Author: Nibletz Staff

Microsoft Sharepoint is arguably one of the most successful pieces of software in history.

The application is incredibly versatile and many businesses consider it an essential tool for collaboration and document management. In fact, it’s estimated that 80% of Fortune 500 companies use the product. Hundreds of millions of licenses have been sold to over 65,000 organizations, with one in five workers accessing the application as part of their day-to-day work.

There’s no denying that many consider it an essential tool for their business but only you know if it’s something that your enterprise needs.

While it’s easy to find Sharepoint consulting services that can help your business to use the application optimally to get as much out of it as possible for your business it helps to know a few essentials before you make that call.

Organizations that get the most out of Sharepoint tend to fall into two camps.

Camp A- SMEs with around 50 or fewer employees who use it to handle their basic document management needs.

Camp B- Larger organizations with more complex needs e.g. knowledge management, collaboration, employee engagement and interdisciplinary communication.

Sharepoint use for SMEs

Sharepoint’s versatility makes it a useful tool for addressing a range of specific business needs in an efficient and cost effective manner. Many SMEs choose to use Sharepoint as a centralized workspace. In real terms this means:

• A secure, searchable repository for storing and maintaining documents (it also creates backups).
• Accessing a document from just about anywhere with internet connectivity.
• Sharing and disseminating information to team members.
• Protecting access to sensitive information and controlling permissions.
• Use of calendars to arrange communications and collaboration.

Any one, or indeed all, of these can be implemented quickly and easily by pairing Sharepoint with Office 365. By jumping on the Sharepoint bandwagon while your organization is small, you will be able to integrate it into your day-to day operations and since the application shows no signs of going anywhere it will likely be there for you as your business expands and your demands of it become more complicated.

Which brings us to…

Sharepoint use for larger organizations

What if your operations cover more than one geographical location? What happens if dispersal of information becomes more complicated? Fortunately, Sharepoint’s versatility can facilitate information sharing and employee engagement over a broader canvass too!

Larger enterprises have different priorities when it comes to assuring productivity and engagement and the controlling of information. Sharepoint will likely be able to meet these by way of:

• Intra and inter-team collaboration.
• Document management and knowledge management.
• Process automation.
• Workflow management.
• Intranet and internal corporate communications.
• Creating personalized portals and workspaces.
• Building employee communities.

By using Sharepoint in these ways you can improve team collaboration and manage your documents more effectively whatever the size of your organization. You will likely also notice the following benefits:

• Regulatory requirements for the handling of information can be handled near-effortlessly.
• It is easier to find and manage stored, reusable content.
• Information can be shared securely and in real-time.
• Your IT infrastructure is streamlined (again due to the application’s versatility).
• Employees are more engaged and employee engagement is more quantifiable.
• Employees can access anything they need from one location.

For any entrepreneur it’s only natural to be concerned with keeping the overheads down. A watchful eye on the purse strings now could save you a whole heap of trouble and expense later, right? The finest line many startups walk is between ensuring that initial costs are kept as low as possible while making sure that quality is up to scratch, without cutting corners.

The assumed truth of offshoring

It’s easy to assume that the attractively low costs of locating your manufacturing operations offshore are a given, but looking at this link you’ll find plastic injection molding services can be cheaper to keep on American soil, as production costs rise overseas.

Reshoring operations to the US has helped numerous businesses that rely on manufacturing and the benefits go beyond the monetary.

Quality Assurance

When you’re starting out, the last thing you want to risk is the possibility of associating your business’ image with a shoddy product. Today’s consumers demand a level of quality that can be difficult to attain if you’re choosing a manufacturer solely on the basis of cost from a country with lax manufacturing laws. Low cost manufacturing tends to be done with low quality tools, using low quality parts and assembled by low quality labour. Moreover, with the inherent delays caused by transatlantic or transpacific shipping you might not notice an inferior product until it’s already too late.

You’re in the driver’s seat

Entrusting your operations to an overseas manufacturer can feel like letting a stranger into the driver’s seat of your car, shutting your eyes and hoping for the best.

However much you do your due diligence on a prospective manufacturer it can be difficult to build trust and communications with the inevitable language, cultural and temporal barriers.

Locating operations in the US not only allows for quicker and clearer communications but allows you to assert greater control over the quality of your product. You can also be safe in the knowledge that you know your own country’s manufacturing laws and can trust that workers on the factory floor are adequately trained, adequately paid and working in a fair, safe environment.

Streamlined Production

There are unavoidable complications and costs when it comes to overseas manufacture. Your business may or may not be able to wait for several weeks while goods are transported from overseas and undergo the inevitable myriad customs checks. The transporting of goods from factory to warehouse, to store or consumer is made inherently longer and prone to unknown variables.

Bringing the process to US soil simplifies the distribution process, reducing your time delays and saving you additional international shipping costs.

Your products will also be in closer contact with the lucrative home market, enabling you to respond to national and regional demand with greater agility so that less stock is wasted or poorly distributed.

The Macro Economic Benefits

By keeping manufacturing operations in the US you’ll be creating much needed jobs. More jobs means more marginal propensity to consume which means more growth for everybody. You’ll also be feeding innovation through manufacture and doing your bit to solidify the country’s status as a player on the world’s manufacturing stage.

No one wants to get on the wrong side of the law, especially business owners. It will result in very high legal fees, and you could waste a lot of time if you need to appear in court. In the very worst-case scenario, you might even end up facing a hefty fine or substantial jail time!

So, there is no wonder why most businesses spend a considerable amount of time making sure that every part of their company is completely above board. It certainly pays off in the long run!

Not too sure what kind of legal stuff you need to sort out for your startup? Here are some tips straight from lawyers.

Legal Marketing Is Good Marketing

There are a few different ‘black marketing’ techniques that some entrepreneurs use in their company. It’s true that these often bring very good results, but you will find it much more advantageous to stay well away from them as most of them are barely legal. Take some tips from a lawyer SEO company who would normally work with law firms. They will know exactly which marketing methods might look bad in the eyes of the law and can help you keep your marketing strategies on the straight and narrow.

Budget Well For Potential Legal Costs

You never know when you need to pay for legal costs. Don’t worry; you shouldn’t expect to get on the wrong side of the law, but you do need to budget for things such as getting a signatory or for those times a lawyer needs to double check the wording on a contract. So you should always have a sum of cash left to one side for these potential costs. It’s a good idea to budget a lot more than you might need. Hat’s because it can be easy to underestimate legal costs, and you don’t want to be caught out by a huge bill!

Get To Know A Few Different Attorneys

It’s a wise move to have a few different lawyers in your book of contacts. That’s because all attorneys and lawyers specialize, so you will need to seek out someone who specializes in the area of law that you need help with whenever you do need a lawyer. If you only know a family attorney, they won’t be able to help you with some financial law problems. Next time you are networking, try to meet as many lawyers as possible so you will have a wide set of names in your phonebook that you can turn to whatever the situation.

Look After Your Intellectual Property

Many companies now have blogs and are posting articles and other intellectual property online. If you are too, you need to ensure that this is correctly protected. After all, anyone could simply copy and paste paragraphs from your articles and then try to pass them off as their own. This is also the case with photos, which can easily be downloaded from your website. Without any intellectual property protection, you won’t be able to take the offending person or company to court to claim compensation. Ideally, you should speak to a lawyer about they type of protection that you need. There are different kinds suitable for intellectual property, such as copyright, patents, and trademarks.

Always Use Legal Disclaimers

Whenever you sell products or services, you need to make sure that they each have their very own legal disclaimer attached. This protects you against any major complaints. Not only that, though, but it also ensures that you, your products, and your services aren’t responsible for whatever outcomes they cause for the people who purchase them. At the end of the day, the legal disclaimer ensures that each party is aware of their own responsibilities once money has changed hands. It is also important that your legal disclaimers are easy for customers to find. Make sure they are on your website, even if you have to add them in the form of small print. Not making them visible enough could land you in court!

As you can see, it isn’t too hard to ensure that your company is running all above board. If you are ever unsure, you should always contact a lawyer who can review your operation methods for you. It might even be worth for you to hire an in-house law team to continually review your practices and contracts. Many companies find that this is necessary once they have been established a couple of years. So, if it’s too early for you to think about that for your startup, it’s something you can look forward to!

The world of work is rapidly changing, and with this comes a wave of digital nomads who are working from beaches in Asia, coffee shops in Europe and airport lounges all over the world. More and more people are turning to a life of freedom and freelance – and why wouldn’t you when you can run your business from tropical climes?

Both as a full-time career and a side-earner, freelancing is a growing trend all around the world. However it may seem like a dream to travel the world, or work from home, rather than commit to the daily grind every single day, but there are some things that will need to be considered before jumping headfirst into the world of freelancing.

Contracts

Often, companies employ freelancers for a short-term project which needs to be completed by a certain date but who do not have the resources in-house to complete the work. It is essential for freelancers to write up contracts for clients to sign as this protects the freelancer and makes it crystal clear about what is involved for everybody. A contract will state all of the work that is required, deadlines, as well as payment terms and agreements

Taxes

Now that you are a freelancer, you are responsible for your own taxes. After you have invoiced your client, they will not hold back any percentage of the money to go towards what you will owe at the end of the tax year. It will be up to you to put aside 25-30% of your income. A good way to do this is to set up a separate bank account which you cannot access with a debit card, where 25% of your earnings automatically go each month. Remember that there is a deadline for filing your tax return each year, and although you won’t get a personal call from Antonio Horta Osorio telling you off, you will be required to pay a fine if you don’t file on time!

Holiday and sick pay

As a freelancer, both holiday and sick pay don’t really apply to you. If you are sick and can’t work, you will not get paid that day. If you go on holiday, you will not be paid for the days you are away. Simple. However, the perks of being a freelancer are usually that you earn more to work less, so just make sure to put away money on a frequent basis to cover rainy days and any sickness.

Time management

Now that you are working for yourself, there is nobody breathing down your neck and making sure you are working properly. You will need to be strict with yourself, and try not to get distracted by the TV, the sun, or spontaneous lunches with your friends on Friday afternoons, unless, of course, you have the time to do this. When it comes to managing your day, it’s best to work with what you naturally do: if you are an early riser, then work in the mornings and finish earlier in the day, if you prefer a lie in, then wake up and finish work later.

There is a surprising amount that can go wrong in business. Knowing this might not necessarily make you feel any better about your startup, but it does mean that you should do whatever you can to help protect your business against the many potential threats facing you. To be able to do that requires that you know well what problems your business could face, and that is where this post comes in. In it, we are going to go through some of the major problems that any startup can face, even early on. Study the following scenarios and do everything you can to prepare your business for them. You will be glad you did if you find that it becomes necessary later on in your business’ life.

Theft

Sometimes it is the case that a business is threatened from within by one of the members of staff. One of the most common problems in young businesses is theft. Your employees might steal from the company at any time. Although you don’t want to think of your employees as doing this, the fact is that it is incredibly common, and you need to be doing everything you can to protect your business as much as possible. Usually, the theft is not money itself (although it can be) but other, smaller things. Although smaller, these are generally no less worrisome, as over time such instances of theft does make a big difference to the company’s profits. Theft is the kind of problem that grows over time to become a much bigger one, so it is in your interests to put it to rest as early as possible.

To avoid theft becoming a central issue in your business, you need to make sure you do everything you can to discourage people from doing it as soon as possible. The easiest and most effective way to do this is to hold regular training sessions in which you talk about security. If you let staff know that a big security issue is theft, this will ensure that they know you are keen on reducing it, which means that you are watching out for it closely. This is likely to reduce much of the theft in the business, so it is well worth doing. You should take new employees through this training session too so that you minimize the amount of shrinkage your business sees as much as possible. If nothing else, this will help to keep your economy that little bit stronger.

Burglary

Of course, the amount of damage to the business that your employees are likely to do is relatively little compared to those from outside the business. Something which all startups need to think closely about is burglary, as this is a common problem for new businesses. Typically, new businesses do not have very strong security measures on their premises, which means that people can easily break in and cause damage or steal stock and supplies. If you can be the exception by ensuring you have a strong focus on security in your building, you will do a lot for reducing the likelihood of being burgled. This is one of the most common ways for a new business to lose out, so protecting yourself against this particular danger is hugely important.

Make sure you hire a security team as soon as you can afford it. Having an actual presence is the best way to ensure that people do not try to break in, and much more effective than cameras alone. That being said, you should not skimp on cameras, as a security system of that sort is one of the best deterrents against break-ins and burglaries. Do everything you can to prevent this, and you will be most of the way to protecting your business in the long run.

Data Loss

In this day and age, it is important to recognize that data is as important as anything real and physical in your business. Most businesses store a lot of data, and generally quite a lot of it is particularly sensitive. This could be that it is sensitive in terms of your business’ onward goals, or that it is information you hold about your customers which you have a legal duty to protect. Either way, it is essential that you find some strong ways to keep your data as well protected as possible, so that you can be more confident in your business’ ongoing security. One of the most essential and basic steps towards this end is to find some decent IT help. With IT consulting services working with you, you should be able to ensure that you minimize the likelihood of your data being lost or stolen. You might also be able to find ways to get data back if something does happen to it, and that alone can help prevent a considerable headache within the business.

Natural Disaster

Although it might be quite rare, you really can’t afford not to take everything into consideration in business, so you need to think about this as much as anything else. You never know what is going to happen, and when it comes to natural disasters the results can often be particularly damaging for the business. As it happens, there are ways to ensure that you know what you are doing if a natural disaster does occur. If this happens, you should be clear with your staff on what exit routes to take and what the best course of action is. The most important thing here is to protect your staff, and after that your stocks and supplies. Look after the people first and foremost, and the rest will usually follow. It is vital that you have proper procedures in place for when this kind of event happens, so that you can protect everyone as well as possible. If you don’t, you could be in trouble, and your business might suffer in the long run as a result as well.

If you’ve started a business during the last twelve months, you’re probably creating a growth plan at the moment. That’s fantastic news because it means you’ve made a decent profit. Now you just have to work out how you’re going to expand into new markets. The tips and advice one this page should help to point you in the right direction. You need to consider all the points made below if you plan to trade overseas and boost your income. Of course, this isn’t a complete guide, and there are many other moves you’ll have to make. However, the suggestions on this page should assist, regardless of the nature of your operation.

Perform a lot of market research

Before you do anything else, you’ll have to carry out a lot of market research. You don’t want to waste your profits, and so you need to make sure you have enough potential customers overseas. Thankfully, that task is easier than ever now we’re living in the digital age. You can use the internet to discover most of the information you require. Social media is an excellent place for research of that nature. You could also publish forms and surveys to give you a better insight. At the end of the day, you just need to be 100% confident the market is large enough for you to make a profit.

Build relationships with translators

You’ll probably have to deal with people who speak different languages when expanding your operation. For that reason, you’re going to require assistance with all aspects of translation. That’s everything from communicating on the telephone to writing letters and creating promotions. Again, the internet will make your life easier. You just need to search online for companies that focus on that niche. You should also read reviews to ensure you’re making the right decision. You can then get in touch with the experts and explain your requirements.

Get some legal assistance

There are many legal stumbling blocks when it comes to selling products or services abroad. With that in mind, you’re going to need the help of an experienced lawyer if you want to avoid issues. People working in that profession should understand all the ins and outs. They are in the perfect position to give you a heads up and ensure you don’t make any wrong moves. While you’ll have to pay for their assistance, it’s worth the expense. That is because you could find yourself in court if you get it wrong. Find a decent lawyer as soon as possible, and you shouldn’t have too many concerns.

Now you have a better understanding of the expansion process; we hope you will make the right decisions this year. When all’s said and done, there are going to be lots of problems along the way. Success lies in your ability to identify and deal with them as fast as possible. You’re only going to manage that if you have an excellent legal team and translators who can explain everything. Remember that as you move forward this year.

When you’re just starting out with your own business, you might think that this is what you’ll be doing for the rest of your life because there’s no way you could do anything else. But life doesn’t always pan out that way. Someday, you might seriously have to consider stepping aside. Now, stepping away from the day to day running of the company doesn’t have to be a bad thing; after all, you might have started this business in the first place because you wanted to fly to a different country whenever you wanted. You can’t do that if you still have to oversee everything years after you’ve launched. Or maybe your business is failing and you want to get a maximum exit value. Whatever your reasons for standing down, here are a few ways to do it quietly.

Train your replacement

One of the biggest reasons letting go is so hard is because you’ve put a lot of yourself into your company, so you want it to go to the best possible hands. In your mind, however, there are no hands more qualified than you, and this thought process can lead you to keep delaying your retirement. This reasoning could just be an excuse on your part, but it might also be true that you don’t know anyone who will run your business with the same values you possess. If this is the case, then you should try to train your own replacement. It could be a family member who has been involved with the company for years, or it could be an existing employee who shows a lot of potential. It can take a lot of time to prepare someone to take over, so don’t leave this until the last minute. Additionally, it might be good to have some backup plans in place; life happens to everyone, so even though your candidate might be eager to fill your shoes, events might compel them to make other choices.

Sell your business

If it doesn’t look like your business will be viable over the next five years, it might be more sensible to sell it to a third party. There are several ways to go about this depending on the kind of business you have. If you’re mostly a web-based company then you should look on Income Diary and get in touch with a website broker to find a buyer. If there are owners within the business, consider a buy-sell agreement where your share of the company can be sold to your partners or other parties.

Much like you would spruce up your home before selling it, you might want to increase the appeal of your business by taking steps to improve cash flow, shutting unprofitable divisions and paring back extra inventory. You may also want to consider strategies to ensure the employees will stay with the company. There’s no need to shake up their lives just because you’re ready for the next phase of yours.

If your business does not have a website, you are simply not going to succeed in the modern marketplace. The fact that you are reading this right now demonstrates that you acknowledge the importance of the internet, so the fact that you could be using it to promote and grow your business becomes rather obvious. The numbers justify this interpretation as well. With the global e-commerce market worth about $22 trillion, if you are not online, you will not be able to earn a single cent of that money. The brilliant thing about the internet is that it is available to everyone. Of course, getting a computer and an internet connection costs money, but once you have got that far, you are ready to start creating an online presence and finding customers around the world. The only problem is that lots of people are already trying to make their voice the loudest. There is a lot of competition. One study suggests that there are about 110,000 e-commerce sites that make a meaningful amount on the internet. There are probably over a million in total. But if you are smart about how you go about marketing yourself online, there is no reason why you cannot become a success. Here are some of the basics of online marketing and how you can make it work for you:

There is a lot of jargon that you need to learn to become fluent in e-commerce, and one of the most important terms that you need to learn is SEO. This stands for search engine optimisation. At its simplest, it refers to the practice of trying to improve the position that your website has when somebody searches using a site like Google. There are lots of rather complex algorithms that calculate which sites are worth showing. The metric that is used to decide this is, in part, whether a particular website is mentioned on other reputable websites. It is not called the web for nothing, after all. This is why some website owners will try to improve their SEO rankings by paying for their site to be mentioned in sponsored posts on lots of different blogs. It is an added benefit if a prospective customer reads one of those posts and goes to that particular site as a result, but otherwise, it is useful because it gives them a better chance of being noticed by Google’s algorithms. There is an entire digital economy that revolves around this practice.

Another crucial technique that some companies use to drive traffic to their website is what is called PPC. This stands for pay-per-click. A website might pay a small fee to have their link and a small synopsis featured at the top of a list of search results. Search engines can make a lot of money by allowing companies to jump to the head of the queue in this way. PPC management is also an important part of the new digital marketplace. A lot of people now utilize ad blocking plugins so that they do not have to see any of these paid advertisements. Strangely, some ad blocking companies are now offering to exclude certain websites from being blocked. Cookies may be something that you have heard a lot about. When you go to a lot of websites, they may tell you that they use Cookies and will accept the continued use of their website as tacit permission. These help search engines to target people with ads that they think will appeal to them. If you spend a lot of your time online reading about art or literature, for instance, you may find that you see online ads that feature museums and book festivals. This is obviously no accident, but a use of the information that is collected about nearly everyone all the time while they are online.  

Finally, not every aspect of online marketing has to be so seemingly devious. If your company does not have a social media account, you are not likely to be able to compete with your more innovative rivals. Facebook now has an estimated 1.9 billion unique monthly users, while Twitter can boast 328 million. It is free to join both sites and start extolling the virtues of your products or services, but you can also pay to advertise on both sites and once again use the users’ data to target potential customers. However, one of the most effective ways to reach a lot of people is to try to produce viral content. It is not easy because you have to try to figure out what would appeal to hundreds of millions of people enough that they will voluntarily share it. However, it is cheap and effective.

It’s exciting – and a little daunting – to expand your small business into a bigger company. However, there is always room to branch out further. One of the most limiting things you could do to your startup is restrict your business to a national level. When the time is right, perhaps your should look into branching out to international customers. This might seem a little terrifying, but who is to say that your products and services aren’t needed in other parts of the world. Here are a few suggestions to help you move from a small startup to an international corporation.

Translate your website

The best way to test whether your business is economically viable outside your home country is to translate your website into different languages. Of course, this is only the first step; just because your business concept works well at home, doesn’t mean it will be received the same way in a country with a vastly different culture.

Learn a new language

Although foreign business owners are likely to have a good grasp of other languages, or access to a translator, you should never assume that everyone speaks English. There are many different ways to learn a new language, so it’s easy to find one that works for you. While it would be really impressive if you managed to become fluent in Chinese, your potential partners will still hold you in high esteem if you make an effort just to say a few key business phrases in their language. Make it clear that you’re still learning the language, however, as this might forgive any unfortunate mispronunciations.

Take advantage of mobile connectivity

Thanks to technology, there are more channels of communications open than ever before. With platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Whatsapp, we can reach people halfway across the world with a single press of a button. Take advantage of this as much as you can; after all, it’s doesn’t cost you a penny.

If you have a social media page for your business, use your existing business connections to put out some feelers for international connections. Alternatively, you could put your new language skills to the test and start posting your content in at least two different languages. This will let potential customers know that you are interested in expanding to their country, and someone might get in touch with you.

Narrow your options down to a perfect fit

You might have a vision of your product being successful in a certain country for personal reasons, but your priority should be finding the right market for your business. Various factors could be whether he country’s economy is growing or shrinking, a market’s digital marketing capabilities, marketing infrastructure and average consumer expenditure, among other variables. Getting the right market is essential for the expansion of your business, and for financial reasons. If you get it wrong, you could waste a lot of time and money.

Perfect your pitch

Once you’ve removed a few language barriers, and determined whether there’s any international interest in your services, you can start working on a new pitch. Regardless of however you’ve sold your business previously, when entering a new market in a new location, the pitch needs to be adjusted to meet local standards. This could mean either a massive overhaul of your current pitch, or just a few tweaks to make it comprehensible to a foreign audience. It’s also important to look at the market you’re hoping to broaden to. Do some research into cultural barriers, assumptions, and biases that could endanger your business abroad. When possible, talk with, learn from and spend time with people who represent the audience you’re hoping to reach. Learning about and respecting other cultures will help you localize your brand’s message.

Understand regional laws

You may have a basic understanding that marketing standards will vary from country to country, but you won’t realize quite how much until you start doing your research. To do conduct your business as effectively abroad as you do at home, you need to fully understand the advertising regulations, product laws, and regulation of sales tactics in your target countries. Even if you intend to have partners in said countries to do most of the actual selling for you, as the head of the company, you need to know everything so you don’t commit faux pas at best, or break laws at worst.

Optimize your SEO

You might have perfected your SEO strategy at home, but now you need to come up with a whole new strategy for your international bases. International search engine marketing is a mixture of choosing the right search engines, localizing content and understanding keywords. You first need to find out which search engines are used by your target countries – most English-speaking countries will use Google, Yahoo, or Bing, but this might not be the case everywhere else. Often, local markets are best served via local search engines, because the English-language search engines don’t always suffice for niche, local content.

Secondly, while it might seem easy to just translate your keywords into foreign languages, this isn’t the most effective strategy. After all, keywords are shortened thoughts used by the Internet browsers, and influenced by culture, to try and find particular types of content. To make sure your international customers are finding the correct content, you should work with native speakers trained in search marketing to figure out native keywords that would be best associated with your website and its content.

Always remember your current success

Breaking into a new market is scary, and there will be no shortage of challenges on your way to establishing a secure business abroad. However, you should never forget that you’re able to attempt this because you’re already successful in your current market. Of course, your track record in your previous market doesn’t automatically guarantee success in this new venture, but it does make your pitch stronger, it makes you more confident, and as a result it does generate new success.

The art of customer relations can be a very tricky thing to get right. As any businessperson will know, customers and clients alike can be fickle. In a world that is so saturated with different companies providing the same services, brand loyalty has started to become, to an extent, a thing of the past. The general public now has so many options thrown at them for whatever problem they are trying to solve, that many now flit from company to company depending on who gives them the better deal. You can’t blame people for doing this, as most of us would probably do the same in their position. However, as someone who runs a business, capturing and keeping loyal customers can prove ever more difficult what will all the competition. You need to put measures in place that make it pretty much impossible for your target audience to ignore you, and to dissuade them from going to one of your competitors. Consider, therefore, what every client wants. Nine times out of ten, it will be nothing more than a good deal. Thanks to the rising cost of living, people today have less disposable income than ever, so your audience will always be looking for that much-coveted value for money. If that’s not something you can offer them, they won’t give you a second look. With all this in mind, you may want to look into a relatively new strategy that many other brands are getting involved with: discounts codes. Whether your business produces physical products or offers a service of sorts, you can use online discount codes in each scenario to help bring in and retain customers. Here are a few ways in which you can use them to your advantage.

A sense of urgency

It will come as no surprise to you to hear that those first few months of your startup are some of the most important. A large proportion folds within the first few years, largely down to poor managerial decisions and a lack of sales. Of course, the amount of sales you make is closely linked to the quality of your marketing – but it does tend to take quite a while for your brand to be built up and therefore trusted by your audience. After all, quite a lot of us often have to be persuaded to part with cold, hard cash. So, by putting a discount coupon on a site such as DontPayFull.com, you can grab a customer’s attention even without a recognized brand. As the offer will be subjective to a time limit, people will also want to grab it before it’s gone, which means faster sales for you too.

Saying thank you

If you have customers who have used your business on a number of occasions, yet you are concerned that they are slipping through the net, use an exclusive discount as a way to get them back on side. For example, you could offer a discount to everyone who ‘likes’ your business on social media, something that is relatively quick and easy to set up. Or, you could express your thanks to a company you used recently by giving them money off your service. Gratitude goes a long way in business, and clients love to feel valued. With this small token of appreciation, you could end up making a huge return in the long run, as your clients are more likely to feel loyal to you.

Tracking your company data

Having a clear insight into who is using your products or service can be a great asset to have in business. Often, without constantly asking your audience to fill in surveys (something that can get very tiresome), it can be difficult to keep track of company data, and just how much return you get on the campaigns you run. Online vouchers are excellent tools for grasping a clearer view of your audience, especially as they often need to fill in personal details to access the offer. You could even put the same deal up on various platforms, each one with a different code, and then look back across the data drawn up by each code to see which one with the most successful. There’s no point, for example, running constant vouchers on your company’s Twitter page if you are not hitting the demographic you want to be hitting. So, having this insight via your ROI can be very useful, and just another reason to consider online vouchers for your business.

The way a business advertises and markets itself is the difference between it garnering popularity, and it not. And when a business garners popularity, it garners custom. And when it garners custom, it makes profit. And making profit is the be all and end all for any business, no matter their size! So, if you are a business owner you really should be giving great precedence to the way you advertise your business. And this starts with making sure the money you have to spend on your advertisement is stretched as far and as wide as possible. Below you can find advice on how to do, both on- and offline.

Cater to your ideal customer

No matter if your advertising spend is being invested on- or offline, if it doesn’t resonate with your ideal customer it has no chance of success. It has no chance because it will not attract those you wish to attract. And when you cannot attract them, then you have no chance of attracting anybody else. Reaching your target customer is hugely important as it sets a base for you from which you can work. To do so, you should pinpoint where it is your target customer spends most of their time both online and in person. If they are more likely to use Facebook when online, rather than Pinterest, then don’t waste your focus and finances on the latter. And if they are likely to shop in a specific kind of supermarket or shop, then make sure that this area is inundated with posters that advertise your business. And to deduce this information, of course market research will need to be conducted on your part.

Take the time of day (or night) into consideration

A smart advertiser is somebody that is able to know the different impacts different times of the day have on advertisements. Think about it, when shopping for household goods you wouldn’t expect to see advertisements for desk organizers and ornaments on a Friday afternoon. You’d expect to see something relaxing and fun, like a hammock or a barbecue set. So, why would you expect your  goods to resonate with your customers when they aren’t advertised at the right time of the day? No matter what it is that you advertise there is always going to be a time of the day that is best for it. And if you want to see your advertisement stretch itself as far as it can, then you need to accommodate the time of the day into your everyday advertising plans, every day. This can then be, of course, extended further to the different times of the year also. Well, you wouldn’t want to be inundated with Christmas advertisements in March, would you?

Consider the platform

Even more important than the time of day in which you advertise is the platform that you advertise on. Considering the platform on which you are advertising is not necessarily pigeonholed just to online advertising campaigns, but it is a major aspect of it. When you advertise online it’s important to take the platform you are using to do it into account for a number of reasons. If yours is a business that puts customer interaction at the forefront, then Twitter is a social media site you should choose to advertise on. This would allow potential customers of yours the chance to interact with your advertisement and your business. But if you’d rather put up an advertisement that induces less interaction, but will stay in sight longer, then choose Facebook. This site allows for advertisements to be accessed clearly and for a long while after their inception. You also need to ensure that your advertising campaigns on two differing social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, aren’t identical. This is because they simply won’t work the same. An advertisement on one site wouldn’t be as effective as it is on another. One size does not fit all when it comes to business, and you should always bare this in mind when it comes to your advertising. Well, that’s if you want to see your advertising spend not only stretch, but deliver results.

Garner quick results whilst always looking to the long term

The most successful advertising campaigns are able to get results today whilst keeping an eye on tomorrow. Getting quick results is the defining factor in the successful stretching of an advertising spend, simply because it means fast results. And fast results in business, no matter the area that they are in, are always a good thing. One way to garner quick results with your advertising spend is to focus your investments in PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising. By optimizing the most commonly used PPC services, such as Google AdWords, you will be able to advertise your business online in more ways than just naturally. This means you have a higher chance of stretching your advertisement, and the money you spend on it. As well as this, it will ensure that your adverts are targeted carefully and this is essential if you want to garner a big ROI. But when it comes to advertisement, you have to think about the future also. One way to do is to consistently and continually reassess where you are and where you are going with your advertisement. If you feel your advertising efforts are becoming increasingly futile in one particular area, then you should pull them. This could mean you feel that a particular social media platform isn’t working for you. Or it could mean that advertising in a specific geographical location isn’t bringing your custom. If you feel a certain advertisement isn’t working for you, then don’t be scared to pull the plug on it. The need to stretch your spend safely is of huge importance.

No matter what size your business is — but especially if it’s a startup — you have to give great amounts of attention to budget busting. You have to be doing all you can to save as much money as possible. And by making your advertising spend stretch as far as possible, you are doing this.

While it can be very tempting to handle everything in-house, it is simply impossible for a startup to do this. With so many different elements making up a business, a new firm will find it much easier to seek the outside assistance of experts in certain fields, rather than burdening their small workforce with the load. Deciding to outsource often isn’t a difficult decision, but determining what areas to outsource can be the challenge. Keeping that in mind, read on to discover the areas that startups should outsource completely.

• Accounting – Accounting is definitely an area that is worth outsourcing. Bookkeeping, compiling financial reports, and filing tax returns can be exceptionally time-consuming. This is time that would be better spent on the core of your business, i.e. what makes you money. Far too many business owners believe that it will be much cheaper to keep accounting in-house. However, the reality is that a huge amount of money and time are wasted. Not only this, but while you may need to pay for accounting services, an expert can save you money by getting your finances in check and ensuring you are not missing out on any tax breaks.

• Your online presence – By this, we mean everything from your website to your online marketing strategy. There are all-in-one website management services available, and they come highly recommended. After all, the last thing you want is for the management of your online presence to be segregated, as different firms will end up taking your business in different directions. Add your in-house team into the mix, and it is likely that you are only going to end up giving off a confused brand image and spending more time disputing with one and other rather than getting anything done. There are actually a number of reasons why aspects such as content writing should not be handled directly by your business. Web design, development, and marketing are integral to the success of businesses today, which is why you should seriously consider outsourcing to a highly-rated firm.

• Administrative and scheduling tasks – How often do you spend your day getting bogged down in small, somewhat irrelevant tasks? We have all been there. But, as a new business owner, it is so important that you are focused on the core processes that are going to grow your company. Consider hiring a virtual assistant so that you can eliminate the time that is wasted on repetitive tasks, such as setting appointments and sending out emails.

• Your weaknesses – Last but not least, while this is not a specific type of task that you should outsource, it is a very important point to make. Every business is different, meaning there are no hard and fast rules regarding what you should not outsource. Look at your team, the work you do on a frequent basis, and your processes, and determine any areas of weakness. If your team struggle in a particular area, consider outsourcing to an expert.

Outsourcing is imperative to startup success, but only if you outsource efficiently. Consider the different areas that have been mentioned above, and determine whether it would benefit your business to outsource them rather than handling such tasks in-house.

Good ideas are a great starting point for every new business, but the reality is that you need to put those ideas into action – quickly. The faster your startup can make some money, the better chance you have of surviving – and thriving. In today’s brief guide, we’re going to run through some simple tips that can help you launch your business in super quick time, start making money, and improve your chances of success.

A one-day business plan

First of all, you have to have a business plan. It doesn’t matter whether it is handwritten on a napkin or is a full, 100-page document with full costings and high level of details – a plan is critical to get things off to a quick start. There are plenty of generic, adaptable business plan templates on the web, so take a look around and find one that is suitable to your needs.

Market research

On day two, with your business plan in place, start researching your market. It’s a vital process that will help you hit the ground running, and give you all the ideas you need to who your target market is, where they live, what they do for a living, and a lot more besides. Of course, the more thorough research you perform, the more accurate your view of the market will be. However, if you want to get started quickly, it’s possible to get started with a snapshot of that market. Use the government’s SBA SizeUp tool to get valuable demographic data and ty to avoid thinking too much. The idea here is to use your snapshot to inform your marketing message, which you can tweak at a later stage.

Brand building

Next, it’s time to think about starting to build out your brand. You will need a name, logo, a website address and a web host as a bare minimum. There are dozens of online website builders out there that can be used even if you don’t have coding knowledge. Try looking at services such as Fiverr or Logoworks to get a logo created as soon as possible – and don’t forget that you can even build a business presence a business on social media channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or even Instagram.

The legal stuff

Don’t forget about the legal aspects of starting a business. You will need to decide on your legal entity for the company, as well as formalize any partnerships, getting a trademark and patent protections, and ensuring yours are ticking all the right legal boxes. You could hire an attorney, of course, but there is a multitude of online tools that can help you do all these things – and more – super quickly and much cheaper than hiring a lawyer.

Go lean

Once you are ready to start taking your message out to the general public, think about how you can do it in the most cost-efficient way. You could hire interns, for example, to help you with creating content on your website or even doing some cold calling to make some early sales. Working from a home office will keep your costs down, too – perhaps communicating with your interns remotely via Google Hangouts or Skype.

Start selling

OK, so by this point you should be ready to start making some sales. Your website and business model will not be perfect, but it should be enough to start picking up some valuable customers. As you earn more money, you can start to reinvest it back into the business and making improvements as you see for. Good luck!

All startup business owners should aim to save as much cash as possible. That is because you never know when something unexpected will happen. You might need money for something you’ve overlooked. If that happens and you don’t have enough funds, you could go back to square one. With that in mind, the suggestions on this page should set you off on the right track. Regardless of the nature of your new company, most people find these tips useful. So, put these ideas into action as soon as possible if you want to succeed. You’ll have to work hard to seek the right level of investment. Still, you should try to cut back on your expenditure from the moment you register your operation.

Fund the business yourself

Before you do anything else, we wanted to take a moment to discuss funding. Most people take their business plan to the bank and seek investment. However, that means you’ll have to cover the interest rates the bank applies. So, you might look for another option. Well, contacting private equity firms will mean you have to part with a percentage of your company. Nobody wants to do that unless there is no other option. Considering that, you’re always best to fund your startup without outside assistance. If it’s possible, you should try to use your savings or remortgage your home. That way, you don’t have to make any repayments, and you don’t have to stress about those interest rates.

Work from home

Working from home is an excellent idea if you want to save as much cash as possible. In most instances, you will just need to create an office in your house. However, sometimes you might have to convert an attic or spare bedroom. While your family might seem annoyed initially, they’ll come round when they realize you’re trying to provide a better future. You should try to work from home for as long as possible, so you don’t have to pay any rent. Once your company begins to make a profit, you can start to look for permanent premises. Still, you won’t want to manage that expense during the early stages. The basic rule of thumb is that you should limit your outgoings as much as possible.

Don’t employ staff until you have no other choice

When you first launch your business, you can probably handle most of the tasks without assistance. You just have to work hard and stay focused on your goals. However, there will come a time when your daily routine requires an extra pair of hands. Do yourself a favor and avoid employing other people until you have no choice. You could extend that period by asking friends and family members for assistance. Explain your concept to them, and you should find someone willing to help. Just tell the individual you will reward them for their efforts when you’re rich. At the end of the day, if your company ends up making millions, you are sure to hand out lots of cash to your family. So, they’ll get the money they deserve in the future.

Use technology to your advantage

There are many ways in which you can use technology to your advantage in the business world. However, most people don’t realize it can help with almost every job. Need to create a graphic for your company? Just use a free logo creator online. Need to research laws or regulations in your industry? Plenty of websites will tell you everything you need to know. You get the idea, right? You just need to remember that the internet can provide answers for almost anything. So, you could save yourself a lot of money if you don’t have to employ business advisors. Just source the information yourself using your laptop.

Make use of specialist software

Automation is everything in the business world today. So, it makes sense that you should use the latest software to your advantage. That is especially the case when you move to permanent premises. You can’t afford to have someone sitting around all day recording your income and outgoings. However, you don’t want to get in trouble with the authorities at the end of the tax year. Thankfully, newly released accounting software could remove all the hard work. It links with all your systems and will record all financial transactions automatically. The same goes for issues like stock control and ordering. You just need to perform some research and read reviews to ensure you select the product best suited to your operation.

Market your business online

There is no getting away from the fact that you will have to make a substantial investment in marketing. Even so, it’s easy to waste your money if you don’t select the right avenues and methods. We are living in the digital world, and so it makes sense for your to focus your efforts online. Targeting your market using social media or Google Adwords is easier than most people imagine. There are also many free guides online that walk you through the process. You just need to open a Facebook and Twitter account for your company. You can then drive thousands of potential customers in your direction. Best of all? You don’t have to make a minimum investment with Google or Facebook. If you only have $100/£150 to spend, that isn’t an issue.

As you can see from the advice on this page, saving money when you start a new business is easier than most people think. With that in mind, you just need to put a plan in place as soon as possible. Work out your budget, and then focus on trying to reduce costs at every turn. If you run a factory or something similar, you can always try to negotiate better prices from your suppliers. If you operate from an office, you can use all the ideas mentioned in this article today. Whatever happens during the next twelve months, you’re on the right track if you’ve read this post. Good luck with everything!