Staying Relevant as an Older, Small Business Today

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Today’s world is an entrepreneurial one, and it seems more so than ever before. Indeed, how many times do you find yourself reading the business pages and discovering, yet again, that a small start-up has positively exploded onto the scene; you try at the same time of this discovery, not to spill your coffee and thereby ruin your suit before that crucial meeting with your investors in an hour? How is it that these newcomers seem to hold the secrets to success in this somewhat strange modern world?

Communication Technology

In a highly competitive digital world, the key is to keep up with the latest technology. It really does pay dividends. If you’re still operating on a fax machine when your competitors are speeding their way ahead with emails (an extreme example, but it serves the point), how can you hope to keep up, let alone win? At the very least, your company needs to be on high-speed internet, working on computers that weren’t just dug up from the early 90’s, and connecting with customers via a communication system enabled by VoiceOnyx telephone companies or other such providers. Further, bear in mind that if you’re well connected in this manner, you’re unfortunately a target these days and so the latest in cybersecurity is crucial, too. Everything is pretty much online in the modern day and age – including as this does eCommerce and Cloud usage – and so it is that theft has sadly become digital as well.

The Economic Climate – A Question of Strategy

What you might overlook, when you feel yourself turn green in discovery of yet another successful newcomer to the entrepreneurial pool of competition, is the state of the economy when those companies began and thrived. It is often those who made it in the toughest of economic climates whose praises are sung the loudest, as trust in their ability has been established. Look at your own firm’s history – can you compare? Further, what of your business strategy (including lead generation), when studied side by side? Are you still paying out for those big poster ads? Stop now and get online, and get marketing by using social media platforms and other internet-enabled means. For one thing, it’s quicker and the most expensive commodity of the present day is time.Again, prominence comes digitalized this day and age and so if your company lacks a website, even the most archaically developed, and doesn’t have an up-to-date blog, then your chances of keeping up with your younger, savvier competitors is sliding quickly away.

Greyer; Not Necessarily Greater

Loyalty from customers to businesses is a dying quality and so, though you may argue that you’ve been at this game for far longer than your competitors have been around, adapting to the mindset of someone just starting out is the largest and most beneficial step you can take to stay relevant in the modern marketplace. As the saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them.

How to Ensure Your Employees Have an Easy Website Management Experience

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If you’re a growing business and your employees help manage the website from time to time, it’s crucial their experience is as easy as possible to keep productivity at its highest. You may well have the experience and knowledge to manage the website, but your employees may struggle if they don’t have any prior website management experience. If you’re looking to ensure your employees have an easy ride, try to implement the following tips.

Consider Changing the Platform

All CMS’s (Content Management Systems) are there to do the job of making website management easy, but some of them are better at doing it than others. You only have to look as far as WordPress to see why it’s so popular, and that’s because it provides a simple experience for experienced and newbie website managers. If your platform is a bit too complex, consider making a change to improve efficiency. Granted, it’s a drastic measure to take to make website management easier, but it’s a measure your employees will appreciate. The WordPress CMS won’t only make management easy but it also comes with many plugins that could improve the experience for your customers.

Create a Training Program

If completely changing the platform isn’t a viable option, creating a training program for your employees to learn from is an effective way to help them learn the platform you already have in place. It’ll take a lot of time and patience to implement, but it will pay dividends in the future when you have a solid training program in place that your employees will thrive from. You could, for example, have five stages of training and for each one that an employee passes, reward them with a small salary increase.

Change Web Hosts

Web hosting providers offer different features and packages for those who’re less experienced at managing websites. This might not benefit you as such, but it could benefit your employees. For example, if employees need to create new email accounts or MySQL databases for whatever reason, many web hosts will have many resources on their own websites that they can use to help them. The processes might be simple for us, but someone who doesn’t have any web development experience might struggle. If you’re looking for a top web host, consider researching them by using hostingkingdom.com.

Point them in the Right Direction

One of the most effective ways of helping your employees learn the system is to simply sit down with them and show them what’s what. You don’t need a training program for this; you just need to be able to spare some time until they’re confident enough to do things on their own.

Whichever method you choose to implement to help your employees, you can ensure it’s going to be a long learning curve. However, if you’re willing to implement one of the above methods, your employees will thrive from the learning experience and you’ll have one more person who can handle website affairs without taking up any of your time.

The vital steps to becoming an IT contractor

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In a world filled to the brim with technology, IT contracting is becoming more and more important to businesses and for those with the right skills, life as a contractor can be very rewarding! It’s financially beneficial, and if you’ve ever wanted to be your own boss, now is your chance! But where do you start? From IT contractor insurance through to finding a job, there is so much to consider, and so we’ve pulled together some of the most vital steps you need to take to become a successful IT contractor to give you a bit of a head start!

Work out if it’s really the job for you

Becoming an IT contractor requires quite the level of dedication when it comes to taking the plunge, so you really need to ask yourself if this is really the job for you. You’ll need to be self-motivated and be willing to take risks, but most importantly you need to be ready to lose the safety net of a normal salaried job. You won’t have the perks of a regular pay check, but you will have more freedom as to when you work. You’ll have more control over your life and the work that you take on, and you can find yourself working in plenty of different environments and industries! So if that sounds like the job for you, then keep reading!

Do your research!

You might be thinking ‘Do my research? That’s what I’m doing now!’ and while you’d be correct, there’s more to it than that! As a very basic starting point, you’ll need to find out exactly what the market needs and where you fit into it. If you have a niche set of skills, find out whether there’s a market for them, and if there is, what the average charge is for such a service. This kind of information will be vital in setting up your prices and knowing where to aim your marketing. If you live in the countryside but the business is in the city, or vice versa, you may need to consider whether you can travel the distances for work.

Finding work and applying

When it comes to finding work, it’s important to realise that only around 20% of contractors will work directly for their end-clients, and the remainder will work through an agency. If you adamantly don’t want to go through an agency, you could use a contract job board, or apply directly to a recruitment agency, get recommendations or transfer from permanent to contract with your existing employer. Applying for work can be as simple as having an up to date CV. Informing potential employers of your relevant and current skill set will do your application wonders when it comes being chosen for an interview and for proving yourself at the interview too.

Deal with tax issues

Taxes. None of us are big fans of them, but unfortunately it’s something we all have to deal with. If you become a limited company, you’re likely to have an accountant who will take care of all of this for you, but it’s still important to have some kind of understanding on how things work. As a company director, you’ll need to register for self-assessment, as well as submit your tax return and pay any tax liabilities by the 31st of January each year. Your company will also have to pay Corporation Tax on any profits, and there’s even the chance you’ll pay taxes on salaries. Make sure you research what you could be liable to pay to save yourself getting into any unexpected and undeserved trouble!

What Should Your Marketing Priorities Be As A New Business?

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A lot of new business owners are learning as they go, and have to figure things out quickly and in-depth to even get out of the starting blocks. And one of these items on the long list of to-do’s is marketing. Not just advertising, but branding, communities, and social media. Marketing isn’t something that can be overlooked or left to the last minute, nor can it be done in a half-hearted manner.

The way you market your business, in the beginning, will stick with your company forever. Think about it like building a box for a product that will be stuck on a shelf in a store. You have to make the packaging look as appealing as possible, perfect for the intended audience, and enticing to all. It also has to accurately, and honestly represent the product within the packaging, with no half-truths or promises that it can’t uphold.

Luckily, you’re not an inanimate object stuck on a store shelf – you can actually reach out and talk to your potential ‘buyers,’ create a relationship with them and would a reputation for being a good, honest product.

When planning your marketing strategy, you might be trying to work out what aspects deserve your attention more. Which sub-headings should sit above the rest and should be prioritized. Unfortunately, they are all almost as important as each other, the priorities shifting per business, however, here is our list of the most important aspects of marketing.

1. Reputation

We all studied The Scarlet Letter in school – the story of a girl who ruined her reputation by having intercourse before marriage. We’re not suggesting that we should act as they did in the book, but the lesson is still valid – a reputation lost isn’t easy to recover. As you begin your business journey, you need to set out a mission statement or motto – something that shows who you are, where you want to go, and what your company stands for. And you need to live by that statement.

If you declare that you can deliver a product anywhere, anytime, but can actually deliver within a 50-mile radius Monday to Friday, then you’re selling a lie and your reputation will be ruined before it has a chance to begin. Having a brand reputation overview will help you in so many ways – the foremost being the fact that you will see where your company need improving in these areas.

A good reputation can make up for the size of your company, your newness in the industry, and even the fact that your product might be more expensive than a competitor. People will pay for quality – and not just in the product, but in customer service, delivery, and any other dealing they have with you.

2. Branding

Creating a brand is more than just a color scheme and a name – although that is an essential part of the branding process. Branding is about establishing yourself as a company, and being recognizable by the public. You can do this through traditional mens like merchandise and packaging, but you can also look into sponsorship, like for like trades, and getting involved in local events.

A small company should always look to become involved in the local community. Your reputation will tie in with your brand here – your name will be promoted through word of mouth, and your reputation determines whether those promotions are positive or not. Get involved with charities, local festivals or competitions. Put yourself out there without being asked and help your local community where you can.

3. Reach

As your brand and reputation grow, as will your reach. It’s a natural process for good, successful businesses. However, don’t just leave it up to time to grow. You can easily expand your reach through research. Look at the areas and demographics around you – what isn’t being tapped into that you can? A coffee shop might see the need for a late night opening for students. A trunk company might think about expanding into smaller courier services.

There is always a new area to explore, a new audience to invite in. You can always count on a truck company to deliver huge quantities of goods, but what if one of your clients needs a quick influx of a certain product? This is where a smaller, quicker courier service would come in handy, and be a unique service you can use. A coffee shop will always attract students, so what about moms? Is there a mom and baby class nearby? If so why not reach out and offer half-price drinks to each mom after their class? That way you’re sure to get a new, regular group each week, who will spend hours chatting and drinking coffee.

4. Advertising

At the bottom of our list is advertising. Surprise! Yes, advertising is important – it is something that every business needs to do, but if you do the three previous points correctly, you don’t have to lean on it as a crutch.

When delving into the world of advertising, don’t just stick to online advertising; there is an entire world of tried and tested, physical advertising. Don’t ignore one to favor the other. They should compliment each other, with the same images, colors, and slogans. Your branding comes into focus here as people will, hopefully, recognize who you are and what you do. Look at successful companies like Nike and Starbucks; you know exactly what that little tick, and who that siren is, and what each company offers.

This list is, obviously, just a guide. Your business will demand that you focus on certain aspects first. But never let yourself forget the importance of marketing, and what a good campaign can do for your company. And, above all, start as you mean to go on – especially when it comes to your mission, promises and qualities.

How to Establish Salary Ranges

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Every organization requires a salary range for each position. The salary range defines the minimum and maximum pay rate that employees can earn for a given position or function. Employers set the range based on several factors, including the organization’s needs and industry trends. The ideal salary range must give the employees opportunities and motivation for career development. For instance, attaining higher education, experience, or additional skills should lead to a higher salary. Here are additional tips that will help an organization set the right salary ranges.

1. Set a Salary Policy

You have two major alternatives when setting the salary range in your organization. You can have a fixed base salary or a variable pay. The variable pay can be based on an employee’s working hours or performance. Alternatively, you can set a base salary for each position based on the current performance of the organization. Employees can earn bonuses when the revenues are high but during the low seasons, they will earn the base salary only. You can increase the base salary as the organization grows.

2. Consider the Organization’s Goals

Do you have clear short-term and long-term goals for your business? If yes, you need all your employees working towards achieving those goals. The salary range should help the organization achieve those goals. You need a fair salary scale that will keep your employees motivated while checking the salary budget. Consider your human resource goals as well. Your employees will always discuss their salary and ask for more. Fairness and equality are important when setting salaries that will enhance employee satisfaction and motivation.

3. Check your Competitor’s Range and Industry Trend

One of the reasons why you need to keep your employees motivated is that you may lose them to your competitors. If your competitors offer better salaries to your best employees, they will resign and join your competitors. Hence, while considering the internal situation in your organization, check the average salaries in your industry. Websites like Salary Site compile salaries for different professions. If you are unsure about your competitors’ range, such websites will give you the average salaries in the industry.

4. Develop a Benefits and Bonus Policy

Keeping up with industry trends is sometimes difficult, especially for small businesses. Remember that your main goal is to offer fair salaries that will help you attract and retain the best talent. Bonuses and a benefits package will help you achieve this goal, even when your organization cannot afford high salaries. Most businesses do not have a clear philosophy on bonuses and benefits. Your employees need clarity on how they can qualify for bonuses and the benefit packages available for different positions. Be clear about the value of the benefits and bonuses.

Conclusion

The salary philosophy in your organization should not be a secret or mystery. Communicate the philosophy to all employees and explain the organizational goals they should help you achieve. Create a clear path on how to earn higher salaries or qualify for a promotion. Your best talents are likely to stay with you if they see clear opportunities for career development, even when the initial salary is low.