Did you know that you
always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but now that you are, you feel like you
are drowning, and it isn’t as much fun as all the entrepreneurs on
Instagram and Snapchat are making it out to be?
I feel your pain.
In his popular book, E-Myth: Why Most Businesses Don’t Work
and What to Do about It, Michael Gerber points out that business owners need to
work on their business, not in their business. Underneath the success that
comes with running my own agency, is the heartache of feeling like I’m just a
highly overpaid consultant.
I never sought to run an app marketing agency, it is something
that my podcast audience asked of me so I said yes, because it was the easiest
path to entrepreneurship and has become something I enjoy doing. However, after
three years of running the agency, I finally feel like I’m starting to work on
my business instead of in my business.
Here are some tools that
have helped me run and scale my app marketing agency.
1. Track your emails
with Bananatag.
Whether you are trying to
close a deal or cold email a potential client, it’s important to know if your
emails are actually being opened. While there are a few other tools out there,
I’ve found that Bananatag is one of the simplest and easiest to
track email opens and clicks.
You get an email whenever
your recipient opens or clicks on any of your links, so if a potential client
clicks on your proposal link, you can follow-up by asking if they had any
questions.
2. Schedule multiple
posts to your Buffer profiles with BulkPublish.
As a huge Buffer fan, I became frustrated that I had to
continually fill my queue especially when I have hundreds of blog posts and
podcast episodes that I can continually share.
BulkPublish allows me to bulk upload a list of
posts and more importantly, include inline images. Buffer reports that image posts get 18
percent more clicks, 89 percent more favorites and 150
percent more retweets. With BulkPublish, you can easily add images to
scheduled posts with a simple CSV upload.
3. Chat with your
customers via Chat Center.
Founded by TechCrunch
Co-Founder, Keith Teare, Chat
Center allows you to be available
to your customers when they need you the most. Think of the tool as
an easy way to give your customers chat access to you without having to give
away your phone number, become Facebook friends with them or use another app.
I use the tool as a chat
window on my website and as a way for my customers to text me anytime. The app
costs a mere $3.99 a month and comes with a 30-day trial. There
are also mobile versions of the app so you can respond to customers
whichever device you are on.
4. Create sales funnels
with ClickFunnels.
Having tried many landing
page and website builders, I have absolutely fallen in love with ClickFunnels. I can build optin pages,
webinar funnels, and my favorite, one-click upsell and downsell pages.
The tool integrates with
popular email marketing services and payment providers. It’s an all-in-one
solution when building sales pages and funnels.
5. Find anyone's email
with Email Hunter.
Email Hunter is a simple tool that allows you to
find any email address you need in seconds. You can find email addresses
while you are on a website; find email addresses on a LinkedIn profile; and
save your leads with one click from LinkedIn’s search page.
6. Create a Facebook
Group.
Facebook Groups have been
a great source of leads for my business. I’ve found that there’s no better
engagement source, when sharing my blog posts, webinars, ebooks and
courses.
I also try to spend a few
minutes each day trying to add value and answer any questions from others
in the group.
Search for relevant
groups for your business, and start interacting and sharing your popular blog
posts. There are huge communities within Facebook that will help you grow your
business.
7. Create your own live
show with Live Air Solo.
Jason Swenk, who sold his
digital agency in 2012 for more than seven-figures, recommends using the Live: Air Solo app.
The app lets you
broadcast live video to Facebook and YouTube, allowing you to be the director,
producer and star of your own show. Uniquely designed for the iPhone,
Live:Air Solo is packed with real-time creative tools such as graphics,
overlays, transitions and support for all of the popular live streaming
destinations.
8. Use the scheduling
app, ScheduleOnce.
Running an agency and a
popular app business podcast keeps my calendar full most weeks.
From client calls to team meetings to podcast interviews I need to be able to
manage my calendar with as little back-and-forth as possible.
ScheduleOnce allows me to pick times and dates that
I want to be available, and share links with my clients so they can pick a time
that works for them. For example, I do all my client calls on Tuesdays, and I
can send a specific link that allows clients to pick a time that is convenient
for them. In addition, ScheduleOnce will send out reminders to make sure no one
misses the meeting.
9. Use WorkGroup for
business messaging.
I was getting so much
email that I started avoiding looking at my emails and thus falling behind on
servicing my clients. I wanted emails to be for potential clients and
another platform for current clients.
With WorkGroup, I’m able to create a group
for each client, provide real-time communication, and more importantly, create
action items for my team and my clients. Unlike other tools, like Slack and
Basecamp, I found WorkGroup to be as simple as text messaging but powerful
enough to ensure action items were taken care of.
Written By:
Steve Young
Credit:
Entrepreneur.com
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