Creating a Successful Branding Strategy for your Small Business

Small businesses need to devote a lot of time and energy to creating and reinforcing their branding strategies; perhaps more than the ‘big brands’ out there, whose only job is maintenance. This is the age of the small business – in fact; many corporate brands are re-engineering their style to resemble smaller brands in order to appeal to consumers who prefer to promote the up-and-coming brands.

As a small business owner/entrepreneur, you probably know that branding is vital for business success, but do you really know why? There is a direct link between marketing success and strong branding, but until you fully understand exactly where this is, the best you can do is try to copy what’s been done before by successful brands.

Strong and successful branding extends beyond just having a nice logo and improving brand awareness and external perception. Strong branding must permeate every aspect of the business, so much so that the word ‘business’ can be seamlessly substituted for ‘brand’.

What is branding?

Branding is the vehicle through which you define the business not only to external parties, but also to your team and even yourself. It defines the ‘identity’ of the business and is an embodiment of the values, objectives and core competencies of the business.

However, this is different from advertising. Today’s customer can tell when a business is just glossing over or trying to charm their way into higher sales revenues. Branding must be the real deal; reaching out to customers in much the same way a young man trying to woo a lady might do – honest, but impressive.

Having a strategic brand definition will help your potential clients to connect with your brand on an emotive level, since they share the same beliefs and values espoused by your brand. This in turn increases sales, improves loyalty, memorability and advocacy and improves brand differentiation. It can also help you protect your pricing should competitors resort to discount offers to drive sales.

Creating a successful branding strategy

  1. Brand definition

Review products/services offered by the business and identify the niche you serve within the market. Conduct research on the rational and emotive needs of that niche and how your brand character can help you connect with consumers in a distinct way.

  1. Characterization

Imagine the brand you’re building as a person with values, beliefs, purposes and a unique character/personality. This directs behavior, presentation and communication. For human beings, this comes intuitively, but for a brand, all these aspects must be carefully engineered to provide an accurate picture.

  1. Business drivers

You should have this by now, but if not, consider the values and beliefs of your brand, the core objectives for which it exists and who you consider to be your brand heroes. This will establish a brand positioning platform and drive character and identity for improved brand communication.

  1. Consistency

Finally, aim to create a long-term relationship with consumers. This means that you cannot raise expectations beyond what you can offer or embellish your real picture that results in broken promises and broken trust, things you cannot afford when building a brand. Create an honest brand by speaking with a consistent tone of voice and acting consistently with the message you transmit. This will reinforce who you are in the minds of consumers.

Bio: Lalit Sharma is an SEO consultant who runs a SEO house called Ranking By SEO. He is specialized inlink building and other SEO related activities. You can also find him on Twitter, Google+ and his personal site.

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5 Ways to Save Money in Your Business

Whether you are just starting a new business or have been running a small business for many years, one of the biggest challenges you face is controlling your profit margins. Many good businesses flounder, not because their core service is unviable or due to lack of sales, but because of cash flow problems. In this post we look at key ways you can save money in your business.

There are three ways to resolve cash flow problems: a cash injection from a loan or investment, increasing sales or reducing costs. When planning a small business it makes sense to keep costs to an absolute minimum. Here we run through the easiest ways to save money and boost profits.

5 Ways to Save Money in Your Business:

1. Affordable Office Space

It may be tempting to rent a flashy office in the centre of town, and although this can sometimes impress potential new clients and win business, premium office space will massively reduce your profit margins.

Start your new business with a small, affordable office on the outskirts of town. This can actually benefit your business – you will be able to afford a slightly larger office space that will accommodate new staff when you grow. It will also be more accessible and will likely have free parking.

Starting out in a small out-of-town office can save you in over £12,000 a year, enough to employ an apprentice or office administrator, both of which will do more for your business than a view of the high street.

2. Hire an Accountant

Of all the costs a company incurs, a good accountant is possibly the best investment. Not only will an accountant ensure that you are making the most of all your business tax allowances, they will also keep a close eye on all outgoings and income.

Many businesses lose money because they fail to chase overdue payments. An accountant will also inform you if you start spending spuriously outside of your business plan.

If you’re still not convinced, here’s why hiring a book-keeper or accountant could be the best move you’ve ever made.

3. Offer flexible working

Many businesses are finding that taking on experienced staff on a part-time basis is more beneficial than hiring new starters full-time.

Many working parents look for opportunities to improve their work-life balance and parents who work during school hours will be more focused and motivated during the six hours they are in the office than their full time colleagues.

Providing flexible working also improves staff loyalty; staff turnover is a huge drain on time and resources in a small business. The various different types of flexible working can be found here.

4. Recycle and Freecycle

New office furniture is very expensive and starting your business with a huge furniture bill will hit your first year profits hard. Instead, plan well ahead and purchase second hand furniture.

Many businesses close each year and their furniture is sold off at rock bottom prices. For example, four new office desks will set you back around £1000; second-hand and clearance items can be purchased for less than half the price, instantly saving you £500. Look out for companies like LAM Office who can provide your business with used furniture for a fraction of the cost.

Also keep an eye on your local Freecycle groups for office clearance items. Many people also give furniture away on Gumtree.

5. Outsource small tasks

Small businesses need to learn how to outsource tasks. Web platforms such as eLance, PeoplePerHour and Freelancer are great places to find somebody to complete a one-off task.

Even sites such as Fiverr and FiveSquid are useful when starting out. If you want to quickly have some marketing material and branding done, you can now get business cards, logos and letterheads designed for just £5 apiece on FiveSquid.

When running a business it is vital to always be thinking about your margins. All those seemingly insignificant costs soon add up over the course of a year and some frugal spending could make the difference between operating at a loss and making your first profit.

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What we can learn from young entrepreneurs

Last week I had the pleasure of judging the Foroige National finals. OMG! to use the language of the people we were judging. The quality, attitude, talent, ambition and chutzpah was amazing. The quality of their pitches was better then I have seen from some professional entrepreneurs. Their business plans were superb. And most important, their attitude to sales is something a lot of the start ups I work with can learn from. A lot. No fear, can do, picking up the phone, making sales, negotiation with retailers and securing distribution. Local, national and international. Alex, Craig, Aisling, Erica, Mary, Aimee, Rebecca, Linda, Clare, Tom and Dane were all amazing. These young entrepreneurs will go places. They will go far. And it shows the value of running entrepreneurship programmes in secondary schools.

If you want to support any of these amazing entrepreneurs, drop me a line (ron@smallbusinesscan.com) and I will facilitate the introduction

Alex and Craig

Alex Conroy and Craig Lynch, both students at Chanel College in Coolock, set up their festive log candle holder business in October 2014 as part of the NFTE programme. From their market research the students found that competitors were charging a premium price for similiar products.  They decided that they would produce designed wooden holders that are affordable. Their mission is: “bring the festive feeling home at special times of the year”. The students have decided to give 20% of the profits to charity.

Aisling

Aisling Farrell , from Coláiste Pobal Setanta in Clonee, offers personalised grips for hurls as her business product. The inspiration for her product came while shopping for a hurling grip. She noticed that none of the grips available were unique or colourful. Unique Hold offers customised hurling grips to match club or county colours. She also sells grips that are designed to the customer’s needs. Aisling aspires to eventually sell Unique Hold grips to local GAA clubs and hopes to donate 20% of her profits to the Irish Lung Foundation.

Erica

Erica Masterson completed her her NFTE programme with Foróige in Phibblestown, Blanchardstown. Her product is an organising shelf for school lockers. Suitable for most locker types, the shelf allows you to seperate bigger books from smaller copy books. Each shelf is designed with a range of well known emojis that adds an element of fun to the school day. The idea from this product came from her own personal experience when trying to organise her school locker. Through market research, She found that there was a gap in the market for a product like this.

Mary, Aimee, Rebecca

Mary Kate Carr, Aimée Byrne, Rebecca McShane and Ronan O’Hare students from Coláiste na Carraige’s NFTE programme which is supported by Foróige. Their business “Milseog na Mara” offers healthy and tasty alternatives to jellies, cold remedies and chocolate mousse using carrageen moss as the main ingredient. They got their inspiration for these products when Mary Kate fell ill and was given a cold remedy using carrageen moss. Through market research, the students found that there was a huge gap in the market for a product like this which is afforadable at €3 per jar.  “Milseog na Mara”  currently trades at local country markets.

Linda and Clare

Linda Dolan and Clare Dolan, are Transition Year students at St Clare’s Comprehensive School. Their business “MURE” was born when the students were working on their local farm. While discussing the large amounts of cow manure their family farm produced, the students decided to turn the cow manure into euros by making fuel from the free natural resource. “MURE” produces a fire log consisting of seven briquettes made from cow manure. They currently sell their product at €4 each or €10 for 3 briquettes. The students hope to roll out their product nationwide.

Tom and Dane

Tom Williams and Dane Fogarty are Leaving Cert Applied students from St Joseph’s School in Clonmel. The inspiration for their business Tom and Dane’s Kitchen came from their enjoyment of catering and woodwork classes. Their business produces a range of homemade savoury jams and chutneys including red onion jam, apple and orange chutney. The jams and chutneys are available in a range of sizes. Tom and Dane launched their business at the RDS Arts and Crafts Christmas Fair 2014. Tom and Dane plan to expand their product range further to increase their customer base.

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Mobilegeddon and Your Current Client Base

For any business owner with an online presence – and we think that is most of them – a major update has taken place within Google that we think you should be aware of. Some are calling it “Mobilegeddon” and it is drastically altering the way that website managers need to think about their sites. If you have not heard of this update, read on to find out how it could impact you, and what you can do to make sure your business keeps up with the competition.

Your Audience has gone Mobile

Up until about a year ago, most internet searches were conducted using a desktop computer or laptop. This meant people were logging into their computers and using their web browser to not only get all of the information that they needed, but also to act on that information. With the rise of smartphones and other mobile devices though, a shift has taken place. Now, more searches are being conducted through these mobile devices, along with the majority of web browsing. Before this shift business owners only needed to worry about how their website interacted with people on a computer. Now, the way a website looks and performs through a mobile device can be the difference between making a sale or losing a customer.

To keep up with this trend, Google has made a major alteration to its algorithm. It now places a larger emphasis on those sites that not only look better on mobile devices, but also have more people interacting with the website through a mobile device. This means that sites that are more compatible for the web, both in design and in functionality, will rank higher than those sites that are behind the trend.

Your Website Should be Mobile Friendly

If your site happens to be one of the ones that is not yet optimized for the web, there are a few things that you can do to correct this. First, you will want to focus on the design. Your website should conform to the screen that it is on, or there should be a separate design for people viewing the site on a mobile device. If you did not design your site yourself, speak to your designer about making sure that your site is viewable across all platforms. After that, you want to make sure that your site works well on mobile devices. Things like having large enough buttons to click on, and making sure they are far enough apart from one another, is just one example of things that Google is going to look for. Another thing that they will look for is if people are interacting with your mobile site.

According to AccuPOS.com, “Mobile payments are part of the overall solution.” You want to make it as easy as possible for people to make a purchase through your website while they are on their mobile device, and in doing so, Google will reward you for it. Google know if your visitors convert or not, and if they don’t like your mobile billing page, they will NOT convert.

The Mobilegeddon is just beginning. As mobile device become even more prominent, they are going to take on a larger importance in the eyes of Google and other search engines. Small business can greatly benefit from new technologies, and going mobile is one of them. Take the time now to see that your website is functioning on every platform possible to set yourself up for long term success. You don’t want to miss out on sales simply because your website doesn’t look great for a customer’s mobile phone.

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Social Entrepreneurs Ireland: Think Big, Act Now, Change Ireland

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland: Slow down. Take stock. Decelerate.

Not the typical thing you’d expect to hear from an organisation like Social Entrepreneurs Ireland perhaps. We are set up to scale the best solutions for social problems around Ireland. We support projects that have the potential to take an idea and replicate it elsewhere. After all, if we have found a solution to a problem in Wicklow, shouldn’t we be implementing this in other counties around Ireland? If we have found a more effective or more efficient way of doing something, shouldn’t more people benefit from the positive impact?

And it is a core trait of all entrepreneurs that they want to grow and develop their idea, to reach as many people as possible, to impact upon the world. As Steve Jobs said, entrepreneurs want to ‘make a dent in the universe’.

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland

At Social Entrepreneurs Ireland we love that attitude. Our slogan is ‘Think Big. Act Now. Change Ireland’ and it is because of this passion and the potential to significantly impact Ireland that we work with social entrepreneurs.

But over the last 10 years we have learned that all of this should come with a small note of caution. The rush to scale projects, to work with more people and to increase your impact, while totally understandable,  is potentially counter-productive. Our experience has taught us that often what some of the most exciting projects need is a period of deceleration before they can think seriously about acceleration.

Getting the Model Right

Before you can deliver a solution at scale, it is vital to delve deeply into the core service, product or solution that you are delivering. And once that is clear, the scaling model needs to be clearly developed and defined before starting to roll it out. We have seen it many times that early success is seized upon and attempts are made to replicate something before it is ready. And the danger is that a really powerful idea might fail and as a result be written off.

Is your model scalable? Is it sustainable? Can you replicate the core elements of it or is it dependent on the actions of a few key individuals? Do you have the capacity to deliver at a bigger scale?

At SEI we now take a lot of time at the beginning of the Awards Programme to work through all of these things with the entrepreneurs, and only move to scaling conversations once the fundamentals are in place.

Demands

Another challenge that we have seen in recent years is that big, exciting ideas often receive a huge amount of attention very quickly. In particular, projects led by young social entrepreneurs can receive a lot of interest from media, potential partners and supporters. While this support and coverage is potentially transformational for the entrepreneur, the risk is that they may become over-exposed, they may burn out, or they may just be distracted by all of the noise, events and attention, to the detriment of their projects. In these cases they may not fulfil the early potential that their projects have.

Learnings for SEI and for Social Entrepreneurs

Indeed, this is a challenging issue for us in SEI, as our Awards Programme celebrates these social entrepreneurs quite publicly. It is a constant challenge for us to find the right balance between protecting the social entrepreneurs and showcasing their work. I’m not sure we’ve always gotten it right but we are constantly working on it.

Over the years at SEI we have changed and adapted our approach and now have a much more nuanced approach to how we work with social entrepreneurs. We are very conscious that sometimes the best thing we can provide a project is to give thempermission to decelerate for a while, to take a breath, to take stock, to slow down, so that when they do choose to scale, they are ready to give it absolutely everything.

Darren

Darren Ryan, Chief Executive, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland

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It’s Not Rocket Science: Seeking Funding and Working with Research Institutes

God only knows how much money our respective states pump into research institutions every year to promote and stimulate the growth of R&D and support the knowledge economy. We, as SMEs, are entitled to our share if we have fundable projects. Enterprise support agencies such as Enterprise Ireland and Intertrade Ireland are key players in the R&D ecosystem and play a vital role in generating and nurturing innovation partnerships between Universities, research institutions and SMEs. Funding has always been available to support collaborations, especially for larger companies. And its now beginning to get interesting for smaller SMEs.

I’m writing, not as one of the founders of Smallbusinesscan, but as one of the founders of a new Science and Technology start up that over the past six months has benefited from key focused grants from the Irish State that has allowed the business to locate world class research in Cambridge University and in Cork Institute of Technology.

In this piece I’ll try and share some insights learned from our journey and, hopefully, it might help you if you go the route of trying to work with a large – and they’re all large – research institute.

A Typical Irish Story

First of all, the start of our company is a typically Irish story. We had 2 top physicists working in Cambridge, both Irish, meet for the first time on a new project and they said they’d go for a couple of pints! Over those few pints, the genesis of an idea was born. With their knowledge and skill sets in physics, photonics, fluidics, applied maths and machine learning software (yes they’re rocket scientists) combined with a something called spectroscopy and new developments in glass microchip design, they felt that realtime analysis of fluids was a probability and within reach. Anyone who knows anything about water testing, blood testing and even testing for pathogens in milk will know it’s a timely and costly endeavor with lots of expensive lab time need to grow, cultivate, slice and dice and shake samples to see what’s in the fluid being tested.

I got involved immediately because they rang me to see if the idea had legs. As someone that sold software into the water utility sector, I knew that finding ways to monitor and test water was big business. I also knew who to talk to, to see if the idea was a runner. It was.

Between the jigs and the reels we convinced Cambridge University’s Institute of Manufacturing that we had a very novel approach for the use of glass microchips and we’ve been working with them on producing smart chip designs.

My comfort zone is also Ireland Inc and I can navigate my way around the various supports available over here.

Local Enterprise Office

My first port of call was my Local Enterprise Office in Cork and after presenting a plan that we worked hard on, they agreed to match fund market research and proof of concept trials. We then sussed out all the various research institutes to see where we would carry out trials. Some were not as enthusiastic as I liked. Others engaged. A couple bent over backwards.

When I say we sussed them out, what I mean is that we did due diligence on them. We hit their websites (they could be better!), we asked around about other research collaborations, we met their heads of groups and their senior researchers, we had conference calls with 3 where we put them through their paces. To be honest we probably scared some off because to say the least we were pushy (possibly even arrogant). We tested them on their knowledge of the fields we were interested in and we challenged them on how much of their research had been spun out.

CIT Nimbus Centre

To cut a long story short we decided to carry out our first proof of concept in CIT. The guys in the CIT Nimbus centre (specialist group in embedded technologies) in particular were 1.) Hungry for our business and excited by what we were doing 2.) They had a dedicated water section with an advisory board of potential customers for our solution 3.)They had a new photonics lab with the equipment we needed and 4). Upstairs in the same lab they had a bio lab where we could grow our samples for testing.

Ok let’s pause here for some insights. The first few weeks with CIT were fraught. A big problem was the clash of cultures. I wanted our guys to get access to facilities over the weekends including Sundays. I wanted our guys to get access to equipment as and when they needed it, within reason and with notice. The guys in CIT could get us access on Saturdays – which involved their staff giving up one of their holidays over the weekend – but the buildings were just not available on Sundays. And free access was not on, even if our guys were world class scientists. CIT had insurance, public liability, equipment liability issues etc to deal with. As for long weekends…

But then things began to settle. People began to get to know people. Friendships began to develop. The team made up of our guys and CIT staff began to go the extra mile for each other. I, as a businessman, began to realize the potential of the CIT facilities that were available to our small start up – a photonics lab, a bio lab, a water institute, the Rubicon centre – all within 3-4 minutes walk of each other. We were inside the tent.

Our proof of concept worked beyond expectations…but where was the next pot of funding coming from?

Enterprise Ireland

Enter Enterprise Ireland. I had businesses that received Ei support in the past but we were revenue generating and exporting. I didn’t fully realize the supports that Ei were putting in place to support innovation. We were encouraged to look at the new Express Innovation Partnership which makes funding available to carry out specific research in a research institution.

We applied. After a pretty exhaustive due diligence, we got approval within 2 months. Now the process won’t suit all. 1.) We had to cough up some of our own money but then EI would match it 4 times over 2.) We had to do a full business plan because Ei had to understand the commercial possibilities before they made their decision 3.) We were put through our paces by a scientific evalulator and a commercial evaluator – who had their research done.

Seeking Funding

At this stage we were in bed with CIT but we also had to sort out IPR and commercial issues. If approved the funding would go to CIT to carry out research on our behalf. We had to make sure that our background IP was protected. CIT had to ensure that it got ROI for the state if any ip was generated by the project. So we agreed that our background ip was sacrosanct, that non severable ip generated by the project could be bought by our company and that severable ip could be used by both parties under pre agreed terms.

It all got sorted and we got approval for the grant. We are now sweating the CIT asset for all its worth. And perhaps they’re doing the same to us. We’re plugging into their network. We’re doing a H2020 bid together. We’re getting involved in a water cluster together. They’re getting access to other groups that we know in Cambridge and further afield and we’re providing contacts in big commercial organisations that CIT would hope to work for at some time in the future.

Need Advice

Now having said all that, if we’re here in another year we’ll have failed. We are not a research group. We are a commercial organization that is happening to do some research in CIT. And its my job as the commercial animal to leverage the CIT and other research groups relationships as much as possible and then get the hell out of Dodge into our own space asap.

I am happy to talk to anyone considering hooking up with a research institute. Send an email to smallbusinesscan and they’ll find me…hopefully not playing pool in the common room of CIT.

About the Author

Fionan Murray is co-founder Small Business Can. He was CEO of an international software business, which he led to global market leadership in operations management software. He completed the Leadership4Growth executive management course for Ireland’s high potential entrepreneurs at the Stanford Business School in California. He is a former Head of Marketing with KBC Bank and worked as a journalist in London specialising in finance and technology.

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Traits of a Successful Entrepreneur

Sadly, not all businesses that start end up remaining operational in the long haul. Part of the reason of the failure of most startups has to do with failing to understand the things that need to be done to guarantee success. If you ask the most successful entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic, Bill Gates of Microsoft or Larry Page of Google, what is the secret behind their success, these business leaders will tell you that you must be willing to do some things whether you like or not. Let’s look at some more traits of a successful entrepreneur.

The definition of success might differ from one business guru to another. However, one thing remains the same amongst the most successful entrepreneurs – they have common characteristics. The prudent thing is to place a check next to every characteristic you feel you possess. This helps you to evaluate how much you stack up. Although you do not have all of the characteristics, you should not fret. You can learn most of them through exercising patience and practice. You can also be among those in the top league by developing a winning attitude. This is especially true if you set and apply your goals through strategic planning.

Always do what you enjoy most

If you want to venture into business and are clueless about the type of business to start, just find out the exact thing that you love doing. Whatever you derive out of your business in form of enjoyment, stability, financial gain and personal satisfaction shall be the sum total of whatever you put into the business.

Therefore, if you do not enjoy whatever you are doing, then the likelihood is that you will find it necessary to assume that it will reflect in success of business or subsequent lack of it. Actually, if you do not enjoy what you do, chances are high that you will never succeed.

Always give whatever you are doing the seriousness it deserves

Sadly, most people start businesses without being serious. You cannot expect to enjoy success in business if you don’t believe in your business. For you to be successful and effective, you must be willing to give it the seriousness it deserves. Most home businesses for instance fail to take off because of lacking seriousness and passion. Home business owners are easily distracted. This leaves such a negative impact on the business. The failure to be motivated all through is also a recipe for disaster. You must be willing to keep your nose to the grindstone.

Don’t fall prey to the naysayers that obviously don’t take you seriously, because you work from home. These skeptics do not know that a good number of home based businesses that make quite some good income exist. Therefore, ignore them and do your thing.

Always plan everything

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Most entrepreneurs take this popular aphorism lightly. You should plan every aspect of your business including the minor details. Develop habits that you are willing to maintain no matter what. Business planning requires you to analyze every business situation. It also entails researching and compiling data and making conclusions based mainly on the facts revealed through research.

Your business plan also serves as a second function. It helps you have your goals on paper and on how to achieve them. With a business plan, you have a clear road map that will take you from one place to another. You use it as a yardstick to measure the success of all the individual segments of your business.

Always manage your money wisely

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business enterprise. You must purchase inventory, replace or repair equipment/tools, market or promote your business and pay for services among other countless things. For this reason, as a business owner, you must become a wise money manager. This ensures that you keep the cash of your business flowing. A wise money manager also pays all his bills in time. Two aspects of wise money management exist. These are:

  • The money you get from your clients in exchange for services and goods you provide
  • The money you use on your wages, supplies, inventory and other items required to keep the business in operation

The customer is your reason for existence – it is all about the customer

Most entrepreneurs forget that they exist because of the clients. They even go ahead to produce classy and stylish products. Even if your products are the flashiest in the market, and they don’t meet the needs and wants of your customers, then be sure that you are heading nowhere. Remember that you are in business not to beat your competition, but to satisfy the needs of your customers. Your business should revolve only around your clients or customers, period!

After all, aren’t the customers who inform your need to go into business or not? Everything you do and every decision you make should be customer focused. This includes your website, promotional campaigns, advertising campaigns, presentations, operating hours, payment options, warranties, and policies. Moreover, you must be in the know of exactly who your customers are, upside down and inside out.

Project nothing short of a positive business image

You only have a passing moment to make a memorable and positive impression on all the people you intend to do business with. You must always go out of your way to make a conscious effort to project a professional business image. You must be willing to do anything it takes to create an impressive image of your company. By maintaining a professional image of your business, there is no doubt that people will take your seriously and you will in turn enjoy considerable profits.

The above top tips will help your business perform exceptionally both in the long and short run.

Bio

Charlie is one of the most successful writer when it comes to matters entrepreneurship. He is the author of one of New York’s best sellers on start ups. Talk to him today about national debt reviews.

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Bridging the Gap Between Sales and Marketing

Bridging the Gap Between Sales and Marketing: Although the disciplines of sales and marketing seem to share similar backgrounds, one might be surprised at the lack of internal communication between the sales and marketing teams of many small businesses. In many unsuccessful companies, there is definitely a gap between sales and marketing. Here are some of the best ways that companies have fixed this gap in the past.

1 – Connect the rewards of both departments to each other

The different pay scales that many sales and marketing departments have serve as a divide in many small businesses. Sales is a results based profession that depends on great marketing, but sales can also blame marketing for a downturn. Marketing is usually a more salaried position, but it can blame sales if its material seems to fall flat.

If the pay of both departments are linked, then both sides will have plenty of incentive to work together. The influence will create a bond that will not allow either side to completely blame the other if an idea falls flat. Ideas will also be much less likely to fall flat, because they will be tested in the real world of sales rather than on the chalkboard in the marketing department.

2 – Create opportunities for crossovers in between departments

In both departments, you likely have people who are interested in what is across the wall. Give those people the ability to move between departments and study the discipline on the other side. This will increase morale and create personal bonds that will allow for more efficiency and synergy between departments.

You can also make it your business to reward the employees who are able to take an idea from the drawing board all the way to a conversion. In other words, the people who master the entire process will be rewarded financially as well as operationally within the company. Do not be afraid to give people the opportunity to expand their own palettes without your express permission. The final result that you want is results, and sometimes you get this when you let people think for themselves and follow their hearts in their professions!

3 – Facilitate the lines of communication within your company

Too often, the sales and the marketing team are kept completely apart. The sales team is on the phone all day, with the marketing team coming up with ideas that they foist onto the unsuspecting sales team in the middle of the workday. This can engender a great deal of misinterpreted energy.

Even if you do not have employees who necessarily want to jump to either department, you should definitely have people who are empowered to discuss future changes in the program before they become law. There should never be a program from the marketing department that is placed without warning on the heads of the sales team. At the same time, the sales team should be held responsible for any marketing campaign that they do not take to heart.

Having a single liaison to handle internal communications may work best for smaller companies as long as that person is respected on both ends of the equation. The message will not get confused between parties, nor will it take a long time to deliver to the appropriate leaders in each department.

Once the sales and the marketing team get on the same page, the sky is literally the limit. Sales and marketing in sync form a positive feedback loop that help to increase the efficiency of the entire company and the ROI in each individual department action. Take the tips above to heart if you are having trouble marrying the dynamic between your sales department and your marketing team.

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What Does a Conservative Government Mean for Small Business

For better or for worse, the Conservative government achieved a majority vote this election. For business owners, it will probably come as no surprise that things are about to get a lot easier for us financially and legislatively. But just what have the Conservative party promised for small businesses? Let’s take a look at how their policies will help us in the coming years.

Conservative Government Boosting Start-Ups

The Conservative party are aiming to boost the number of start-ups every year to 600,000 by 2020. They will be reviewing the benefits available for the self-employed and trebling the start-up loan programme. Also, to encourage entrepreneurs further, they are aiming to invest more money into superfast broadband, so people can easily conduct their business from the comfort of their home.

Slashing Red Tape

Many businesses complain that red tape, such as regulations and paperwork, costs them time and money. The Conservatives are planning on drastically reducing the regulations restricting business, in the hope that it will save billions of pounds every year. Businesses will have more freedom to do what they like.

Hiring and Firing Rights

With a Conservative government in power, the rights and power will move from employees to employers. It’s likely that companies will be allowed to hire and fire at will, without fear of ramifications, under a proposal called Beecroft, which was previously quashed by the Liberal Democrats. Employment tribunals will become even more obsolete, and it will mean that any employees that aren’t pulling their weight can be quickly replaced.

Europe?

There is a big question mark over whether we will remain a part of the European Union or not. This subject divides business owners, so you may think that this is actually a negative, depending on your company and its goals. Either way, Europe is going to be a big deal after this election – do you want to stay in, or do you think we should leave?

Late Payments

Late payments are a huge problem for small businesses in the UK. It massively interrupts cash flow and can cause serious issues – in fact, many companies go out of business because of late payments alone. The Conservative party will look at ways that we can legislate against late payments effectively. It isn’t doing the economy any favours and it should tighten up our fiscal processes.

Although this is an important governmental step, if you have experienced cash flow problems and you are unsure how best to react, this getting paid on time guide should help provide clear guidance on how to deal with such a scenario.

Investment in Infrastructure

Infrastructure will receive some much needed funding, to make it easier for businesses to meet up with their clients. In particular, a rail line will be built from Birmingham to London, which is great news for anyone living there. This will also help to spread the wealth from our capital city, out towards other cities in the UK. Freelancers and the self-employed will particularly benefit from this.

Cut Taxes

Wealthy business owners will rejoice when they hear that, yes, Osborne plans to cut taxes for businesses, in order to help them flourish. This will also encourage other large companies to set up shop in the UK, further boosting the country’s economy.

Are you happy that the Conservatives were elected? Let us know in the comments below.

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