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5 Smart Tips for Progressive Companies

Humanity may just be moving out from the dark ages, which means that businesses are going to have to do the same thing. Old practices will be replaced with new practices. Old modes of work will be replaced by new ones. And hopefully better ones! Work will be more efficient. Hopefully, people will be happier!

But what are some smart things that companies that consider themselves progressive can do to move this sort of attitude forward? Consider the five following tips in the categories of knowledge transfer, social media, video culture, new industries, and work values. [Read more…]

Marketing is important for smaller companies

The smallest companies in Britain look like the firmest believers in marketing.

A study made by Chartered Institute of Marketing has revealed this startling finding. Based on the study, small firms are more likely to see marketing as an essential part of their business, invest in marketing, and quickly recognise why it is important to put a marketer at senior level. In simpler terms, the smaller the business, the more important the art of marketing is to them.

The study said that in 90 percent of companies that have a turnover of less than £1 million cited business process as a high priority.

Contrast this to companies with an annual turnover of more than £100 million. Less than half of these firms had rated marketing as a top priority in their respective companies.

The study said that larger firms have a tendency to restrict the powers of marketing operations. Two-thirds of in-house marketers have admitted that they are finding difficulty in getting a budget for supporting their marketing projects.

But among companies with less than 1 million in turnover annually, it was reported that 10 percent of their expenditure is earmarked to marketing exercises. This is a significant improvement over the national average of 7.2 percent.

This tactic is working because smaller business are more optimistic about the prospects of their businesses compared to the larger companies. These small firms have also expressed more confidence that their investments in marketing will eventually pay dividends.

Business solutions and Company formation experts have also cited the importance of marketing in business. Marketing, they stressed, is a crucial tool in helping a company increase its profits and should not be ignored. Marketing efforts, they said, eventually pay for itself.

Think about what gifts to give to business clients

Businesses who are going to give gifts to valued clients should do their homework when it comes to the type of gifts they plan to give. This, after a Royal Mail research revealed that presents that are ill-considered can actually damage a business relationship.

The research said that about 57 per cent of businesses felt that less than 5 per cent of gifts that were sent their way last year were designed with them in mind. But more telling was that 34 per cent said they will feel that their business is really important if a supplier sent a personal package that contains a gift that was specifically designed for them.

Company formation and business solutions experts are advising business owners to be more considerate and to nurture the business relationships that they have.

Start-ups need long-term vision

The usual problem of trying to find funding and finance to set up a business is no longer the biggest barrier to enterprise. This was the finding of a poll of early stage start-ups that overwhelmingly rated credit management as the biggest obstacle.

The study was carried out by the Better Payment Practice Group (BPPG) as it polled over 200 small enterprises about the difficulties they have experienced in starting and operating a business into a thriving success.

A similar small business enquiry made by Enterprise Insight, the group behind the forthcoming Enterprise Week, also found out that half of young entrepreneurs with a good idea failed to bring it to reality because they had trouble in accessing funds.

But the BPPG respondents revealed that credit management problems hampered their start-up and expansion ventures more than any other factor. Over 35 per cent of respondents said they suffered because of poor credit management, while just 19 per cent said that accessing capital is the biggest obstacle in their business.

Meanwhile, a smaller number of entrepreneurs said that the biggest barrier that they faced was knowing how to get their idea off the ground. This is then followed by those who suffered from finding it difficult to find ongoing business support.

According to the BPPG “Although business owners know from experience the restrictions that cash flow problems can place on a new or growing business, the survey highlights that employees and budding entrepreneurs do not realise the importance of credit management.”

The group is urging entrepreneurs to consider the long-term vision of their enterprise dream and this could be achieved by listening to established company owners and business managers.

Naming a business – a few tips from experts

In an earlier post, we reported that most UK small businesses are no longer seeing the need to name their companies based on their family names. In the survey conducted by British Gas Business , 74 per cent of business owners now prefer more memorable names that are not related to any kind of family ties in forming their business .

According to British Gas Business’ commercial director, Adrian Harvey said “Small businesses have to punch above their weight to compete against larger competitors with more established brands. A company’s name plays an important role in doing this as it can quickly inform a potential customer of the product or service on offer. If a name is not carefully thought through and does not properly reflect what you do, potential customers will go elsewhere.”

Harvey said that with the internet playing a bigger role as the search method of choice for consumers, more businessmen who and operate a business feel that a company that is named after a family name will not be noticed. They now want names that will be easily noticed and will be memorable.

Here are some things to consider when naming your business:

* Are you considering a name that would reflect what your business does – framing, moving, cleaning, building? Alternatively, would you like to use a more abstract name?
* Do you want to use a traditional-sounding name that evokes durability and old- fashioned values, or a modern name, that paints a picture of freshness and innovation?
* Think about the future – avoid words or phrases that are likely to become easily dated.
* If your business will have some aspects of overseas trading check that the name doesn’t mean anything inappropriate in the relevant languages. Also, determine if the name will be easily read and pronounced.
* Think about your callers and customers – avoid very long names, unusual words and spelling.
* Check that no one else is using the name you choose.