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How to start your business off on the right foot
If you have made the decision to launch your own business, you should be ready for a hard period as you learn about your industry, research funding options, and acquire new skills.
Your business’s concept may have arisen in a variety of ways. It might be motivated by skills, aspects of your current job that you like, a market need for a product or service you’ve found, or by observing a successful business and realising you might start one of your own. Do some online and word-of-mouth research.
When you see the outcomes of your research, be prepared to modify your plans.
Put together a business plan. A strategy for your company that outlines what you will offer, how it will differ from what the competition offers, and your funding, marketing, and sales strategies. If you want to get funding from a bank or from investors, you must have a business plan.
Starting a Business
Starting a business can seem scary, but with the right support and a strong idea, you can quickly go through the setting up process and launch your business with strong foundations. One of the first things you will need to consider is your business idea, how much time you have and the amount of money that you want to put in. Starting a business will take financial, legal and strategic planning. You’re going to need to have the right mindset, focus on your business journey and don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Consistency is key, create habits and routines that will continue even if your motivation starts to wane a little. Take each step, don’t think you can fly towards your goal or get stuck in the planning stages, but break down your goal into individual steps, in order, that you need to take to get there
How to get funding for your business
When you first start up a business, having financial backing is essential. There are, of course, costs that need to be paid before you start making any money. Here are a few options available to help you gain the required funds for your business.
Surprisingly, banks are not meant to invest in start-up businesses due to the risks involved. If you want to secure a bank loan, you will likely have to provide collateral (probably your home).
The key is finding the right platform for your business idea. Online Crowdfunding platforms have become popular over the last few years to generate the start-up income needed. Even if you do not generate ALL the income you need, they are a great way of getting publicity.
Business networking and events are a great way to get other businesses and potential investors to see your new business. Try and find out who is attending beforehand and schedule meetings to be as productive as possible.
UK Business Investor
If you are looking to expand your business and would like to bring in an investor, the first thing you need to do is decide how many shares in the company you wish to sell and at what value. Remember that an investor not only brings money into the business they also give you support. There needs to be chemistry between you to make it work, so you need to get along.
The best investors are those closest to you, your personal connections. These can be friends and family or even LinkedIn connections.
Another source of investors is your network. Do you attend networking events regularly with other business people? Maybe you know people from events in your local area that may be interested in investing in your business. Remember that the person or business that invests does not need to be identical to yours. You can learn from people in different market sectors.
What is Email Marketing?
We have been using emails since 1971, when Ray Tomlinson sent the first one. In 1973 Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager, sent the first commercial email, resulting in $13 million of sales. Since then, email has grown considerably to the most used form of written communication.
Email marketing is an essential type of direct marketing and digital marketing. It is used to connect and communicate with your customers and ideal customers.
Once you have built your email list, you can quickly reach people interested in your brand, no matter how big or small. As email is global, there is no telling where in the world the email will reach.
When sending a marketing email to your list, make it sound like you are only speaking to the reader, not a list of people. Conversational emails help you build a relationship with the receiver, who in turn may become a customer.
How Much Money are Virtual Meetings Saving Businesses?
A global pandemic has definitely had incredibly negative effects for many businesses, in practically every country, however the increase in virtual meetings has several positive qualities. Face-to-face meetings are undoubtedly richer in effective communication and social connection but the possibility of achieving the same goals via technology has been an incredible benefit.
Businesses who regularly host large conferences or training sessions are saving up to 90% of the budget that is normally spent on these events. Not having to spend money on all of the associated logistics such as travel, hotels, food, beverages etc has proven an unexpected positive of pandemic restrictions. The positives of this are not simply monetarily based but also ecologically the decrease in travel has been better for greenhouse gas emission reduction.
These positive factors of saving company’s incredible amounts of money and also being more eco-friendly, from the increase in virtual meetings, were definitely not typical or expected results of a world-wide crisis.
Why You Should Invest in a Vector Image for Your Brand Logo
As a start-up, it can be very tempting to go with a very inexpensive, option for your logo and branding package but if you will not be getting a quality logo that is created from a vector image, you are wasting your time and will most likely need to re-brand in the future. You can save yourself a lot of wasted effort and money by getting a good quality vector logo the first time around. It is still possible to get quality work that is not extortionate, you just need to shop around, network, and ask for recommendations from other small business owners.
To understand what a vector logo is, you need to understand the difference between a raster image and a vector image. A Raster image is made of pixels and as you resize it, it will distort and pixelate, this does not happen with a Vector image. Vector images are much more versatile.
Your logo is typically what people will see first, so it is definitely worth investing in something that will project the right image and feel, whilst being able to stand the test of time.
Vector Images:
1. Are infinitely scalable! This means you can make it as big or small as you like without it losing its shape, resolution or quality.
2. Are easily editable. If you want to change the color, hue or rearrange the components of your logo, this can easily be done in Adobe Illustrator (which offers free trials).
3. Have several different export options. While using vector-based programs you can easily save the image in the format that you require for whatever project you need it for.
Having a vector logo will make your website and any other online platforms much more professional and more trustworthy.
Why Should You Include Social Media Marketing into Your Budget?
All you need to do is think about how many hours a day the typical adult spends on social media to know that you should definitely be utilising it to promote your business. Here are five big reasons why you shouldn’t be thinking twice about making it a priority.
1. It’s Affordable: compared to print and TV ads, social media offers a much more affordable option for advertising.
2. It’s Accessible: a lot of social media marketing is trial and error and you can get a lot of important data from it. Once you take the time to understand your target audience, you can use analytics to help you gauge what works and what doesn’t.
3. It’s Effective: with today’s technology people spend a lot of time online and on social media so if that is where the people are, that is where the advertising should be.
4. It Builds Customer Relationships: social media allows for engagement with those that interact with your content, always take full advantage of customer engagement.
5. It Unites Your Target Audience: the beauty of social media is that like-minded people tend to converge into one accessible place. This can massively aid your marketing.
Social Media Platforms, More or Less?
It is a misconception that businesses should be on as many social platforms as possible, to increase their visibility. Being on too many platforms can actually have a negative impact against your brand.
Instead of trying to be on every platform that you can, you should:
-Figure out which platforms work best for your business.
-Think about how many platforms you can consistently manage and keep up to date.
-Ensure you are creating content that is the proper medium for each of those platforms and catered towards your target audience.
-Keep each of these platforms current and stay engaged with your followers on each of those accounts.
If you are unable to effectively and reliably manage each of your platforms, with a consistent brand voice, then you may need to consider removing or suspending the accounts that are the least beneficial to your business. Having an account that is outdated or mismanaged could cause more harm than good.
Should you invest in Google Ads?
Google ads are one of the most powerful forms of advertising that you can use for every single business but are particularly useful if your business is small or a start-up.
Google Ads can bring in a high amount of business which could translate into sales due to the type of advertising that it is. The whole idea is that Google Ads shows your business at the top of the list when people search for keywords that relate to your product or service.
Google Ads also do not tie you into large sums of money or contracts, you can invest as little as you like so this can often be a cheaper form of advertising than say radios or magazines which are often expensive.
We think every business should at least trial using Google Ads to see if they will work for your business, and this is very dependent on your business sector. If your target audience is predominately offline then Google Ads may not be worth the investment but could potentially bring you new customers.
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