January, the time for resolutions, promises and a fresh start.   I love the turn of a year.  Okay the days are short, the summer seems so far away, money is tight and so are the clothes!   For me though it still brings a sense of optimism, it opens a new chapter and the feeling of new beginnings.

Many of us use the New Year as the excuse that we need to consider our careers.  It’s often the time that anyone with ambitions to start their own business actually takes the plunge.  But there is no denying the fact that this year it is going to be different.  So if you are determined not to let the words ‘recession’ and ‘economic downturn’ stop you and you remain adamant that 2009 is the year to set up that business you’ve dreamed of.  Or if you have recently launched a new company, here are a few things you might want to consider:

My advice to you is hang in there, don’t give up!  At least explore all the options first.  Arguably it is the worst possible time to set up a new venture but you have to look on the bright side.  As a business owner you are in control and at least you won’t have to worry about the fear of redundancy! 

In light of these unprecedented times, you will need to re-evaluate your business idea though.  It may well be that the best option for you is to remain in your current job until the economy becomes more stable.  However, your business idea might just be something that could really thrive at the moment.  Solicitors and Insolvency Practitioners are perfect examples.  Alternatively you may have an idea that isn’t going to be heavily affected by the downturn. 

So what can you do if yours is a young business or if you have that burning ambition to be your own boss?

1. Most importantly you must have a business and marketing plan.  You need to know where you are now and where you want to be.  Then you can devise a strategy that will enable you to plan your route forward so that you can achieve those objectives. 

One of the key mistakes that I encounter is a tendency for business owners to go off on too many tangents.  They take every opportunity that is presented to them and subsequently lose focus on the core business.  This is why preparing business and marketing plans are so important.  It will help you stay on target and keep the costs within budget.

2. Find out what resources are available for you to use.  Despite everything that is currently happening, you can still find free help and advice. 

For example, BDS who are based on Harborne High Street provide free workshops for business planning, marketing and book keeping, for companies under 12 months old.  They also offer a number of individual appointments with their business advisors, again free of charge and can help you apply for Business Link funding.  Contact them on 0121 427 6777 for further information.

3. Assess your business efficiencies.  You need to know the areas of your business that are not running as effectively as they could be.  If you run an owner-managed business you are probably trying to wear several different hats each day, rather than concentrating on the core service that you provide.

There will always be room for improvement.   Whether it’s looking at your systems or simply finding ways of getting some help with aspects of the business that you can’t justify spending time on or don’t enjoy.  You have to ask why you are spending days on administration when you should be out there delivering your service or driving your business forward.

4. Make sure that you have a clear picture of your cash flow.  It is vital that you know how much you are making each month and how much you are spending.  You should prepare a cash flow forecast that takes you through a period of at least 12 months.  Then you need to assess how you actually performed financially against the forecast on a monthly basis.

The financial aspects of your business are absolutely imperative.  You can’t just ignore the figures and shy away from evaluating them.  You should also make sure that you have a formal debt recovery process in place.  Every penny that is owed to you must be chased up.

Another key financial consideration is your taxation responsibilities.  If you are in any doubt at all or like me just know that this is not strength, then appoint a good accountant.  It will take the burden away not to mention the risk of missing important deadlines and subsequently being fined by the Inland Revenue.

5. And finally, make your bank manager your new best friend!

If you have any questions about any of the topics that I have covered here, give me a call and I can point you in the right direction for the help that you might need.

Tough times call for tough measures and that usually means cutting costs.  One of the first areas that a business tends to cut back on is marketing. 

The trouble is that when the economy slows many companies fall in to the trap of pulling all marketing spend because it is not seen as essential to the survival of the business.  Not true.  You need to be more proactive in your marketing activity in a difficult climate because it will help your company survive. 

There is a common view that marketing is incredibly costly and does not easily demonstrate return on investment. That opinion often influences decisions to pull activity.  There is no denying that marketing activity can at times be expensive. However, it is usually when a company does not apply some basic marketing principles that it blows the budget and suffers from lack of return.

It is an issue that I come across frequently when talking to my clients and prospects.  All too often they tell me that me that they are reluctant to spend on marketing because it has not worked for them before.  This usually comes down to the fact that they simply have not stuck to budgets, monitored campaigns or defined their target audiences properly.  The other mistake that occurs is being over ambitious with regard to the setting of timescales and objectives.  You must keep it realistic.

Marketing does not have to be a costly exercise.  It can work on the smallest scale if you use it properly.  I regularly work with small businesses that have the most limited of marketing budgets available.   We still manage to churn out successful campaigns that deliver results and help them grow in line with their business objectives. 

The key to marketing is knowing how to apply it correctly and this is where businesses who do not have a marketing resource can struggle.  They simply do not plan and measure activity properly and fail to target effectively.  The result can be a lot of money wasted on campaigns that do not work and because they have no tools in place to monitor success rates they cannot measure return.  The other extreme is that companies fear marketing so much that they simply don’t bother doing any.

You need to make your marketing strategy as effective and efficient as possible.  Apply the principles of theoretical marketing with your businesses objectives, resource and budget and you will be well on your way.

So to help you get started here are my five key tips to help you remain proactive and improve the efficiency of your marketing activity:

1. Prepare a marketing plan that takes your business through twelve month’s activity and covers both new lead generation and customer retention. 
2. Ensure that your brand is consistent.  From your promotional material such as websites, mailers and brochures all the way through to your business stationery, everything that you issue must have a consistent look and feel.  The result is carefully planned design and that will reduce your outlay on design costs.
3.  Segment your market.   The most effective campaigns are those where the target audience has been successfully segmented.  The more accurately you define your audience, the easier it will be for you to prepare campaigns with messaging that is most appropriate to them.
4. Invest in good quality data.  A campaign is only as good as the data you use, so ensure that your data is up to date and that each record contains a named decision maker. 

Measure, measure, measure.  Introduce a simple technique to measure every single campaign that you issue.  You need to know which campaigns generate the most leads for you, so that you can repeat them in the future.