What To Consider When Setting Up A Business

It’s Important To Do Things Properly

Making the decision to quit your job and take full control of your future as an entrepreneur takes both courage and confidence; you need so be strong and sure-footed. However, you shouldn’t start a business unless you’ve actually laid the foundations for your new business. This is why timing is everything when setting up your new business. So, whether you are reading this with a few lingering doubts or fire in your belly, take the time to tick off the items in this handy article before you decide.

How Will You Market Your Business?

Marketing a business properly is no mean feat but can make a huge difference in the number of customers in your first year or so. There are many forms of marketing, from traditional printed promotional materials such as flyers and leaflets, business cards, signage and vehicle wrap to the digital marketing side of things such as SEO, social media marketing and pay-per-click advertising.

Printed marketing is continuing to evolve; the idea that print marketing is dead due to the digital age is an incorrect one. In reality, printed media has actually evolved with the help of new technology. A wide range of advancements, such as AR (augmented reality) has transformed printed materials into a marketing powerhouse. Additionally, further advancements in printing methods have massively lowered the cost of printing itself. So, if you completely rule out printed marketing without the proper understanding of modern printing methods, you will be seriously missing out on valuable opportunities to grow your business.

Network With Like-Minded People

It’s vital that you start to make a name for yourself and your business before you have even opened your doors to the world. Networking events can really help you to connect with industry experts and potential leads and if you cannot actually attend the event, you can network using sites like LinkedIn. If you network properly, you will always have someone to turn to if a new hurdle arises.

Get Business Insurance

It’s important to have business insurance when you set up a new business, as it helps to cover the costs associated with property damage and liability claims. Without business insurance, you may have to pay out-of-pocket for costly damages and legal claims against your company and depending on the incident, it could be a financially devastating scenario for you. When you are about to invest so much into a business, keeping it secure and thriving should be your main priority. From the space that you use to the people that you employ and any day-to-day operations, you need to ensure that you are protected from legal liability at every turn.

Perform A SWOT Analysis

What is a SWOT analysis, you ask? Well, in order to be fully confident, you need to know that your business is actually going to work. A SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis will help you to position yourself in the industry, and make plans to progress.

Write A Business Plan

The SWOT analysis that you have performed has created the ‘headlines’, but now you need to write an actual business plan in order to dig into the strategy and numbers. Your plan will constantly evolve as your business develops, but you should still have a crystal-clear initial plan. If you are unsure where to start, there are many free templates online.

Try To Reduce Risks

As you start your business, it’s very important that you take the time to put backup plans and fail-safes in place so that, if you do make a misstep or face setbacks like illnesses or theft of business goods, it won’t cause your business to go belly up.

Marketing

As a small business you’ll need to market to your business in order to gain new customers, and when it comes to marketing, there’s a whole load of options, and it can be a minefield, particularly if you are a new business starting out or a small business looking to generate new business.

Whether you have an existing marketing strategy in place that you want to improve or add to, or if you are just in the process of outlining your marketing strategy, in this article you will find some top marketing tips for small businesses.

Print

Many think of print as advertising in the local press, however print marketing also means the printing of business cards, leaflets, flyers, loyalty cards and brochures to name a few. When you are a small business wanting to get your name out there flyers, leaflets and business cards are vital.

Business cards are a relatively cheap option when it comes to print, however they are also an exceptionally useful tool for communicating with potential customers and passing your details on to clients. Having business cards to hand also helps to make you look like a professional business.

Data

A range of good data is essential to a marketing strategy, ensuring that the data that your business holds is up to date is extremely important, holding wrong or duplicate data can severely impact your marketing strategy. The quality of your data will affect your marketing campaign and the results that are delivered. A platform like Microsoft Power BI with Data Platform Power BI enables you to store and manage your data effectively. Allowing for easy access to update and edit data wherever your may be and whatever device you are using.

Online

More and more people are becoming active digitally, so by creating a virtual platform for your business is essential. Whether you are looking at websites or social media, promoting your brand online is bound to increase traffic and raise awareness of your brand. From promoting your brand to promoting offers you have and running competitions, you can run it all through your social media channels.

It is thought that 94% of adults own a smartphone, giving them access to the internet wherever they go. With social media platforms used regularly, it has become a trend to advertise and market your business online with sites such as Instagram and Twitter using hashtags for businesses to target their services and keywords. Just take a look at #weddingwednesday on Twitter and Instagram to see the scale of businesses advertising their services to their potential clients.

Signage

There’s no doubt that when you are a small business with premises, one of the best ways to be seen is effective signage to let potential customers know you are there. You may want external signs at your premises to increase footfall, and you may want interior signage at your premises to let customers know of any offers and discounts you have.

Signage is also beneficial when it comes to attending events and exhibitions. With professional roller banner signs and leaflets to hand out along with your business cards, you can really stand out from the crowd and make an impact.

Merchandise

Printed merchandise can help potential customers remember your name. Take for example a printed pen that you hand out at an event, people keep hold of these and use them again and again. Then when the customer needs a business in your industry, they will recognise your name and contact you. This helps to promote your brand awareness as well as having other benefits:

• Cost effective
• Brand recognition
• Increases leads
• Stands out from the crowd

Putting Your Marketing in Place

By following some of these top tips for marketing your business you could see your company grow and succeed evermore. Effective marketing plans and strategies make a huge difference to the way you work and the benefits to your business.

New Product Launch – What You Need to Consider

Launching a new product or service isn’t what it used to be. The market is over-saturated with products, promises and ‘innovations’, and customers have become more cynical. They’re used to companies claiming that they have reinvented the wheel, and wary of ‘big bang’ releases.

Having a creative approach to creating attention around product launches is therefore a key component of successful marketing campaigns. The way in which a product or service is presented and sold is, in fact, the primary weapon for companies of all shapes and sizes.

Here are five essential steps to launching any new product or service successfully.

Know Your Market & Competition

It’s important to remember that your product doesn’t exist in a void. Once launched, it will be placed on a shelf – be it digital or physical – and become just another choice among many. To ensure the success of your product, you need to be certain that there’s room for it. Study both the market for your product or service and your competition carefully, well before the official launch of your product.

Printed Media for a New Product Launch

There are many ways in which you can use print media, from direct mail to advertising in newspapers. Let’s look at some of the different types of print media you could use to advertise your business.

Direct Mail

Direct mail is commonly used by businesses when targeting a specific audience type that they either want to use their business or who would most likely purchase from their business. There are a few common products that are used for direct mail, which means that the product is sent directly to the customers by post. Here are some of the products most likely used for direct mail advertising:

• Leaflets
• Business cards√
• Brochures
• Postcards√

Newspapers

Depending on what you wish to advertise and what your target audience requires, then small businesses who want to attract more local custom would most likely benefit from posting an advertisement in their local newspaper.

Magazines

Magazine advertisements can be beneficial for reaching a wide variety of potential customers if done effectively. For example, if you’re advertising print related items then design, Business, photography and other subject type magazines that can relate to print or what your business is based on, will help with attracting many more customer types to check out your business.

Outdoor advertisements

Outdoor print advertising can come in many forms from posters, banners to billboards. Outdoor advertisements are commonly used to catch the attention of people passing by. Most outdoor advertisements for example billboards have bold, eye-catching fonts or images and more commonly have very minimal information, which seems obvious as it could be difficult to read for people passing by and most people don’t stand still to look at billboards, they’re more likely to glance as they pass by. So, having a bold memorable design for any type of outdoor advertisement is a great way of reminding people who pass on a daily basis of what your business has to offer, leading to potential business and new customers.

Benefits of Printed Media for Your Product Launch

When you use both print and digital marketing tactics to complement each other, both you and your target audience members benefit. We’ve compiled a few reasons why printed materials can improve your overall marketing strategy…

• • Reach a Wider Target Audience – As well as reaching a key target audience, printed publications also captures the readers attention. People choose to read magazines or print advertisements, meaning the document is thoroughly in their hands – giving total focus.
  • Memorable Products – Well-crafted print media can stand out and make more of a lasting impression. The ability to touch, see and feel a piece of marketing material help your customers or clients remember your business and return.
  • Brand Loyalty – Loyal customers help the sustainability of your brand and your business, print materials can go a long way towards helping you build a loyal customer base.
  • Generate Sales – Many businesses employ a wide range of marketing methods, including television adverts, digital adverts and print advertisements. While each advertising method has its unique benefits, studies have shown the highest return on investment of all marketing mediums.

Promotion is often just as important as the product itself. Today you can choose from an abundance of mediums on which to promote your new product, however, that doesn’t mean that you should use all of them. Pick one, and make it a strong one.

Business
We brand, it’s that simple. From design to print, large and small. Here’s how:

Plant
We have multiple state of the art machines in our studio. We tend to follow the well known phrase that ‘a builder is only as good as his tools’ so we invest heavily in only the very best.

GRAPHTEC 8000
The Graphtec 8000 vinyl plotter is the giant corporations flagship machine and even as one of the studios oldest members it is a vital piece of future proof technology which we use daily.
The machines main task is to plot/cut self adhesive coloured vinyl, digitally printed vinyl and textile films. It does this with the help of the computer that is controlling its movement, the machine’s blade can move from the X to the Y axis of the material while it’s cutting it into any shape using its carbide 45 degree angled 2mm blade.
The FC8000 is also equipped with ‘Magic Eye’ technology called ARMS. It uses both sensors and lasers to read pre digitally printed registration marks which allows the computer to ‘plot’ and contour cut shapes on single and full colour printed media.

ROLAND BN-20
The Roland BN20 is a state of the art ultra high definition wide format printer.
It prints using eco solvent inks on a wide variety of media including, self adhesive vinyl, poster paper, pvc banners and more. The benefit of eco solvent inks are they are permenant. The solvent refers to the oil-based solution that holds the pigment and resin, and has the advantage of being fade-resistant, waterproof and resistant to abrasion. Solvent ink can print on many different uncoated banners and vinyls, allowing the pigment to bond better.
Roland Intelligent Pass Control™ is an exclusive patent pending technology that controls dot placement between passes of the print head to ensure smooth gradations, flawless solid colors and faster throughput. This results in increased productivity and exceptional image quality, even at higher print speeds.
Vinyl, Labels, Banners, Posters and Textile Media can be printed and contour cut using this very intelligent machine.

HP LATEX 115
This is one of the newer printers to our studio and by far the most impressive in its technology. HP don’t do things by halves and are generally at the forefront of, if not inventing technology and in short their printers are quite frankly phenomenal. This ultra wide format printer uses latex inks which are water based and when printed with its built in optimising lamination cartridge its inks become UV stable, anti fade, anti scratch and instantly drying. It’s built in heater with 5 external fans are the key to its fast print speeds and durability. It’s ultra fast and with 1200 x 1200 dpi ultra high definition print output makes it perhaps the most impressive of our current plant list.

XEROX CN600DN 
Our high quality small format printer, produces very high quality digital output for flyers, booklets, business cards and much more, matched with our house laminator and use with a variety of paper media and lamination fishes we can produce cost effective or high end stationery.
With a print resolution of up to 1200 x 2400 dpi the Xerox delivers sharp text and fine line detail, plus exceptional color vibrancy.

GALAXY HEAT PRESS GS103
This Galaxy heat press is a durable machine built for a variety of work including but mostly geared towards customising clothing. This press is the very latest in sublimation technology and along side our high quality materials will withstand washing textiles up to 80 degrees. Gone are the ‘iron on’ peeling off transfer days that gave this process a bad name. This serious bit of machinery makes sure your branding stands up in harshest of environments. When used with our other impressive range of machibert allows for unrivalled laser sharp detail and beautiful colour vibrancy meaning it delivers the best possible finish for branded t-shirts, t-shirt printing and other workwear printing.

QUEST 1824
We use the Quest 1824 Engraving machine mainly for engraved signs
The Quest 1824 uses the long lasting stainless steel lead screws with re-circulating ball nuts. These typically
run smoother and quieter than normal drive systems. The Quest is fitted with THK LM linear rail, these provide
for a long life even under the harshest conditions. The crowning glory of the 1824 is being driven by the Vismec
CX control system and advanced engraving software. This combination makes the Quest 1824 one of the most
desirable heavy duty engraving machines on the market today.
The types of materials the 1824 can engrave include stainless steel, brass resins and plastics. The Quest takes it all in its lstride with speed and efficiency that has to be seen to be believed.
The bed of this machine is produced from aircraft Aluminum, so flat you could balance a pin on it.

Materials
We take the sourcing of our materials extremely seriously and believe it is as important as the technology it is used in conjunction with.
We do not compromise on quality at any cost.

Our vinyls are manufactured across Europe and purchased from brand market leaders in Hexis, Orafol and Metamark. These companies have been tried and tested for many years and are all ISO certified. There are always cheaper alternatives but like with everything in life, you get what you pay for and we only purchase the best in class.
Our papers are all from ISO quality assured companies and always try to source environmental friendly products.
These come at a premium but we beleive in sourcing responsible and reliable stock.
The German company Polytape are world renound for the their garment flex textiles for T shirt printing, so typically we use them.
Most of our sign substrates are sourced from Perspex the brand that everyone will have heard of. They delivery high quality PVC, Acrylic, Alumium Composite and much more.

Software
Our extensive list of software includes Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, FlexiSign, Versaworks, Flexi Print.
Software is used in the very beginning of any project with the design created using three different types of software. We also use two different types of software for finishing a job, this part of the job is called ‘ripping’ and this process brings the design on the screen to something you can feel with your hands. Good software makes for great end products so as always we renew the expensive annual bill to keep right up to date.

Service
From greetings to goodbyes we believe that a high quality service with no quibble guarantees are the only way to run a sucessful business. Our employees are polite, courteous and professionals in their field. We don’t use sales techniques of any kind, the customer deals directly with the creators and we find this delivers the best end result which we hope leaves you feeling pleased with your purchase.

Our Philosophy
We have been in business long enough to know what works and what doesn’t but also understand the need for client input and critique. We taylor every aspect of your requirement with a passionate and personal touch. Our main goal is to leave you smiling from enquiry to end.

Promotional products were always a popular choice for building brand recognition during marketing campaigns and increasing business awareness, but with online marketing often being favoured, promotional items tend to be forgotten about. However, it’s important that they’re not undervalued, it’s vital to recognise how merchandise can really help with your company’s branding and also goes hand in hand with your marketing strategy.

Brand Recognition

Promotional products have longevity, unlike other forms of marketing material, so whilst the focus tends to be on digital channels, promotional merchandise can take your brand into the real world. Research has shown that people tend to keep their promotional products for one year or longer, this results in increased brand awareness for both the person using the product and those who are around the recipient.

Customer Loyalty

The effects of receiving a free gift will never fail, receiving something unexpected from a business means that the associate will feel an unexpected positive emotion with your brand. Research has demonstrated that promotional merchandise makes almost six times as many recipients feel appreciated as other mediums of marketing like print and web. Promotional merchandise tends to be quite useful, for example, desk-based items like pens and notepads, keyrings and cotton shoppers are also useful and necessary for day to day life.

The options are endless

The most obvious choices for promotional merchandise tends to be items such as mugs, pens and USBs, they’re traditionally given out at conferences and exhibitions. Nowadays, with the industry advancing, there’s so much more to offer in terms of promotional merchandise. Whilst a pen and a mug are still great and will no doubt be used, it’s an idea to consider other products which could make your business stand out from the crowd. For example, tech products like power banks and speakers are a great option, or if you’re looking to be a bit more creative, a packet of branded and custom made playing cards are a great gift for your customers.

Creating relationships with promotional merchandise

Providing your customers with products that look great will also increase the positive association they have with your brand, when choosing promotional merchandise it’s important to be creative and consider your client’s brand values and how this can be translated to meaningful and powerful promotional merchandise.
 
It’s worth including promo items into your marketing mix, great products can be a conversation starter and create that needed ‘buzz’ around your brand, especially if a product is innovative and well thought out. Promotional marketing can also compliment other forms of marketing such as experimental campaigns or TV advertisements to create a greater impact and raise your brand’s profile in a competitive marketplace.