KEEPUPWITHTHE BIG BUSINESSES 3 Tech Trends to Accelerate Your Company
The line between technologies that are beneficial for large businesses and those beneficial for small businesses continues to blur. While the latest software programs were once only available to large companies that could afford them, some of these programs have also become available and profitable for small businesses to use. In an age of increasing connectivity, these are a few tech trends that small businesses should watch out for. CollaborationWith Artificial Intelligence While it certainly shouldn’t replace every customer interaction, using AI software programs for small tasks — like email marketing, data entry, accounting, and some low-stress forms of customer service — is invaluable to small businesses. Delegating menial tasks to AI can free up time for you to focus on those more important face-to-face interactions with your customers.
like TikTok, Pinterest, or Snapchat, can still work to your business’s benefit. A recent study showed that 45% of consumers head to social media when they have a question about something — are you going to be there to answer it? Keeping up with the latest and greatest tech trends in small-business management can be exhausting, but in an age where technological advancement is accelerating faster than ever, it’s necessary for the survival of businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Increased Use of Data Analytics “Big data” is intimidating. For years, sifting through customer data and extracting valuable information that can be used to grow businesses was something that only the largest companies had the time, funds, and expertise to do. However, more programs that reduce the upfront investment and expertise necessary to contextualize customer data are popping up. If you can make use of your customers’ data, you can give them an experience with your business that they won’t find many other places. Continued Reliance on Social Media Social media marketing remains an effective tool for attracting customers to your small business, even if the tools continue to change. While marketing on Facebook and Instagram might seem like old news, marketing on trendier apps,
How Painless Parker Changed Dentistry A QUESTION OF ETHICS
The most valuable lessons often come from the most unexpected — and sometimes questionable — circumstances. Painless Parker, as he came to be known, created many such circumstances. But in the process, he paved the way for the laws and ethics that govern modern dentistry today.
advertising painless tooth extractions for 50 cents. If it wasn’t painless, then he would give the patient $5. The advertising worked, but the procedures didn’t. Parker concocted a solution of what he called “hydrocaine” to numb the pain, but it
He advertised “magically painless extractions” that were anything but, and he used a big brass band to cover up his victim’s sounds of excruciating pain. Parker practiced unethically but still became an incredibly wealthy man. He went on to open a chain of dental offices, the first of its kind, that all practiced terribly painful procedures. When faced with false advertising lawsuits, he legally changed his name to Painless Parker so he could continue to use it to advertise. The wake of pain and malpractice Parker left behind fueled others in the profession to take action against people like him practicing dentistry. Painless Parker may have been a con man, but he left an indisputable legacy on the ethics of the field. Dentistry has come a long way since then, and although we aren’t thankful for Parker’s practices, we are thankful for the good that eventually arose from them.
was highly ineffective. He paid out a lot of patients, but it didn’t matter — his advertising scheme was so effective that it made his business boom. The fame of advertising turned Parker into a showman. He partnered with one of P.T. Barnum’s former managers and founded the Parker Dental Circus, which toured around the U.S. and pulled teeth in front of crowds of onlookers.
At the start of the 20th century, dental work was dicey. Dental parlors were unsanitary, and procedures were painful and expensive. It was also considered unethical for dentists to advertise or solicit business at the time. So, when Edgar Randolph Parker opened his own practice in 1892, he didn’t have a single patient for months. Parker decided to break the rules of dental ethics and began
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