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Marketing is important for smaller companies

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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 ÂŁ1 million cited business process as a high priority.

Contrast this to companies with an annual turnover of more than ÂŁ100 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.

Managing your staff’s home-career balance

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One big issue in the workplace these days is attaining balance between work and family life. And this goes not only for employees and rank-and-file staff, but also for management and company executives. In most cases, it doesn’t really make much of a difference whether one is in a large company, or running a small business. Companies have come to realize that they have to work out schemes by which employees can balance their careers with their personal lives.

At first, it may not be clear enough, but after a closer look, it rings true that the best employee is the happy employee. Productivity is best when employees are able to focus on the tasks at hand, and not when they’re worried about domestic and personal issues.

Large companies, with established human resources departments, usually come up with company programmes that espouse such a balance. However, whether programmes like these successful would depend on various factors.

Good business practices for dealing with foreign companies

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In order to further spur growth and achieve next-level expansion, some business interests and companies will have to start trading with foreign companies. There are inherent difficulties in dealing with foreign companies especially when it comes to the matter of money. Business solutions experts encourage businessmen to follow some of these good business practice tips on how to facilitate easier payment dealings with foreign companies:

Extend credit with care. Some businessmen would extend credit to overseas customers without adequately studying the risks involved. They should remember it is harder to get financial data on a company from another country. This goes as well for determining reputation and credibility. A good idea is to draw an insurance that would protect their company against the risk of default.

Language is an important consideration. Businessmen are warned not to put too much confidence in the fact that they can talk to one person in the foreign company that understands them. This is because that person could not be in all relevant departments all the time. It will be hard to coordinate, say with the warehouse or with accounting if the only person who understands the language is only available at the head office. It is recommended that companies hire a third party that knows the local language to bridge this barrier. This is especially important if the new company formed will deal with a particular country on a permanent basis.

Remember local customs. There are countries that have peculiar or un-stated rules in business. It is best to do research on these customs in order to facilitate a more efficient relationship with the foreign company.

Baby Businesses

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Having had my little baby accessories business for about a year, I somehow managed to elude what I perceived as the trappings of a “proper business”, scraping by quite happily, but admittedly inefficiently.

I sold my adorably useful goods at village fairs or simply by word of mouth through friends and family. Things were good, easy, manageable, and my modest home double-dutied as office, warehouse, call centre, shop front and so on – that is until I accepted an unprecedented massive order, and at the same time, received the happy, but stunning news that our cosy family of three would soon be a family of four.

At this point, my imminently sensible husband put his foot down and demanded that my little cottage industry had to move on, and I had to get my act together quickly. So, together, we went through the rigorous list of things to do, which were all terribly serious and had ominous names like “business plan” and “company formations”. In truth, I didn’t know the difference between a “limited” vs an “offshore” company (did that mean glamorously embezzled funds in the Cayman Islands?).

But one thing was obvious- I needed professional help fast. Setting up a proper company was obviously the first step, and we found help in the form of a few online companies. One of them was offering by far the most reasonable rates for setting up a company fairly quickly.

For the financials, as well as help in preparing a good business plan, we found another extremely useful site. For basic steps, tips and advice in starting a business on your own, I found the site www.sba.gov very constructive as well.

So welcome aboard fellow Mums!!!

Think about what gifts to give to business clients

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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.