No matter what your business may be, we’ve all had moments when it feels like there’s just not enough hours in a day to get work done. Between administrative tasks and long-term projects, it can be difficult to find ways to make real progress at work. Luckily, advances in digitization have made it simple to squeeze some extra productivity from your schedule

From small business owners to freelancers, read on to find out a few of our favorite ways to automate your workflow and help you work smarter, not harder.

1. Choose a CRM

First and foremost, whether you use social networks, email, phone or online support, self-service portals, live chats or smartphone apps – it’s important to create a central network for all your channels as they are valuable customer touch points. Planning and nurturing this complex network of relationships with the client is the Customer Relationship Management’s (CRM) job. 

2. Create once, share often

If you regularly post on a blog or on social media networks, creating an editorial calendar is an incredibly helpful way of staying on track. An easy way to really make an impact with your content is to schedule posts in advance using your CMS (for blog publishing) or with a tool like Hootsuite. Also, there are many Apps that you can utilize to help share content through social media. 

3. Use Google to keep up with the competition

One of the simplest ways to monitor your brand’s reputation and gain insight into industry trends is by setting up a Google Alert. Whenever Google finds a new search result that matches a list of your defined search terms, you’re automatically sent an email with the result. We recommend adding terms such as your name, business name, specific products, topics or trends that pertain to your business.

4. DIY automation

Since the rise of the Internet of Things, the possibilities for creating productive solutions using connected devices are nearly endless. IFTTT (short for “If This, Then That”) allows you to create “applets” using the tools and services you already use and develop new experiences. For example, you can track your work hours in Google Calendar, add new Square payments to a spreadsheet and more.

Work smarter, not harder. Be more fruitful with tactics mentioned above.