Insights, Ideas, Results
Ecommerce sales have been growing by leaps and bounds in the last 10 years, driven by maturing of Internet technology and changing consumer behavior. Amazon has solidified its position as the behemoth of online sales, just like Wal-Mart did with brick and mortar retail few decades ago. Even traditional brick and mortar retailers, such as Staples, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart itself, have established online operations and are working hard to increase their online sales.
If the Great Recession of 2008 has taught one thing to individuals and small business owners it is to keep their financial house in order, including credit history, debt and savings. Many business owners with low credit score found it impossible to get a loan at the height of recession. Even those with good credit history had trouble convincing lenders that they had the wherewithal to pay back the loan. Many people realized the importance of financial planning in that time.
According to Andy Warhol, “An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have.”
You can also argue that art is an attempt to bring order out of chaos – and when it comes to your business’ washroom services, this statement can occasionally ring true.
Keeping your company’s washroom’s clean is an art, and the need for immaculate and well equipped toilet facilities should be top of any business owners list.
Why?
Your working environment can have a significant impact on your staff productivity. The office layout, wall colors, decoration and other surroundings can help or hinder the creativity and output produced. No wonder Google and many other companies spend so much attention and money on office buildings and furnitures.
What factors do you need to consider as you look to improve the working environment to boost productivity, creativity and employee retention for your company? Here are some ideas:
Many small business owners consider the cost of electricity as fixed and do not pay much attention to it. They receive a monthly bill in the mail, make a payment and move on with their daily business. For some, even if they want to do something about it, they feel helpless thinking that they do not have many options to save on electricity, other than to cut the usage.
While this may have been true in the past, many options have opened up recently that can help small business owners save money on their electric bills. Some of the options are driven by the elimination of monopoly and rise of competitors. Companies such as commercial electricity suppliers British Gas have been very proactive in helping business owners with ideas and presenting them with alternatives that can be tailored for specific situations.
The times when the Internet was just a haunt for geeks are over. It’s not even a novelty that in today’s world, everything is now online. The World Wide Web is now such an essential and integral part of our world that if the Internet ceased to exist tomorrow, the economy would be brought to a standstill. However, what is (relatively) new is that people are no longer limiting themselves to just passively reading and searching the web. Nowadays, anyone can actively contribute to the Internet and almost everyone does: Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Google Plus – these are just the most obvious examples. Online, the possibilities are endless and if you want your business to stand out in today’s market, you simply can’t ignore this trend.
Event marketing is one of the areas that don’t get as much attention from small business owners as other types of marketing. Most business owners are comfortable spending money with advertising on traditional media such as newspaper, magazine, radio, TV or Internet. Advertising on these media does not take much time and effort and is deemed to be proven over number of years.
However, if you are not participating in exhibitions and events such as trade shows, home shows and such you may be missing out on one of the best avenues of putting your business name in front of potential customers who are already interested in your products.
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Making an impact on the World Wide Web can be daunting for small businesses. The initial instinct is often to appeal to the largest audience possible online. However, when your brick and mortar business is located in a provincial town, small businesses can benefit better from local SEO than an all-encompassing search strategy. Optimising local search listings can help small businesses increase their online presence with limited budget.
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Relocating your business office requires a lot of planning and attention to details. You may have to temporarily close or scale down your operation, which can result in financial loss. Your new location may inconvenience your existing customers and business associates. In your hurry or enthusiasm, you may overlook many things crucial to the success of your business. Therefore, you must plan your business relocation with utmost care and execute every step meticulously.
Here are 6 tips on how to relocate your small business office:
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Most companies now use at least some level of social media to promote their business. Assuming your company uses this method of promotion, it is important to ensure that your online message is professional and consistent.
Large companies create detailed social media policies to make clear to staff exactly how their businesses can and should contribute to these online platforms. This ensures that the company creates the correct impression across all of their online presence – from blog posts to Twitter “tweets.”
Given the high visibility and spontaneous nature of social media, it is fair to say that creating a social media policy is equally important for a smaller business, to ensure that costly mistakes are not made when interacting with customers online.
