Marketing | SGBA - Transforming businesses

Ensuring UK economic growth can survive the next global downturn….

30/11/2015 By

Employment in the UK at a record high. The UK economy seen as a shining star. Confidence in Germany, one of our main competitors under question.

So, what could go wrong? Quite a lot really.

International commentators are warning of another credit squeeze and business downturn. China has become a business mainstay for many Western nations, and a hiccup here can bring major repercussions.

It is time the Western World reduced its dependence on China.

What can small companies do to ensure the UK rides out future world market and trade downturns?

Well it is up to UK companies to get as big a slice of the International pie as we can, in short, export more. And it needs to be done NOW, not tomorrow!

I magine the effect on employment, the economy, and the stability of UK companies big and small if just 50% of them could increase exports by just 10%.

So, how do we go about this? For those already exporting, perhaps strategies for export are well defined. Selling more through existing channels, and selling through new channels, or into new markets is key. Stating the obvious!

For those who have no export experience, it can be a daunting hurdle. Where, how, who with….. all questions that come to mind.

So why not chat through your growth plans with an experienced and unbiassed advisor? Someone who can view your challenges with no prejudices, and maybe ask the difficult questions upfront before you commit to a sector.

Call the Southern Group Business Advisors for a free assessment of your plans.

SGBA launches new business to support SMEs in drinks and hospitality sectors

26/09/2015 By

SGBA is a well established company providing help and support to small businesses in the South of England. The business consists of 9 well qualified, experienced business advisors who help companies in a variety of sectors and have experience in strategy development, sales and marketing, financial management including obtaining grants and other funding and HR.

SGBA has now launched a specialist business focussed of the drinks, hospitality and events sectors across the country. The new business is The Business of Drinks (www.businessofdrinks.co.uk) and focusses mainly on craft brewers, vineyards, distilleries, soft drink manufacturers and their supply chain. They also have expertise in the hospitality and event sectors.

For some years now SGBA has been helping various types of drinks manufacturers to develop and grow there business and have been involved with delivering digital marketing workshops to the wine industry through Wineskills. It was quickly realised that there was a need to deliver the expertise of the associates to this sector across a wider area and so decided to launch the Business of Drinks nationwide. They have also developed a range of services which are specifically designed for the drinks industry and have already raised funding for some clients and have been successful in obtaining grants for others.

For more information contact us or email info@sgba.co.uk

Understanding Intellectual Property is important for SMEs

18/08/2015 By

Intellectual Property is becoming increasingly important for SMEs. Years ago IP was the preserve of the very large companies and focussed almost exclusively on Patents and Trade Marks. It tended to involve large sums of money and lawyers and other professionals.This was largely beyond the reach of SMEs. Now however and increasingly SMEs are identifying what IP they own with a view to protecting a valuable asset and adding a potentially saleable commodity to their balance sheet.

The Government’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) now provides a number of resources specifically for SMEs to explain the various types of IP and indeed what is and what isn’t intellectual property

You can kind out more about Intellectual Property and how it can affect your business or contact us at info@sgba.co.uk for a confidential chat.

Google has Changed the Way Search Results are Displayed

23/04/2015 By

It is estimated that over 90% of internet searches are carried out using the Google search engine. Changes are often made to the way that they carry out the searches and subsequent listing on the search results page and a great deal of effort is made by companies to ensure that they appear on page 1.

However this week Google have implemented a major change that many unwary website owners will not realise will make a substantial difference to where they are positioned in search results. More searches are now carried out on mobile devices such as smart phones, tablets etc. than laptops or desktops. This means that websites need to be mobile friendly so that they can be viewed sensibly on smaller screen and will operate effectively on these devices. Google have therefore said that websites that are not mobile friendly will not be as popular and therefore should be demoted in the search engine rankings.

You should undertake an immediate review of your website to ensure that it is mobile friendly and will therefore be promoted in the rankings.

Advisors at SGBA can help you to ensure that not only is your website mobile friendly but it is also optimised to ensure the best possible positioning min search engines. Email us to talk through how we can help.

To find out more about SEO download our simple guide.

Is failure to update your website harming your business?

26/03/2015 By

So many websites have the following messages:

“From all our team we wish you a Happy Christmas.”

“Come and visit us on stand H331 at ‘Pharmaworld Exhibition’, 17-19th November 2013 in London”

Does your website welcome visitors with these out of date messages? There are many out there that have similar. Not months but YEARS out of date.

So, what does this say about the way you manage your business? Perhaps you do not pay attention to detail, the very detail that differentiates between the ‘acceptable’ and the ‘excellent’.

For many, your website is your shop window. Would you expect to see Easter Eggs in a shop window in October, when the shop next door has haloween products?

The lack of attention is sadly widespread.

So, a simple message, keep all up to date. Make sure you review your website regularly.

Be professional.

And for those reading this, delete the following sentence as applicable.

Happy : Easter / Christmas / Halloween / Birthday

And dont forget to call in to our stand at Wembley, 30th July 1966.

Want an impartial review about how your online presence can affect your business? Call us on 0333 444 8522 or 0787 967 6435.

Do we need to reassess our Export Markets?

06/02/2015 By

Exports have always been a large part of SME activity.

There has been much said about our special relationship with EU countries. However, uncertainty with the Euro means that many are becoming nervous about this business. Together with the potential for an ‘IN / OUT’ referendum on the EU, there could be turbulent times ahead.

Of course Euro giants like Thales, Siemens, Santander, and Mercedes will still want to trade ‘tariff free’ with the UK in the event that a vote made an EU exit inevitable. So, perhaps the relationship that Norway and Switzerland has with Europe would be the model. Who knows?

In reality UK business has been guilty of letting certain special relationships slip when it comes to Exports. Let us take Canada and Australia for example. Both countries share the same language (in the main). They also share the Monarchy, our Royal Family. In the past we did some great business, but we appear to have taken our eye off the ball, and Asian companies have benefitted.

Back in the 1980’s, for every £1 in value we exported to the USA, we exported approximately 25p to Australia and similar for Canada. Today, it is less than 5p in comparison with the USA. Whilst we have clearly nurtured USA relationships, we are guilty of paying scant attention to our closest allies.

Asia has undergone great changes. Manufacturing is not as attractive as it was. So, perhaps now is a good time for Exporters to reassess where they sell to.

If you would like an informal talk about your export markets, aspirations and frustrations, then why not call us?

Call us on 0333 444 8522 or 0787 967 6435.

Planning a Social Media Campaign

02/02/2015 By

To many business owners, social media is something their kids do on their smart phones. Many do not really understand what social media is and also do not understand how it can be used in business. If you ask them why they don’t use social media they often fix you with a glazed look in their eyes and mutter something about it not being relevant or not having the time. However more recently social marketing has become one of the foundations of a successful marketing strategy.

For many people social media is just Twitter and Facebook. But in fact there are many more tools and channels and you need to make sure that the channels you choose are the right ones for your business and your customers. In order to do this effectively you need to incorporate social media planning into your overall strategic marketing plan.

This plan should answer the following questions:

Who are your customers?

Do they all engage in social media activities? Which ones?

Where are they?

Define which market segments they are in and decide on the characteristics of each target segment. What are the demographics. For instance if one particular market segment has an age profile of 16-25 the it could be Facebook and Pinterest that could be of value rather than LinkedIn and Twitter.

What are you trying to say?

Have you got a particular message? Are you launching a new product or service or do you have a special offer?

How are you going to get the message across?

You have decided on the core message but the means needs to be developed. For instance it could be blog posts, videos, infographics, white papers or a myriad of other means. But the core message needs to be consistent and it should do what it ‘says on the tin.’ The clue is in the title, Social Media. Make sure your message is social and personable which helps in developing a brand personality.

What does success look like?

How are you going to know that your campaign was a success? Decide on what you want from your social media campaign. It may be ‘likes’ it may be increase in web traffic or indeed numbers of new customers. Whatever you decide to measure make sure that you review the results frequently and adjust the campaign accordingly.

To talk to someone about your social media plans contact SGBA, the Business Transformation Specialists at 07941 426807 or email us.

What can Small Busines do to help UK Balance of Payments?

21/01/2015 By

The UK Balance of Payments is a sorry story.

In short, we buy much more stuff from overseas than we sell overseas, and have done for many years.

Some items, such as raw materials, and highly specific components we have little choice other than to import. But other decisions we do have a choice. For example, deliberating whether to get an Audi or BMW as your next company car? Why not consider a Jaguar?

Simple purchasing decisions can make a difference, and the greater prosperity we create in our own market the better, and the more likely there is stability in terms of taxation.

Clearly International trade is very important. Both Imports and Exports have a vital part to play in our economy.

So, what can the export orientated small business do to help rebalance our imports/exports? If all exporters grew their overseas sales by 20% it would make a great difference. Very easily said, but often difficult to achieve.

Many companies sell their products through distributors. A sensible and potentially lucrative route for many companies.

I have spoken to many business owners who have said : “We operate overseas through distributors, but they dont do much”. I generally counter this with “Well, what is your strategy with your distributors?” The response is usually highly dismissive, in other words, they have no strategy for distributors.

So, where does the fault for lack of Distributor sales fall? Of course each case is different.

Simple Distributor programmes of reporting, educating, and generally communicating success stories can reap great rewards. All of a sudden the 20% growth in overseas sales can look very achievable.

If you feel your overseas distributors can deliver more to your sales turnover, but not sure where to go, give us a call for an informal chat. Let SGBA help bring some strategy and focus to your exports.

Call us on 0333 444 8522 or 0787 967 6435.

Why a patent may be more valuable than you think…..

02/12/2014 By

Patents for your innovation, very expensive to many small businesses.

“The problem with having a patent is that if I challenge a multinational in court for breaching my Intellectual Property, then it will cost me a bomb in legal fees. And of course ‘Big Co’ can afford more expensive lawyers than I can afford“.
It is a fairly common comment from Business Owners and Innovators. And of course it is even more expensive if you have cover in Europe, or World Wide.

Of course, Company owned patents are seen as assets when it comes to Company valuations, but this may not be easily reconcilable during day to day business.

The goalposts changed on 1st April 2013, and it is amazing how many innovators and small Business Owners do not know about the Patent Box. Whilst nothing changes regarding the ‘vulnerability of Big Co to try to bypass your patent’, matters have changed regarding the incentives for doing so.

Profits from items with a Patent are now subject to a lower rate of Corporation tax.

So, let us say that 50% of your profits are derived from items with Patent protection, then tax related to this is reduced to 10%. Prior to April 2013, all profits associated to Patents were subject to the higher Corporation Tax rate.

Of course you need to work out the sums in your financial projections to see if it is worthwhile.

If you need help with weighing up the pros and cons, call us, or drop us an e mail. Discretion guaranteed.

0333 444 8522
ian.thomas@sgba.co.uk
peter.johns@sgba.co.uk
bob.francis@sgba.co.uk

– See more at: http://ukba.co.uk/news/why-a-patent-may-be-more-valuable-than-you-think/#sthash.yL30sdC9.hg3onuCA.dpuf

How to Turn Website Visits into Sales

13/10/2014 By

Over 90% of online searches go through Google. Therefore the majority of websites are optimised for that search engine and it is a fact of life that Google change the algorithms they use for identifying which particular websites match the search criteria. Content has over the years become one of the most important elements for good optimisation. Many websites that you may visit are somewhat dormant. No new relevant content has been added in many years and as a result rankings in searches are not particularly high.

This is where content marketing comes in. Ensuring regular content or updates are added to your site will help to ensure better search engine positioning but importantly will offer your visitor a better experience and will encourage them to revisit in future. This in turn will help convert the casual visitor to a customer. But what sort of content is relevant? Well typically most people use things like Blogs or Social Media updates. These are simple to implement and provide a regular ‘change’ to the website which helps SEO. But increasingly video is being used which tends not only to increase the number of hits received (particularly using something like You Tube to host the video) but also improves engagement with the visitor. A good example can be found here

Research shows that consumers consider companies that use videos to be more trustworthy and creates a connection between the visitor and the company that words alone cannot do.

There are however numerous pitfalls to this approach and there are some key questions that you need to consider:

DIY or professional? Modern video equipment and smart phones with simple editing software means that many people can and do develop their own videos cost effectively. However professional video makers while more expensive provide a higher standard of product suitable for all platforms enhancing the brand image
How long? Attention spans are getting shorter particularly if your customer base comprises mostly of the under 30’s. If you can get your message across in 2-3 minutes that would appear to be optimum. However do not be afraid to produce a longer video if you are telling a story and do not be afraid to make it humorous if it calls for it.
Be yourself. Do not create a ‘persona’ that does not reflect the brand or company
Like all marketing, planning is essential. Storyboard what you want to say and the points you need to get across. Develop a script, find the right locations that will enhance and not detract from the message. And finally remember do not be afraid of making errors or ‘fluffing’ lines; they can be edited after using simple software readily available (iMovies for instance)

If you want to find out more or want to discuss Content Marketing please contact us by email or call Bob Francis at 07941 426807

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