Marketing for small businesses - Part one

When you are starting up in business and worrying about how to make the payments for your overheads marketing can seem a world away from reality but it is something we all do every day in business.

Selling yourself and your products or services to customers is marketing; networking is marketing; chatting on the phone about your business to friends is marketing and lastly and most importantly listening to your customers is marketing. Unless you know what your customers think about you it is impossible to improve your product or service in a constructive way.

Good customer service and great impressions of your products and services are at the centre of good marketing.

So how do you start out?

1. Think about how you currently market your business. You need to know what you already do which is marketing and also consider your financial health, current clients, potential clients, competition, referral sources, staff and time. When you know all these things you can think about what you are doing well and what needs to change in order to make things better. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is very helpful here.

2. Consider your long term goals - what do you really want from your business? How much money do you want to make, how many hours a week do you want to work, what types of clients do you want and how large do you want your business to be? You may also consider whether or not you want more staff or if you want a national or a local reach.

3. Create a plan for each of your goals and more importantly a call to action. What are you actually going to do to achieve the business you envisage?

4. Consider your marketing tools - what do you do already to market yourself and what could you do? Can you conduct a survey of customers for example using something like Survey Monkey which is free and easy to use? Should you concentrate on emails, social media, leaflets or face to face networking? Can you utilise your local press or write articles for the paper or a magazine? There are a myriad of things you can do to increase both customer satisfaction and to extend your customer base which are neither costly nor involve outside help.

5. Dont forget that marketing is the means to building the business you want but not the end. Ultimately you want to build a sustainable business or grow a business to sell on. Do not spend time, money  and energy on something if it does not progress you towards your goals and dont be sucked into doing the same thing everyone else is. Dont be afraid to be unique and to be yourself after all your business is about you.

So before you consider which tools you are going to use and how to get ahead with your business do some of the hard thinking yourself and answer some of the questions here.

Enterprise week

We are gearing up for a great week here at Blackburn Enterprise Centre supporting business and enterprise in our community.

We are running two free events for businesses, one a drop in centre where you can literally just appear and have a mentoring session with one of our top mentors. This is aimed at those who are looking to start a new business or grow an existing one. The last one was very well attended and people came from a variety of businesses to get free support. The drop in day runs from 11am till 3pm and is held once a month this week on Friday.

Tomorrow we are holding our first business surgery which are meetings which will be held twice a year and will allow business owners to meet the key members of the Blackburn with Darwen Borough council regeneration team. This is your opportunity to discuss the local economy, council strategy and policy and business issues with the people who influence and make decisions. Whilst this is invite only it does give business the opportunities and support and will be held from 10am till 12 pm.

We also support business in Blackburn with Darwen through our Guardian Angels programme which has been running for some time and offers free mentorship to businesses. The stories of how mentoring has turned around some of the businesses are incredible and the success of the scheme rests largely on our pool of experienced business mentors.

Over the year we have supported business in a number of ways offering free programmes and support from coaching to empowering lives and giving back to our mentors through our business events including meals and speakers.

As support for new businesses and those wishing to grow gets more and more difficult to obtain we are pushing ahead with our programmes to ensure that business in our area is supported and strengthened.

Conrad Murray - make sure you are protected

Seeing Dr Murray being convicted of involuntary manslaughter has bought home to me the point of making sure that every business and business person is protected. I am not saying we would all be in a similar position but how often as a new start up or even in business do we forget to make sure we are properly insured and protected in any situation?

Conrad Murray was working for a client and gave in to that clients demands. He put money above and before professionalism. Jackson was a star and it is easy to be star struck. Going after big deals we can easily forget to protect ourselves or even we can agree to things we wouldn't normally do. The consequences of making the wrong decisions for that star have been grave indeed for Conrad Murray.

1. Ensure you pause and consider before putting your name to something or jumping into business with someone no matter how great the client.

Conrad Murray should have used a professional code of conduct to protect him. As a professional he should have considered himself unqualified to administer the drug as he was not an anaesthesiologist.

2. Dont agree to do things you do not have the skills or training to accomplish.

Conrad Murray faced court and had to hire lawyers and defend himself. He still may face further action from the heirs to Jackson or his family.

3. Ensure your insurance is up to date and you are fully covered for all you do. This includes things like indemnity insurance  and public liability insurance, employers' liability if you employ staff, Property insurance and finally check to see if you need different insurance if you are using your car for business purposes. Get advice and help with the issue of insurance because it will depend on the business you are running and how big your company is. Everyone will need insurance. If your client loses money because of a mistake you have made or because your work is poor or late they can claim. Make sure you are covered.

Dont forget that some of this is a legal requirement for a business and that the consequences of not having it may be severe. Shop around and get the best deal.

Conrad Murray worked alone. It was his decisions alone which got him convicted.

4. Take advice and seek support. Working alone is isolating and can be frightening if you are used to being part of a team. Mentoring schemes can be free or available for a small fee. Having someone to chat things through with is not only good for you but really best practice overall. Business coaches are widely available and can prove extremely useful.

CBPartners works hard to support businesses and to provide excellent mentors and coaches contact us if you would like to know more. 01254 505050.

National Stress Awareness Day

Tomorrow is National Stress Awareness day and it seems a good time to reflect on what causes people in business stress.

Obviously starting a business is stressful, indeed being an entrepreneur is stressful but we often put a really brave face on things because we are aware that success is important.

There are times though in any business where changing economic factors, downsizing or even growth need to be addressed and these can all cause stress. It is stressful to manage the expectations of employees and staff can create numerous problems not least for those who have never managed a team before.

Business mentoring and coaching can be the key to having someone support you through some of these challenges. Having someone who can unlock your potential and work through problems in a confidential setting makes every problem in business a little less stressful.

Tackling work related stress is essential for both your own well being and that of friends and family and in order to ensure the performance of your business.

Think about some key factors which may be causing you stress and how to factor in some support or make a small change to decrease the stress in your workplace.

Here are two frequent examples which come up in mentoring our businesses at CBPartners.

Overwork - Consider your hours and whether they are reasonable or even necessary. Have you had a holiday this year? This may be a chance to review your time management and prioritisation of work, it may mean cutting out unnecessary tasks or delegating appropriately. Keeping a time diary for a week can often be helpful in seeing where we waste time unnecessarily during a day. Looking at our colleagues, direct reports or partners in business with fresh eyes can also help us see where they could help and do something which we have always done making the workload a little lighter. Ask yourself what will happen if overwork contributes to you becoming ill and start to think of ways to prevent this happening.

Poor performance - Improve recruitment and selection processes in order to make sure staff are well matched to their jobs and that performance is good from the start. Manage poor performance and look at the reasons why people may not be doing as well as you had hoped. Ensure they have the right resources and skills to get the job done and identify any further training needed. Encourage employees to discuss issues with you and give you ideas for improvement. Review performance regularly and keep staff informed about the direction of the business and any changes. Make sure you have good disciplinary policies and procedures and follow them, dont take short cuts. Consistent behaviour in managers is really important.

Some companies tackle stress head on and some wait until it is too late and there is a rise in sickness and absence. This will cost the business money. A stress audit can be very enlightening if you think there is little around and can be done through informal chats in groups or with individuals to find out if there are any concerns about stress.

For sole traders and small businesses stress can be internalised due to isolation and so getting to meetings with others in similar situations is really helpful. There are a number of free forums run by CBPartners where networking and meeting others goes hand in hand with a masterclass or information for business.

Please contact us on 01254 505050 if you would like any mentoring or coaching in these areas or wish to come to one of our forums for employers or our HR forum.