatively boring work of accounting and bookkeeping duties. Even with the excellent software solutions that exist for this type of work, it can take time and a reasonable amount of effort to keep track of your small business’s income, expenses, and all the paperwork that comes with it, such as BAS statements and GST payments. And that’s not even to mention the dreaded tax time – filing your annual tax return can be a major pain for a small business owner who is better at running their business than dealing with the ATO.
For these reasons alone, it is worth investing in outsourcing these accounting tasks to a dedicated accounting company or sole accountant. Both a company and a single accountant can offer both accounting and bookkeeping services, where they will manage the entire process for you. Sure, it will cost you some money for this, but the spare time that will be created by outsourcing can then be spent on innovative ways of increasing your income streams and getting more clients or customers to grow your small business.
3. Web Design
Another thing you should be outsourcing is web design. For small business websites operating as retail platforms, website design and user experience are crucial to making sales and retaining customers, so hiring an expert to do your WooCommerce web design will benefit you as a small business owner. A functional, well-designed website could make or break your small business.
If your small business is in e-commerce, your website needs to be very user-friendly, easy to navigate, secure if it takes payments, and show all the items that you stock. Website users will quickly bounce off a hard-to-navigate, dodgy-looking website, and the last thing you want is a high bounce rate which will have negative implications in your search engine rankings. A great website should be the cornerstone of your e-commerce business, and for that reason alone, it is worth outsourcing this important task.
4. Marketing
Other time-consuming but essential tasks in this hypermodern era are marketing, digital marketing, paid online advertising, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Traditional marketing is important depending on the demographic your business targets. For instance, if your primary market is baby boomers, it would make sense to market on the radio, newspaper, or free-to-air TV. You can outsource this to a marketing agency.
However, if you target millennials, Gen X or Gen Z, digital marketing techniques ensure that your business offerings are displayed to this demographic, who could be easily converted into potential customers or clients. This includes marketing activities such as link building, social media advertising, search engine advertising, and other diverse forms of online marketing.
Again, this is a complex and finicky way of promoting your business, so it is worth outsourcing this to an expert marketer or an agency that can manage it for you.
A cornerstone of digital marketing is having a solid SEO strategy and implementation to ensure that your business’s website will rank high organically in search engine results pages without having to pay a premium for ad spots at the top of the results pages. However, pay-per-click (PPC) digital advertising is also definitely a worthy investment for small business owners, as people frequently click on ads for products or services they’re interested in.
SEO and PPC are a science, and it takes skill and expert knowledge to do it right, which again is the reason you should outsource this. It will be worth the investment to outsource these tasks to an agency that specialises in them. The agency can then use its dedicated teams and experience to generate interest in your company and drive sales and revenue. It is an investment, yes, but the increased amount of organic web traffic and leads will often pay for the cost of the agency’s fees a few times over in terms of clients or sales.
5. Customer Support
Finally, the last thing you should consider outsourcing is customer support. If you’re a small team, such as yourself as the business owner and one or two staff, you’re likely busy working, packing orders, generating quotes, or focusing on growing your business.
Suppose you have any customers who require support, such as for returns or refunds, or if someone has a complaint. In that case, it can be worth outsourcing your customer support to a dedicated person or company who can manage this for you.
Even if you engage someone for a few days a week, they can handle inquiries, resolve issues, and provide a consistent level of service to your customers. This not only ensures your customers are well looked after but also allows you to focus on your core tasks. Over time, as your business grows, you can either hire someone in-house or expand your outsourced support to meet increasing demand, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
Sorting Out Your Outsourcing
This helpful article has shared the five key business functions you should outsource as a small business owner. By doing this, you’ll free up your time to focus on what matters, such as scaling up your business and innovating. Sure, there’s a cost involved, but the return is always worth it.
