Defining your specific customer segment, or segments, is a crucial step towards accurately and effectively marketing your product or service. The more specific your customer segmentation, the more you will understand your customers’ needs and be able to sell to them successfully. Customer segments are the different groups of people that your product or service is designed to reach. You could group them by common demographics, common needs, or common behaviours – whatever you choose, it is important to make sure that this information aligns with your goals and business plans. A bank, for example, would find it more useful to define customer segments based on net worth, or account needs, than to define their customers based on geography, whereas a clothing company may find age and gender to be more useful categories than ones based on common needs (everyone, after all, needs clothes). It could help to build up an imaginary profile of a customer for each segment you have identified as an exercise to better identify customer needs and to help you adapt your customer journey. You could even create a storyboard of your customer journey, for example, this one by Airbnb which illustrates the experience of two Airbnb guests throughout the customer journey. It is also important to identify your market type. A mass market would be like one catered to by supermarkets: a large group of undefined customers with broadly similar needs (food). A niche market caters to extremely specific customer segments and is increasingly viable as online trading becomes easier and more popular. A segmented market is serves similar, but still distinct, customer segments, with a slightly different value proposition for each. A diversified market caters to two or more completely unrelated customer segments each with a totally different value proposition; and multi-sided markets serve two different but interdependent segments (returning to Airbnb, their customers are both guests and hosts, both have very different needs from Airbnb but are dependent on each other). Once you have segmented your customers and identified your market, it is important to then use this information to your advantage. At the most basic level, customer segmentation lets you to make more tailored, and therefore more effective, marketing campaigns, allowing you to adjust offers, communications methods and even pricing to attract and retain different customer segments. Personalization can be a key factor in customer retention – 91% of customers would base repeat purchase on great customer experience, and over 60% expect to have their unique needs and expectations understood and taken into account by brands. Customer loyalty then drives up the customer lifetime value, or how much a particular customer is worth to you over the whole course of their time as a customer. Not only are acquisition costs much higher than retention costs, but though only 12-15% of consumers may be loyal to a single retailer, they can account for between 55 and 70% of sales. Segmenting your customers allows you to spend more time building relationships with the most profitable customers without alienating others. To find out more about how the SME Centre of Excellence has helped thousands of businesses to #start, #survive and #thrive have a look at our website: Business Support | Business Growth | Newcastle upon Tyne (smecofe.com)

April marks the beginning of the new financial year, and what better time than to review (or create) a financial plan for your business? Almost all companies perform some kind of financial planning or budgeting, but there are particular reasons why a financial plan is important for start-ups specifically: You need one to build an economically viable business. Why? Because by quantifying (and then validating) your business plan and business model, assumptions and vision you are able to find out whether you can turn your ideas into a sustainably operating business. Moreover, if you build different versions (“scenarios”) you are better prepared for the future, especially if things do not go the way you planned. What if you launch half a year later? Or what happens if there is a Pandemic? Answering such a question in your “worst-case scenario” helps you anticipate how your cash flow, profitability and funding need are impacted. You need one as part of the fundraising process. Financiers will typically ask you for a financial plan when you engage with them to raise funding, whether them being angel investors, VCs, banks or subsidy providers. Certain investors will require more details than others, but building a model is wise even if you only need to provide them with high-level data. Why? Because it helps you answer the tricky questions a financier might have when he or she dives into your business case. Moreover, how are you planning to raise funding if you did not properly calculate how much funding you actually need? You need one to inform yourself and shareholders. How do you know how your company is doing if you don’t have any targets to achieve or steering information to compare against? How are you going to update your shareholders on how you are spending their money and whether you are performing as promised without any financial plan to benchmark against? You will need a forecast to do so. There are two different ways to look at your financial model. You could use the top-down approach to forecasting which typically takes industry estimates as a starting point and which are then narrowed down into targets that are fit for your company. This creates a forecast based on the market share you would like to capture within a reasonable timeframe using the TAM SAM SOM model. To narrow your potential sales target from the total worldwide market for your product/service (Total Addressable Market or TAM), to the part of that market that aligns with your niche and location (Serviceable Available Market or SAM), and finally to the part of this market that you can realistically capture and serve (Serviceable Obtainable Market or SOM). SOM is therefore equal to your sales target as it represents the value of the market share you aim to capture. Based on the sales targets you define, the next step is to estimate all costs that are needed to build or deliver your product or service and all expenses that are needed to perform all sales and marketing, research and development, and general and administrative tasks for your company to stay alive. The other method to create a financial model is Bottom-up forecasting. This focuses less on industry statistics than on those already produced by your company, for example, sales data or internal capacity, to estimate sales targets and costs. It can be useful to do both of these methods when you build your start-up’s forecast. Use the bottom-up method for your short-term forecast (1-2 years ahead) and the top-down method for the longer term (3-5 years ahead). This makes you able to substantiate and defend your short-term targets very well and your long-term targets demonstrate the desired market share and the ambition an investor is looking for. Contact SME CofE for more information or support on this topic.

The Tees Valley Business Hub powered by the SME Centre of Excellence is proud to sponsor the Unsung Hero award category as part of the Tees Tech Awards taking place on 1st July. Read the full article here.

The North East’s global trade, inward investment and export potential has been showcased as part of an international delegation that welcomed the Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey, Chris Gaunt OBE, to the region. Mr Gaunt was welcomed to the North East by business leaders Ammar Mirza CBE, Imran Khaliq (Gainford Group) and Mike Clark (Dysart Developments), as part of ongoing discussions to enhance and shape bi-lateral opportunities as well as strategic collaborations moving forward. Finishing the afternoon, Mr Gaunt was hosted by the Gainford Group at the Vermont Hotel in Newcastle where a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Chamber of Commerce in Turkey and the SME Centre of Excellence, to formalise the partnership and cooperation between the two regions. Championing North East businesses across a diverse range of sectors, the reception discussed potential inward investment, job creation and emerging markets and industries as well as the proposed, multi-million pound ‘International Space Station’, a dedicated, centre of excellence ‘trade hub’ soon to be constructed at AirView Park. The new 10,200 sq ft office development, next to Newcastle International Airport, will help SMEs launch, scale up and take advantage of export routes whilst also supporting in-bound trade from overseas. Ammar Mirza CBE, explained, “We are very much looking ahead with great positivity and optimism, and visits such as this one with the Chairman present a fantastic opportunity to cement those working relationships further and build back stronger together. “By opening up new collaborative opportunities between the North East, Turkey and other overseas nations, we can take huge advantage of the export links right here on our doorstep and proactively drive forward our region’s recovery and growth. “It was an honour to welcome Mr Gaunt to the region. I’m certain this will become the foundation for more mutually-beneficial discussions and new trade partnerships with local and overseas businesses in the future.” Editor’s notes: AirView Park is a commercial property development by Tynexe Commercial Ltd, a private limited company owned by Dysart Developments Limited and Newcastle City Council. The company was originally formed to deliver regeneration projects in the West End of Newcastle upon Tyne and has gone on to develop high quality residential, commercial and mixed-use regeneration schemes across the City. This includes Armstrong Industrial Park in Newcastle upon Tyne, the Newcastle Eagles Stadium and an 84-unit social housing scheme for Home Group. Dysart Developments Ltd is one of the North East of England’s most successful property developers, delivering land, residential, commercial and mixed-use retail/leisure schemes across the region for over 35 years. The company’s portfolio includes retail developments such as Asda Superstore in Blyth, Northumberland, and Tesco Superstore in Consett, County Durham, high quality residential schemes including Chase Farm, a 1,000-unit housing development in Blyth, Northumberland, as well as commercial/industrial property developments such as the restoration of Tynemouth Station, a historic, grade II-listed railway building, Newcastle Business Park, home to organisations including British Airways and The AA, the Science Centre on behalf of Durham University, and the redevelopment of Derwentside College, an 800-acre regeneration scheme known as the Genesis Project in County Durham (including the regeneration of the former Consett Steelworks site). Current and future developments include a 500-unit housing scheme in County Durham, the redevelopment of a former bus station into retail space and luxury residential properties in Hexham town centre, and a 100-hectare, mixed use retail/leisure scheme in South East Northumberland. SME Centre of Excellence provides business support to SMEs across the country through tailored support packages and recommendations. With a network of specialists and experts, the SME Centre of Excellence seeks to provide all business owners with the right support at the right time to help them start, survive and thrive.

When you’re growing a business, it can be really difficult to keep your costs under control as your sales grow. Your new success could even give you a false sense of security, making big investments seem more workable than they really are. Here is a checklist of things you don’t want to do: Over-promising – a customer wants large order, really quickly. To keep the order, you agree to do the impossible. Under-delivering – when you can’t fulfil the large order really quickly, the customer becomes unhappy. Quality dropping – you were rushing, cut a few corners, now, surprise surprise, the work is not quite up to scratch. Late paying – Let down and disappointed, the customer holds on to payment while arguing quality. Slow supplying – your new payments and work burden is passed down the supply chain and, suddenly, suppliers who have never let you down before, do now. Slow learning – hiring more staff to meet the demand initially seems like a good idea, but then output falls as your existing people train the new staff up. Space cramping – you have more staff, more equipment, more products. Your workspace starts to feel a little cramped. Systems struggling – those basic systems (that paper-based account book, for example, that worked well when you were just starting) are suddenly straining under the pressure of more people and higher turnovers. Time disappearing – with so much to do you can’t find a spare moment to take a breath. Partner panicking – you’re stressing out and, instead of going home for some peace, your partner has picked up on your stress and asks you a million, worried questions. Top tips to get through a potentially difficult growth stage: Schedule – scheduling your work enables you to allocate time and resources and to plan when you need to do things. This also makes it easier for you to tell customers when their job is scheduled so that they know when you expect to deliver. Which leads nicely onto… Communicate – good communication helps you build a reputation for being honest, reliable and realistic. If a delay is expected, let the customer know. If you can complete the order more quickly than anticipated, let the customer know. You can’t be angry if you are kept fully informed. Think about how you could communicate more effectively. Evaluate – review each job you do. Did you complete it within budget? Did you complete it on time? Did you record the time it took? You need to look at what you have already done to be able to effectively plan for what you will do. Try to create a culture of continuous improvements.

Independent tech consultancy Opencast has formalised its close relationship with the UK’s armed forces community. The company has signed the Ministry of Defence-backed Armed Forces Covenant, confirming its commitment to serving military personnel, former servicemen and women and reservists. In a signing ceremony at 101 (Northumbrian) Regiment’s Napier Armoury in Gateshead last week, Opencast’s chief people officer Cate Kalson and client relationship director Richard Handley joined army top brass from the region, including honorary colonel Ammar Mirza CBE, alongside other army representatives. As well as signing the covenant, this summer Opencast was recognised by the government-backed Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS), acknowledging businesses that "have provided exceptional support to the armed forces community and defence by going above and beyond their covenant pledges.” The three-tier ERS approach of bronze, silver and gold awards recognises the levels of commitment to the covenant pledges and beyond provided by employers – and allows the MoD publicly to thank and honour those businesses for their support. Opencast has initially been granted bronze accreditation under the ERS – and is now seeking to step up to silver then gold accreditation. Welcoming Opencast’s commitment, Ammar said: “The Armed Forces Covenant is a voluntary pledge made by employers to demonstrate their appreciation of the significant and sustained contribution of our armed forces. “Whether it be cadets, regular, reserves or veterans, the North of England contributes more personnel than any other area. That is why it is wonderful to see fellow North East-based companies like Opencast signing up, recognising the skills developed and positive attitude that accompany every member of our armed forces. “Following the example of this leading values-driven organisation, I hope that others in and beyond the North East will be encouraged to get involved and support our armed forces.” Newcastle-headquartered Opencast’s commitment to the armed forces was driven by the arrival to the business this year of Richard, formerly a captain in the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Commenting on the signing, Richard said: “We want Opencast to be a leading light in the community as a forces-friendly employer. The values and ambitions of Opencast align to the Armed Forces Covenant, as well as a commitment to the ERS – and we are aiming for the gold award. “Opencast is committed to ensuring the company does more to help those who are serving and have served. We are always on the look-out for great people and there is a constant pipeline of talent leaving the armed forces. Many of them are enthusiastic, tech-savvy soldiers wanting to build a second career.” He added: “Soldiers very often have the right attitudes, skills and discipline to fit straight into an agile team – it’s the way we train, even if we didn’t use the same terminology. These people can be our tech wizards of the future.” The company’s chief people officer Cate Kalson said: “Opencast is a caring employer that is always looking to give something back. Our pledge and commitment are a part of this. Who better to support than those who have served their country and those that continue to serve as reservists? “I’d like Opencast to help service personnel bring their skills and mindset from the armed forces into exciting, meaningful technology careers.” Cate added: “Opencast is firmly behind plans to help and support former servicemen and women and reservists. This is part of our wider commitment to making an impact on the region and its people. It’s fantastic to have met the leadership team at 101 (Northumbrian) Regiment and started to build real links between our organisations.” Opencast revealed an ambitious plan earlier this year to employ 500 people by 2025 to enable the company to tackle ever larger and more complex client challenges. The team is now nearly 200 strong. Joining forces (left to right): Richard Handley (Opencast client relationship director), Lt Col Peter Winton (commanding officer, 101 Regiment Royal Artillery, Lee Kennedy (regimental sergeant major, 101 Regiment), Cate Kalson (Opencast chief people officer) and Ammar Mirza CBE (honorary colonel, 101 Regiment) at the signing of the Armed Forces Covenant at Napier Armoury in Gateshead on 8 December 2021.

"Innovation is creating new value and/or capturing value in a new way. Value is the keyword, stressing the difference between innovation and invention.” This quote is from Victor Fernandes, one of the directors of the cosmetics company, Natura. It encompasses the meaning of business model innovation. Innovating your business model is increasing important for companies as the world’s technology continues to advance, creating new ways of working and new consumer demands. During the Covid-19 lockdowns, many businesses were forced to innovate to keep trading in the new market conditions. Looking at ways in which you can adjust the way your business captures or delivers value can be a useful exercise to stay ahead of your competition and ensure that you remain relevant in a quickly changing market. One of the most famous examples of a business that failed to do this is Blockbuster, who, while streaming services such as Netflix began to dominate the market, insistently kept their brick-and-mortar stores, renting out physical films. A more recent example of Business model innovation is Facebook, or Meta, which recently transferred its focus away from the social media platforms that had established its success and into the “metaverse”, or “the next evolution of social connection”. Not only would the Metaverse deliver value in new ways (through Virtual and Augmented reality experiences), but the requirement to buy the right technology to take part in these systems is also creates a new method for capturing value. However, the success of this innovation is yet to be determined. One company that successfully innovated its business model is Microsoft, which launched Office 365 (now Microsoft 365) in 2017 as a subscription service for their Microsoft Office products and services that had previously been sold on a one-off basis. This allows them to collect income on a continuous basis as subscriptions are renewed monthly or yearly while offering users automatic updates and access to their files across all their devices. To begin innovating your business model, it is important to consider what it is that your customer wants to do and the pains and gains associated with those tasks: the right side of the value proposition. Blockbuster’s customers just wanted to watch movies and, once it was no longer a necessity, the trip to the store to pick up and return physical DVDs became an insurmountable obstacle to the company’s continued survival. Even small adjustments to a business model can make a surprisingly large difference and business model innovation is an effective tool to ensure continued growth.

Starting or running a business may feel more challenging than ever before due to the volume of businesses that exist. In 2020, over 6 million SMEs (Small-medium enterprise) existed within the UK alone. Despite these high levels of competition, we are going to provide you with 8 reasons why people should buy from you. Authenticity Your brand is unique. Similar to people, everyone is unique and no one person is the same. This is something you can use to your advantage so that you stand out from the crowd and it gives people a reason to buy from you. This is because people enjoy authenticity. The world would be boring if everything was a clone so why should your business. Authenticity shouldn’t be difficult because all you need to do is stay true to yourself or the brand. Do not try to become something you are not. Your unique selling point For customers to buy from you, there needs to be something unique about your product or service that you are offering. This factor could be the features of the product or even the quality. Either way, you need to identify a way for your product or service to deliver something special, otherwise, your customers can easily justify buying from your competitors. Trust In every relationship with your customers, you need to build trust. Without trust, there is no certainty for customers and this increases the likelihood of customers shopping elsewhere. One study has found that 81% of consumers buy based on trust (Edelman, 2019). This significant figure proves that you need to leverage your brand to establish trust with your customers so that they have a strong incentive to buy from you and become future loyal customers. Price Potentially the most obvious reason why a customer would consider buying from you or not is price. What is not so obvious is the reasons why people buy based on price. You don’t always have to be the cheapest in the industry to win over your customers. Your quality and your unique selling point enable you to charge higher prices but you need to be able to illustrate this to customers. By illustrating your unique selling point or the value you have to offer, your customers can then justify making a purchase. Studies within behavioural economics have found that we as humans like to think we are rational. In reality, this is far from the truth. For example, why buy a £60,000 Porsche as a form of transport when there are more practical options available for £10,000. The reason is that there is a range of emotional factors to take into consideration that persuades and convince us that these products or services are worth the higher price tag. Now, there is also quality to account for but the point is that you need to understand what you or your products are worth to have any success in your market. Quality We mentioned quality as a factor of price and your unique selling point but it has also been included as a standalone factor due to the importance of convincing people to buy from you. It’s true to say that we all like to receive a high-quality service or product because quality tells us that something works and does the job we expected of it. From a business owners’ point of view, quality is everything and if you spend enough time on developing your product, it will sell itself. This is because your customers will receive a positive experience which they are likely to pass on this experience to friends and family. This ‘word of mouth’ can quickly build momentum and it is one of the most effective ways to gain new customers because we trust no one more than our friends and family. Experience The benefits of delivering a positive experience for your customers is similar to delivering high-quality. Customers that receive a positive customer experience are 77% more likely to recommend it to a friend. On other hand, customers who receive a bad experience are a lot more likely to tell a friend. Bad news spreads quicker than good news, unfortunately. If you want to give customers a reason to buy from you, make sure you provide them with a positive experience. Easy to access Making your product or service easy to access is super important in the modern world. With businesses like Amazon existing, customers can receive free next day. Not all your competitors will be up to the speed of Amazon but you need to consider how you can make your offering easily accessible for your customers. The less pain or friction they have in receiving your product or service, the more likely they are to buy from you and continue shopping with you in the future. Local This does not apply to everyone but if you are a local business, this could be a reason why customers decide to buy from you. More than 55% of UK customers have stated that they prefer to shop local and support the small-medium businesses that exist in their community. It’s a sense of community that provides some customers with the incentive to shop locally and this local support can be enough to keep a business running. As a local business owner, you might want to consider how you can contribute to the community. Not only is this a good way to give back but you might also sustain your business as a result. Grow your business with weekly insights Receive more insights just like this with tips from recognised experts delivered directly to your inbox. Get started here.

The growth of social media marketing As a small business, operating on a tight budget can be very common. Social media is one of the marketing channels that allow small businesses to operate in a cost-effective method whilst yielding strong, progressive results. As a result, social media marketing has grown at a significant rate in the past 10 years with more businesses utilising these platforms every year. Worldwide digital ad spend worldwide by the end of 2021 had reached a whopping $455 billion US dollars, and it's still growing at an impressive rate. Why is it important for your business? It’s clear that digital marketing accounts for a substantial amount of the world’s global ad spend which reflects the importance of this type of marketing. However, what does this actually mean for your business and why is it important? 1. Developing a presence on social media offers another location for your target audience to find out about you. As you begin to attract more people to your social media page, you can then start to educate them about your product or service. You can also start driving more traffic towards your website to educate them more and convert them to a valuable customer. Driving traffic towards your website or landing page should always be your end goal to help you generate more revenue and keep your business moving forward. 2. Cross-selling and up-selling are vital components in growing your business, it is one of the most important factors for increasing revenue. Social media allows you to execute these perfectly. Once a customer has interacted with you once, you can use all the data that social media holds to begin re-targeting these customers to promote more of your products and services to them with the aim of increasing revenue. 3. Social media is one of the most cost-effective methods for marketing your business and it is also one of the most useful tools for analysing return on investment. It is free to start a business page on social media and begin marketing, however, there are some costs involved. Social media marketing will start to consume a lot of your time as you grow your presence. Monitoring, listening and engaging in social conversation will increase and you will need to increase the amount of time you dedicate to doing these activities. This is an important point to consider because time is your most valuable asset. You may have the time available to manage social media or you may need to outsource this work so that you can focus on developing the core aspects of your business. The Risks of not using Social Media Quite a number of businesses have created and regularly review a risk register – it’s a great tool to understand the main risks that exist which could affect your business, how serious the risk is and the severity of the impact on the business. But how many of us have considered the direct consequence of not engaging in a structured digital media strategy and the effect of that on the business? In today's world, digital marketing is critical for success in business. Those that adopted the changing landscape early on have made fantastic strides in both their delivery but also the understanding of how to effectively manage their digital marketing, and usually, this is getting the realisation that an external team can have much more impact than a business owner. Typically, a lot of small businesses don’t engage with digital marketing for a number of reasons such as they believe they can’t afford it, they haven’t got the resources, they haven’t got the time and they haven’t got the skills or knowledge to generate the outcome they are looking for. While that statement is a general statement, it does make us ask the question – what are these businesses losing out on? What is the risk to businesses that don’t have a strong presence on digital marketing platforms? Let’s have a quick look at 4 key areas of risk that businesses may be missing: 1. You risk being out of the loop. Digital media, across all platforms, is a key channel for consumers to collect information and connect with other consumers. It is also a great opportunity for companies to engage with current customers, as well as potential customers, all over the world. By avoiding the use of digital marketing as a business tool, you run the risk of losing customers, credibility, and crucial information that can benefit your business. Even if you choose not to actively participate in discussions, you need to be aware and stay informed regarding conversations about your company. Don’t stick your head in the ground and hope for social media to “blow on by.” 2. You can’t respond to negative comments about your business. When customers are not satisfied with your product or service, one of the first things many will do is complain on Twitter or Facebook, or they will write a bad review online. If you are not actively keeping tabs on these discussions and reviews, they can hurt your reputation and cost you potential business. How can you protect your brand if you don’t know what’s being said about it online? Social media is now, arguably, the default platform for customer service. Instead of calling you to complain on a personal level, consumers want to send businesses a tweet or post something on a Facebook page. More and more sites are becoming mainstream, which allows customers the chance to review your product or service – so it is critical you’re aware of all comments around your organisation. However, if customers have a relationship with your company, they are much less likely to take such actions and will instead send you an email or a private message about the problem. You can use digital marketing to start and define that relationship moving forward. 3. You risk missing the positive comments about your business. Customers also leave positive feedback online about companies with which they do business. However, if they believe their comments won’t be read by the companies they are praising, satisfied customers are less likely to leave feedback. Additionally, positive comments can drive forward positive digital marketing – I mean, we all want to work with or buy from businesses we know are successful right. 4. You risk giving your competitors an unfair advantage. If your competitors are active on social media and you aren't, your rivals already have a leg up on winning business from potential customers. Gaining customers is difficult enough using traditional methods (which also can take a considerable amount of time and money, with limited success), but to knowingly offer your competitors an advantage can perhaps be the difference between being in business and not? Furthermore, if you don’t allow for comparisons and can’t answer questions in real-time, you perhaps run the risk of customers disengaging from your business due to a lack of perceived response. A recent study from SuperOffice found that the average time it took the businesses questioned was 12 hours. Now, that might not seem like an unrealistic time frame, but some organisations were super responsive and managed to return a response within 1 minute! Unless your product or service is overwhelmingly superior, this is one risk you cannot afford to take! We would always encourage our customers to be vigilant to the response times over social media platforms. Why do small businesses need social media even more-so It’s common for small businesses to misunderstand the importance of social media when it comes to growing their business. Many don’t use it at all and some find it challenging to apply. Digital One of the most important aspects of social media is the power it gives you to take your business digital. Platforms such as Facebook now give you the option to add products and services to your page so that you can sell directly through the platform. Facebook also lets you make appointments and bookings via a calendar system so there is something for everyone to benefit from as a small business. This feature has become more important in recent months with the pandemic that has shaken the business world. Having a system in place that allows you to do business with customers online is a must and you will only benefit from more business further down the line. Even when taking a look into the future, it is clear to see that consumer behaviours are changing and more people will continue to shop online once the pandemic has passed. Social media also makes it easy to connect your website with the platforms that are available to you. For this reason, social media should not be considered “just another marketing channel”. Instead, you should be looking at it as part of your customer’s journey and user experience. The available platforms have become advanced to a point where it is easy to automate your customer’s experience and deliver them to a high standard. Connect with customers locally, nationally and globally As mentioned in the previous section, social media is a great route to taking your business digital. The main benefit of going digital is also going global. Once your business is online and running digitally, you can begin serving your customers on a local, national and global scale. This also means that your customers can find you from anywhere in the world and interact with you at any time. There is a concept known as the ‘shrinking world effect’ which explains how technology has impacted the world we live in. The idea is that technology such as social media is making it much easier to communicate with people and businesses across the world. Social media has now made it possible to interact, engage and purchase from our favourite global brands by simply using our smartphones. If you are looking to take your business national or global, then social media is a good place to start. It will provide you with the infrastructure and data needed to access these markets and it will help you to boost your exposure. Hyper targeting Facebook now has over 2 billion active users on its platform. This means they have access to an incredible source of data, helping them to understand each individual’s interests and behaviours. Through Facebook paid advertising, we can use this data to hyper-target our ideal target audience. For example, if you are a business that sells cat toys you could target people who have an interest in cats and are part of the most popular cat group on Facebook. Doing this will allow you to put your message in front of the audience that is most likely to be your customer. This is good for your business because you won’t be wasting money displaying a message to people who have no interest in your product/service. Customer Service Social media platforms such as Twitter are fantastic for providing answers to your customers and solving their problems. Twitter is best used as a way to solve your customer’s problems rather than looking to monetise the channel. You might notice that a lot of the big brands and organisations will have a dedicated Twitter page for customer service issues. This is because the platform is set up in a way that makes it very easy for a user to address their issue publicly by tagging the company in their posts. As a business, you need to carry out ‘social listening’ to make sure you know what your customers are talking about. If they have tweeted about an issue, then addressing this publicly could benefit you as well as the customer. For example, the customer will receive an answer to their problem helping to build a relationship with that individual and other potential customers will be able to see how friendly and effectively you deal with customer issues, helping to build your reputation. How Businesses use social media for marketing There are now over 3 billion users across the globe using social media (Statista). With over 50% of the world’s population using these platforms, it’s no surprise to see more businesses using social media as a way to connect with their audience. In 2022, you’re probably aware of this potential, so in this guide, we want to inform you on how businesses should be using the platforms to get the best return on investment. Why are businesses using social media? Social media isn’t all about engaging with as many people as possible and gaining millions of new customers. Yes, these are all great but there are multiple objectives that you should be setting yourself to focus your social media marketing efforts. Here are a few examples of social media objectives which will inform you on how you should be using social media: · Engagement · Reach / Exposure · Conversions · Relativity · Sentiment · Community These core principles highlight the reasons why businesses are using social media in 2020. Not all of these objectives can be assigned a monetary value so it is hard to measure the return on investment for your business. However, if we take something like sentiment, we understand that this can have a positive impact on the way your audience/customers feel which can have a direct impact on the choices they make. If you are unsure on how you can measure relativity and sentiment, it’s simple. You want to keep an eye on the way people react to your posts. Are they liking your post? Are they loving your post? Are they angry with your post? These reactions tell you if the content in the post is relevant to the audience and if it is having a positive impact on their life. A positive reaction is great because it can tell you how good your content is and how relative it is to the audience. Is social media right for your business? Many people will say that social media isn’t the right choice for their business, specifically those operating in B2B. Now, social media can work for any business, but you need to be selective with your platforms. For example, if you are operating in B2B, you want to focus your attention on LinkedIn. Don’t waste resources on a platform like Instagram if your audience isn’t hanging out on that platform. Double down on your strengths! There is also the argument that businesses operating in B2B can utilise Facebook as part of their social media marketing strategy. This is down to the fact that Facebook has over 2 billion users worldwide. You are bound to find your audience within 2 billion people, but it could be more challenging. The only way you will know if this works for you is by testing. With regards to B2C businesses, there are a wide variety of platforms to select from. To get you started, think about your ideal customer and the type of business you are. If you are an artist wanting to showcase your work, then you need to select a visual platform like Instagram or Pinterest. All B2C businesses should be using Facebook due to the power it offers and the user base it possesses. Once again, you can only know if the platform is right for you through testing. The main point to note is that you should never chase all social media platforms. Be very selective and focus all your energy into building an amazing community. How much will it cost you? Calculating the cost of running social media marketing is extremely variable. First of all, you need to decide if you are going to be using paid promotion. If you are using paid promotion (which is recommended) you can set yourself a monthly budget so that it is easy for you to forecast. With regards to daily posting and organic (non-paid) social media you need to factor in time and the labour cost. Social media is a very time-consuming gig, so you need to very clear if you can afford to do this yourself or whether you need to bring someone in to support. You also need to factor in all the in-direct costs. This can include the software packages you are paying for to create content for social media. Ultimately, the cost of social media marketing comes down to how much you are willing to invest. However, there will be a minimum investment of both time and money that is required for you to be successful on these social media platforms so you need to know if this is a marketing approach you can afford. At the SME Centre of Excellence, we have brought together credible support all in one location to help businesses find the right support, at the right time, for the right price. Which Social Media should you be using? The marketing features available on social media allow you to carry out marketing campaigns in a way that you may never have done before. This is because social media tracks all the activity on your business page, and you can use this data to fine-tune your campaigns and achieve greater results. Remember, businesses grow from data so it’s vital that you’re extracting this data and monitoring it continuously to improve future campaigns. Utilising Facebook Paid Ads With roughly 2.85 billion monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2021, Facebook is the biggest social network worldwide. Having the most users of all the social media platforms, with nearly a quarter of the entire world on it, Facebook should be your given number one platform to grow your business on. However, this isn't the only reason. Facebook has a fantastic integrated shop for business pages, where you can showcase your products, list off all contact information a customer might need, can provide directions on maps, and easily post content and media, or update followers on current matters. One of the main attractions to social media marketing is Facebook adverts. Creating a paid advert on Facebook can allow any business to meet their objectives. Objectives you can meet through Facebook ads: Increase brand awareness Increase reach Increase engagement Receive more video views Generate leads Increase Conversions With such a wide range of objectives available, Facebook ads are the most universal form of marketing when it comes to social media. There are also more than 3 billion users on Facebook, so you are likely to find your target audience. In addition to this, Facebook also has a huge amount of data available because of their large user base. Can I access data and is this important for me? Yes, you can access this data and it is the most valuable asset for your marketing activities. The audience insights tool on Facebook will allow you to find people within your target audience who might find value in your ad and would therefore interact with your ad. Taking an alternative approach through LinkedIn LinkedIn is a platform that could add a lot of value to your marketing efforts, however, it may not be the right platform for your business. LinkedIn is a perfect platform for any B2B business. The tonality and messages on LinkedIn are professional so you must take a lot of care when creating content as it will differ from Facebook quite a lot. The audience on LinkedIn are often searching for content that will add value to their business or career. What is the best approach to take on LinkedIn? Creating blogs and video tutorials is a very effective approach to take on LinkedIn because it’s engaging content that will add a lot of value to your audience. Use blogs to share insights into your industry and your business, as well as, providing tips and tricks that will help your audience. Rich content like this will keep your audience coming back for more every week. The bonus of sharing blogs on LinkedIn is that you can start generating more traffic toward your website and this is the ultimate end goal for your social media efforts. Microblogging to the masses on Twitter Twitter has roughly 350 million monthly users, making it the third-largest media platform. It is a very successful way of creating good public relations, as many officials and important people can be recognised with their 'verified' symbol, knowing which accounts can be trusted to provide official information. Having a corporation set up through twitter to interact with customers is very much the norm these days, but this can also be used for business to business communications. However, ignoring advertisements (which can actually be 1-3% more effective than Facebooks adverts), there isn't many features to adapt your account to be a business page. Once again, the style of marketing on Twitter changes from Facebook and LinkedIn. Pushing out promotional material that focuses on selling will not gain any real traction for your business. Twitter is a microblogging site and people want to use this platform to find out interesting updates and insights. Start pushing out content that provides your audience with live updates on your business and takes them behind the scenes. This type of content fits the style of Twitter and adds an element of exclusivity for your audience. With this element of exclusivity, you will start to build a larger following in no time! Instagram Insider With roughly one billion monthly active users, Instagram is second only to Facebook in user count. Instagram is a great place to exhibit images and videos to help you create your brand image, but also allows very easy analytics insights with its comments and likes features, similarly to Facebook. People can visit a shop from a business' Instagram profile or access it through feed and stories. Once they're at the shop, they can browse products, explore collections and purchase products - seamlessly through the in-app browser. Instagram, however, is a primarily youthful audience, so using it as a prime media platform should entirely depend on your target market. Instagram is very similar to LinkedIn in the sense that it may not be right for your business. However, if Instagram is a good fit for your business then the effectiveness of this platform is huge. Instagram is a visual platform which means you must produce attractive content to get any sort of traction. The businesses that benefit the most from Instagram are the ones that offer a very visual product or service. For example, an interior designer will get a huge return on investment from Instagram because they have a huge range of designs that they want to share with the world. A photographer is another great example of this. Photographers can use Instagram to generate a portfolio of their work to demonstrate the quality of service they offer. We recommend having an active page on all of these platforms, to maximise SEO and traffic back to your main site, but advise Facebook to be your primary active account, being the most popular and seemingly most convenient to set up a Business page with. What next for my business? If you are looking to start social media marketing for your business, the four platforms mentioned above are the major players when it comes to marketing. Getting started on these platforms will be a great beginning for your online marketing efforts. Focus on building a presence on one platform before moving onto multiple platforms. We do recommend having an active page on all of these platforms, to maximise SEO and traffic back to your main site, but advise Facebook to be your primary active account, being the most popular and seemingly most convenient to set up a Business page with. However, we understand that managing multiple platforms requires a lot of time, time that you might not have when focusing on growing your business. If time is a major challenge in your business, our social media team are here to take away some of that pressure away. How SME CofE can help Here at the SME Centre of Excellence, we have first hand experience of business of all sizes. In fact, most of our staff team are also currently self employed and successful in their own businesses – so we know, first hand, what it means to you when you want to develop your brand using a digital marketing approach. Here are a few figures that you might not have known around digital marketing which we feel are important when looking for external support: 59% of businesses outsource their digital marketing to cut costs – this is a great way to generate additional clients without the usual costs associated with employing staff members And while you’re working with us, you’re focusing on your core business activities – 57% of businesses prefer this route than doing marketing themselves. 47% of businesses use outsourcing as a way to solve capacity issues – we’re all looking for additional capacity in our business – this is an excellent way to achieve that additional capacity at an affordable cost. You could even consider using bots to automate the repeatable tasks within your organisation. So, let’s look at some of the benefits of working with SME Centre of Excellence around your digital marketing needs: You get a full team of marketing experts As the managing director or owner of a business, we all know that finding top talent can be hard. The latest Aldermore Future Attitudes report reveals that two thirds (67%) of SMEs, representing 3.82 million small and medium sized businesses across the UK, find it difficult to hire qualified staff members or keep existing talent in the company. With the SME Centre of Excellence you get an integrated services offer that can handle all marketing aspects of your business. This means that for a fixed price, you get an entire team of experts at your disposal. You can reduce costs and risks It’s easy to forget that the cost of a new employee goes way beyond a person’s salary. It also includes recruiting, training and other intangible costs which can be elusive. In fact, some employers, face an average employment cost of £50,000 per worker in their first year, based on a £27,600 salary. By developing a relationship with SME Centre of Excellence, you can future-proof your business without risking investing time and resources in an employee who doesn’t have the right experience or is simply a bad fit for the role. You don’t need to train staff Providing employee training is the scaffold to business growth and is also essential to remain competitive in your niche. However, training also presents a lot of challenges to businesses – and costs! The best thing about working with us is that you don’t have to go through the whole training process. Our digital marketing team already have the depth and breadth of skills needed to help you achieve increased brand awareness. You can focus on the core of your business If you’re focusing on other activities for a couple of hours every day, other than the core of your business, your talent is being wasted. Rather than effectively concentrating on core business competencies or activities, you’re focusing on issues that are less critical or you have less expertise in. Working with an agency will allow you to free up internal resources to focus on what you do best. Partnering with SME Centre of Excellence means that your team will also be able to focus on the areas where they can make the best use of their time. Your marketing won’t suffer as a result of staff problems or annual leave A key to successful marketing is consistency. However, staff with numerous responsibilities or understaffed teams may feel overwhelmed when they cannot deliver on time or meet targets. In 2016, according to figures released from ONS, there were 137.3million working days lost to employee sickness costing employers on average £570 per employee. As we have a team of digital marketing experts, you will never experience downtime in your digital marketing activities and can feel confident that your brand awareness will continue to increase. You get an on-demand service Do you have too much work, so your employees struggle to deliver on time, but at the same time, not enough so you can’t justify hiring a new member of staff? That’s where our services come in handy, they serve as an extension of your own team and you can get them involved on projects you need some extra help with. This makes it easy to scale your marketing efforts as needed. Additionally, if you are working with an agency in the long run, you can always consult them on upcoming campaigns and use their expertise in the field. Two heads, or in our case teams, are always better than one. An outside perspective on your business There is no doubt that you know your business better than anyone else. Yet, your perspective is one-sided. The harder you focus on something, the less you actually see, sometimes missing easy-to-spot mistakes or gaps in your process. Here at the SME Centre of Excellence, we’re happy to offer a different viewpoint on your messages through our regular reporting mechanism. Social media marketing is growing year on year and it can’t be ignored. The importance of a business being on social media and remaining active has skyrocketed. It can now be more harmful to a business when they are not present on social media because more and more customers are using these platforms to find products and services which meet their needs. We have the expertise to increase your brand on various platforms – so get in touch with us using any of the methods below to start finding out more about how we can support your organisation to grow. You don't have to face every aspect of your business alone. Our team is here to support you. Get in touch today! To note - Key figures and data correct as of May 2022.

Here at the SME Centre of Excellence, we have first hand experience of business of all sizes. In fact, most of our staff team are also currently self employed and successful in their own businesses – so we know, first hand, what it means to you when you want to develop your brand using a digital marketing approach. Here are a few figures that you might not have known around digital marketing which we feel are important when looking for external support: 59% of businesses outsource their digital marketing to cut costs – this is a great way to generate additional clients without the usual costs associated with employing staff members And while you’re working with us, you’re focusing on your core business activities – 57% of businesses prefer this route than doing marketing themselves. 47% of businesses use outsourcing as a way to solve capacity issues – we’re all looking for additional capacity in our business – this is an excellent way to achieve that additional capacity at an affordable cost. You could even consider using bots to automate the repeatable tasks within your organisation. So, let’s look at some of the benefits of working with SME Centre of Excellence around your digital marketing needs: You get a full team of marketing experts As the managing Director or owner of a business, we all know that finding top talent can be hard. The latest Aldermore Future Attitudes report reveals that two thirds (67%) of SMEs, representing 3.82 million small and medium sized businesses across the UK, find it difficult to hire qualified staff members or keep existing talent in the company. With the SME Centre of Excellence you get an integrated services offer that can handle all marketing aspects of your business. This means that for a fixed price, you get an entire team of experts at your disposal. You can reduce costs and risks It’s easy to forget that the cost of a new employee goes way beyond a person’s salary. It also includes recruiting, training and other intangible costs which can be elusive. In fact, for some employers they face an average employment cost of £50,000 per worker in their first year, based on a £27,600 salary. By developing a relationship with SME Centre of Excellence, you can future-proof your business without risking investing time and resources in an employee who doesn’t have the right experience or is simply a bad fit for the role. You don’t need to train staff Providing employee training is the scaffold to business growth and is also essential to remain competitive in your niche. However, training also presents a lot of challenges to businesses – and costs! The best thing about working with us is that you don’t have to go through the whole training process. Our digital marketing team already have the depth and breadth of skills needed to achieve an increased brand awareness. You can focus on the core of your business If you’re focusing on other activities for a couple of hours every day, other than the core of your business, your talent is being wasted. Rather than effectively concentrating on core business competencies or activities, you’re focusing on issues that are less critical or you have less expertise in. Working with an agency will allow you to free up internal resources to focus on what you do best. Working with SME Centre of Excellence means that your team will also be able to focus on the areas where they can make the best use of their time. Your marketing won’t suffer as a result of staff problems or annual leave A key to successful marketing is consistency. However, staff with numerous responsibilities or understaffed teams may feel overwhelmed when they cannot deliver on time or targets. In 2016, according to figures released from ONS, there were 137.3million working days lost to employee sickness costing employers on average £570 per employee. As we have a team of digital marketing experts, you will never experience downtime in your digital marketing activities and can feel confident that your brand awareness will continue to increase. You get an on-demand service Do you have too much work, so your employees struggle to deliver on time, but at the same time, not enough so you can’t justify hiring a new member of staff? That’s where our services come in handy, they serve as an extension of your own team and you can get them involved on projects you need some extra help with. This makes it easy to scale your marketing efforts as needed. Additionally, if you are working with an agency in the long run, you can always consult them on upcoming campaigns and use their expertise in the field. Two heads, or in our case teams, are always better than one. An outside perspective on your business There is no doubt that you know your business better than anyone else. Yet, your perspective is one-sided. The harder you focus on something, the less you actually see, sometimes missing easy-to-spot mistakes or gaps in your process. Here at the SME Centre of Excellence, we’re happy to offer a different viewpoint on your messages through our regular reporting mechanism. The trend of digital marketing as a brand awareness tool is certainly on the rise and projected to continue. We have the expertise to increase your brand on various platforms – so get in touch with us using any of the methods below to start finding out more about how we can support your organisation to grow. You don't have to face every aspect of your business alone. Our team is here to support you. Get in touch today! Sources: https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/true-costs-hiring-uk/ https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/articles/sicknessabsenceinthelabourmarket/2016

In the economic world, Intellectual Property (or IP) refers to certain categories of rights owned by businesses to advance their goals. Patents, copyright, and trademarks, for example, are legal protections that allow people to profit financially or gain recognition from what they invent or create. The IP system strives to establish an environment where creativity and innovation can flourish by finding the correct balance between innovators' interests and the larger public interest. Trademarks Trademark is a type of IP that protects your badge, logo, name, sign, design, expression or item that distinguishes products or services from any others, by which customers find your products or services in the marketplace. Any individual, company, organisation, business or legal entity can be a trademark owner, and they essentially have exclusive use of that sign. Trade Secrets A Trade Secret is a type of IP that protects any sensitive commercial information that gives a company a competitive advantage. They're frequently employed when an invention or creation isn't patentable or when the inventor doesn't want to reveal the 'secret' publicly, as a patent requires. For example, any formulas, sales processes, or marketing tactics that the business has personally developed and wishes to refrain from sharing publicly. Copyrights Copyright is a type of IP that protects the owners' exclusive right to copy and distribute a creative piece of work for a set period of time, meaning no one but the creator can copy or issue a copy of said work to the public. The creative work can take the shape and form of literature, art, education, or music. Patents A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a technique that offers a new technical solution to a problem or provides a new way of doing something in general. Technical information concerning the innovation must be revealed to the public in a patent application in order to get a patent. The patent owner has the sole right to block or prohibit others from commercialising the protected invention. In other words, patent protection prevents others from commercialising, using, distributing, importing, or selling the innovation without the permission of the patent owner. The protection lasts for a decided limited amount of time, typically 20 years from the patent application filing date. There are three types of patents, each having its own eligibility requirements and discovery / invention protection. Note: it's possible for one invention or discovery to potentially have more than one type of patent available for it. Utility Patent A Utility Patent protects the production of a new or improved product, process, or machine that is useful. A utility patent, often referred to as a "patent for invention ", prevents other people or businesses from creating, using, or selling the invention without disclosed permission from the owner. Utility patents are extremely valuable because they grant innovators exclusive economic rights to produce and use cutting-edge technologies, however they are a difficult and lengthy process to obtain. Design Patent A design patent is a type of legal protection for a manufactured item's distinct aesthetic attributes. If the product has a unique configuration, surface decoration, or both, a design patent may be obtained. To put it another way, a design patent protects the attractive design of anything with practical utility. This means that an object that is substantially similar to something protected by a design patent cannot be manufactured, reproduced, used, or imported into the country. Plant Patent A plant patent is an intellectual property protection that prevents others from copying, selling, or using the key qualities of a new and original plant. By barring competitors from using the plant, a plant patent might assist an innovator obtain more income during the patent protection period. Natural, bred, or somatic plants are all patentable (created from non-reproductive cells of the plant). It can be invented or discovered, however a plant patent will only be issued if the discovery takes place in a cultivated area. For more help on deciding which IP or patent is best for you, feel free to consult the SME Centre of Excellence at any time.

All businesses need to raise awareness of their products, but how this is achieved depends on the type of business you have, as well as how it is launched. Target Audience With any product or service launch, it is important to get the right message to prospective customers. You must convey to your target audience that your proposition meets a need or want that is currently unmet, or that it is better than what they currently have. It is essential to understand your target audience because you may find that the language, channels, and information you use to communicate with and appeal to one demographic is ineffective with another. By clearly defining your target audience, you can direct your marketing efforts, create more consistency in your messaging, and connect with your audience authentically. This allows you to mentally strike the audience, as they get hooked from the ad that completely appeals to them. But how do they see this in the first place? Social Media The more interesting the product or service, the more likely you are to gain genuine public interest, however not all products are original, some are simply successful as they exist as an upgrade to the competition. So how do we market this? Social Media is most likely your best chance to success in gaining product awareness. Being able to share images, product designs, news and updates, and release topics with just a few clicks is an extreme technological advance to the available resources 20-30 years ago. This allows you to amass a large organic following, tell your followers when this new product will launch, what to expect from it, and really drag their attention to it, if done correctly. Of course, not all of this has to to be organic, all of the most popular socials do in fact utilize paid advertisements. So once you've decided your target market, you build your marketing around this (while matching your brand guidelines). Grab your teams best ideas, designs, and concepts, and get that advert to be as pretty as possible to the people you're looking to reach, we recommend divulging into a professional marketing team to help you achieve this, (which, SME CofE does offer as a supreme packaged service) as this will be the pinnacle attention grabber from random potential customers. Using the paid ad feature allows you to reach a mass previously unavailable, and at a significant lower cost than that of a TV ad. Of course social media doesn't just allow for product promotion, but you can keep your brand image and reputation at a high level with directed posts and PR management. For example, meat stick company Slim Jim has a fantastic social media presence and a fantastic PR based community on Instagram, which has grown drastically in the last couple years, going from 5k followers to a current (as of May 2022) 1.4 Million, which has no doubt driven Slim Jim sales up exponentially. The average age range using Instagram is 30.1% 18-24 year olds, and 31.5% 25-34 year olds. Knowing this, Slim Jim converted their page to fit a more comedic meme-based community, all while still promoting their product. This is exactly what drove them to be so successful so quickly, they took complete advantage over Instagram having an above 60% average younger aged audience, and directed their posts to be what would be attention grabbing to this audience - humour. And this is just on one social media - there are several, and the higher the growth on one platform, normally organically leads to a higher growth on the other platforms too - Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat etc. Other uses of Social Media: Further points of using social media to get your product awareness out there, is the fact of how easy it is to manipulate what the viewers can see of the product. For example, releasing a new soft drink product against a plain white background wont attract anyone's attention, but a green screen effect or an animation including it is certainly more attractive to look at and more importantly - talk about. Through spread of mouth, shares online, and paid ads, the product awareness possibilities are endless when utilised correctly. However, we realise not everyone is a social media wiz, so here at The SME Centre Of Excellence, we offer a fantastic result driven marketing package, covering all organic growth needs, your social media brand image, and even your website design, as well as offline marketing strategies, all of which would be fantastic to boost the growth of your product awareness. To view this package, click here. Or, to find out more over the phone, contact the SME Centre of Excellence here.