Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Chris Ingram has considerable experience of building and managing rapid-growth firms and is widely regarded as the inventor of the modern media agency. According to Ingram, buying a business is the easy bit - it's what you do after that counts.
Buying and selling a company
Finding and selling to customers
A well-designed brand identity can boost sales, ensuring your customers remember your business in a favourable light and come back time and again.
Buying and selling a company
Chris Ingram has considerable experience of building and managing rapid-growth firms and is widely regarded as the inventor of the modern media agency. According to Ingram, buying a business is the easy bit - it's what you do after that counts.
Finding and selling to customers
A well-designed brand identity can boost sales, ensuring your customers remember your business in a favourable light and come back time and again.
Blog
Mike Southon co-founded, built and sold his own company in the 80s, and worked on 17 start-ups in the 90s, specialising in sales and marketing.
News
Small firms are among the chief benefactors of the explosion of internet retail, a new study has claimed.
Business management
Ian Merricks began his career as a record promoter in 1996, specialising in youth media. In 2007, he raised private equity for the MBO of media and marketing company Itchy Group, for whom he has overseen five acquisitions and several million pounds of private investment. SmallBusiness.co.uk sat down for a cup of tea with him to find out the secret to his success.
Advice
Many companies don't want to buy freehold premises, preferring to take a lease for a set number of years or 'term'. Nicola Heaney of Sherrards Solicitors explains what to look out for when taking a leasehold premises.
Legal advice
Entrepreneurial businesses can make their fortunes through intellectual property. If they can hang onto it long enough, that is. Robert Tyerman investigates the murky world of IP protection
News
Ten franchisees have reached the National Finals of the 2006 bfa Franchisee of the Year Awards and will now battle it out for the top prize of £5,000 at the Awards Dinner before the National Franchise Exhibition in October.
Marketing
Even in the fad-friendly world of the internet, podcasting has become something of a phenomenon of late. But is podcasting simply the latest craze being toyed with by creative media types or is there more commercial substance behind it? Opinion is divided.
News
The majority of small business owners are opting for snappy, memorable names for their start-up operations, rather than the traditional choice of family names in a bid to simultaneously reflect their product and appeal to customers.
Finding and selling to customers
When consumers are considering which product or service to spend their money on, an obvious consideration is price. Christian Nellemann offers some advice to small businesses looking to compete on price.
Investing in a franchise
Wouldn't it be great if there was a way you could start a business of your own with a much greater chance of survival than the average start-up? Well, there is and that method is called business format franchising and here's how it works...
Partner content
Business broadband offers a host of advantages over standard domestic connections, here’s why you should be considering an upgrade
Partner content
As with any supplier, it’s important to do your research and ask important questions before you select a broadband provider for your business. But what are the must-have things you should take into consideration?
Partner content
Analogue phone systems are increasingly being replaced by smarter broadband based networks – here’s why you should consider switching
Partner content
David Malan, sales director of DocuWare for the UK and Ireland, explains how the platform can streamline your document management