Businesses that use external support are more likely to build the right foundations to survive and succeed

We would endorse that of course -  it's a quote from a report by Lord Young. It's included in Harriet Minter's 'Mentors, networking and professional advice - how they help your business' online article on the Guardian Small Business Network


Well, if you disagree (or agree) her article also includes an invitation to contribute  your say to a Q& A on Monday 25 June. 


One point that caught my eye, no just about  poked it out (!) is the claim that an astonishing 900,000 more businesses "could be created if the right spirit of entrepreneurship can be created in the UK", with the appropriate mentoring support.


Harriet's write up and details of the Q&A

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at ILFutures

Five tips for growing your business with Twitter

Small businesses need to be making the most of Twitter.  Consumers are using it to search for services so any business ignoring Twitter is missing out on potential customer opportunities. That’s the upshot of research recently published by Orange Business.

And, their five Twitter tips (in summary) for growing your business:

1. "Mobilise your Twitter account: ...  makes it easier to respond to work requests … and allows you to make the most of any ‘dead time’ to see if people are shopping for your services.
2. Be prepared to offer advice: ... It’s not about giving away free counsel but showing you know what you’re talking about
3. Be quick ... If you don’t offer your services to somebody looking, your competitors will.
4. Reach out to communities of tweeters: The more networks you are engaged in … the fewer degrees of separation there will be between you and potential business leads.
5. Demonstrate ‘real-world’ credentials … link from your Twitter profile to a website that showcases your location, qualifications and credentials."

Click for the full story from Orange 

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Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

Are you surviving, evolving or a digital dinosaur?

Further to my recent tweet about small companies not making the most of their web presence, technology services provider Basekit, which conducted the survey of 500 SMEs, also found:

• One third of UK small businesses are using social media to attract customers: “more than local directories such as Yellow Pages and Thomson and substantially more than print or online advertising.”
•  The popularity of Twitter and micro blogging as promotional tools has increased: “over one-in-six (17%) use the site to scout for new customers and to market their services.”
•  Astonishingly, 660,000 small businesses have no online presence at all.

 Basekit report


Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

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Back of the net - Branding - it's all in the game

The foundations of successful branding shares a lot with  the winning principles of competitive gaming. So reckons Rishi Dhir  in a very readable and thought-provoking article.

The five principles:

1. make it challenging
2. make it competitive
3. make it rewarding
4. allow continual discovery
5. incentivise collaboration

You can find our original  post about  Rishi Dhir's article with link here


Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

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Smart & free way to keep up with competitors & customer trends

Here's a quick and easy fix that will keep you in the loop about competitors and customer trends.

Google Alerts is a free service that trawls credible sources including news articles, blogs, discussion boards and videos to find you the latest information tailored to your requirements.

 Sandeep Matharu has more details  while you can find Google Alerts  here


Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk


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Four questions to kickstart your competitor analysis

People have been in touch and said they enjoyed the 'pep up your marketing effectiveness' post. But, they’ve rightly pointed out some hints on how to start a competitor analysis would be useful.  Four  more questions.

1. Who are my competitors?
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of my competitors?
3. What threats do they pose?
4. What strategies are my competitors pursuing and how successful are these strategies?

Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

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Pep up your marketing effectiveness with a quick self-diagnosis

Positioning helps you to define how your company creates value in the market place and how it is different from the competition. If you haven't given that some thought for a while, then it's time to do so. Here are four questions to get you started:

1. What sets your product, service and company apart from your competitors?
2. Where are the growth opportunities in your market and what trends will impact in the short, medium and long term?
3. How are you differentiating your products and services from the competition?
4. How have you defined and communicated your unique selling points?

Adrian Burns is part of a team supporting  the West Midlands community of interiors & lifestyle companies. Find out more at www.ilfutures.co.uk

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