Author: Aira

5 Most Important Legal Issues To Consider When Setting Up A Business

Setting up your own business will take a lot of hard work and determination. You need to ensure your finances are in order and there is a lot of paperwork to take care of as well.

License: Creative Commons image source
License: Creative Commons image source

To make this process easier here are five of the most important legal issues you need to consider when you are setting up a business.

1. Choosing Your Business Structure

The most important thing you decide when setting up your business involves your business structure. There are many different structures to choose from and picking out one will have legal and financial implications.

You can get to know all of your options at the comprehensive guide by the Entrepreneur. It is really important to understand the implications of each of these options and thus talking them through with a professional is a really good idea.

2. Protecting Your Ideas And Products

You also need to consider taking care of patents and copyrights. These are really important in order to keep your products and ideas safe from copycats. If you have really good and innovative products you want to make sure you will have the market advantage of not having to worry about other businesses copying your products directly.

This also means you need to look into trademarking your business name. It might not be possible in some cases but if you can, trademarking is a really viable option to consider. Make sure your business name is also not already in use to ensure you don’t get any problems later on.

3. Ensuring You Are Licenced

Depending on the area your business works in it is really important to make sure your business is appropriately licenced. This can save you from a lot of hassle later on and is also very important to keep your business up and running.

Having legal certificates can also increase your credibility among your customers and thus you should look into this area as early as possible.

4. Non-Disclosure Agreements And Contracts

When you are setting up a business you will start hiring staff as well as drawing up business contracts with other companies. Thus it is essential to take care of non-disclosure agreements to guarantee you are protected in case someone would give away important business information.

It is really important to have these ready so that whenever you are getting a new client or hiring a new person you can quickly get these issues out of the way. When you make a legal agreement and a contract it is essential to get it professionally photocopied to ensure you all have the document in multiple copies. Look at Silver Fox Legal and their colour photocopying services.

5. Getting A Solicitor

Hiring your own solicitor won’t be a viable option for small businesses but it is a good idea to get an outside company to help you out when you are setting up, as well as being available in the future. Build a good relationship with the company to ensure you have a reliable legal advisor you can turn to if you ever have any issues.

About the Author: Peter in interested in corporate law and wants to make all the legal hurdles seem a little bit easier for small business owners. When he needs to get his mind away from legal issues he likes to enjoy some time with his family and is especially keen on playing board games with them.

7 Small Steps that Can Help You Create a Big Impact on Your Brand

Establishing your brand isn’t about creating the best logo or coming up with the catchiest slogan, though they are important too. The brand of a business is essentially the image it has, for you, for your employees and business associates and for your customers.

License: Creative Commons image source
License: Creative Commons image source

If you think building a brand is only for the ‘big’ businesses, you are mistaken. It is equally, if not more, important that a small business carves an identity for itself in today’s competitive market.

However, that doesn’t mean you have to put in loads of money into it. Fancy things can get you customers initially. But if you fail to identify your goals, understand your customers, and deliver the right experience, it wouldn’t hold good for long.

Let’s try to find ways that can help you create a distinct image for your business.

Understand your brand

If you try to be a ‘Jack of all trades’, you would end up to be a ‘master of none’. Don’t do it. Instead, focus on something you are really good at. Make it the core of your business.

The visual image is just an element of your brand. Focus on what you do, how you do it, what message you convey, what experience you provide and so on. Every little thing that makes up the customer experience counts when it comes to brand essence.

Focus on quality

Your products and services are what make the customers come to you. You may put up a great store or design an attractive online shop and customers may visit it for the first time. And even buy from you.

However, they would come back, or recommend you to a friend, only if they are satisfied with the products or services you delivered. If the products aren’t great or the services aren’t superb, they wouldn’t even bother to visit you a second time.

Know what you do best

Every good brand makes a promise it keeps. For example, Subway stands out for its ‘Eat Fresh’ tagline. It conveys their promise- of delivering fresh food. You need to know what you excel at and transform it into your brand promise.

The only way to be in focus is to specialize in what you do. Whether you offer a specific type or product or service for customers, make sure you are the best in what you do and how you do it. This speeds up the brand establishment process.

Identify target customers

You cannot serve everyone. Every business has a target customer. For example, if you have a small business selling children’s books and toys, your target customers are families, especially parents.

After you have identified the target customers, include them in your online and offline network. Converse when they visit your store, share information and photos on Facebook, organize fun contests – create a dialogue between them and your business.

Be honest and reliable

You make a promise when you create your brand slogan. You increase your customers’ expectations. If you fail to deliver what you promise, you would lose the trust and credibility.

Make sure you keep your promises. Whether you have promised to deliver an order within a day or finish a job within a week, make sure you do it. Unfeasible promises may give you some business initially; but they won’t provide long-term sustenance.

Create a visual identity

Well, the name and logo of your business does matter when it comes to establishing your brand. Get them right; you may change it later, but that would be costly. Moreover, it would also affect the image of your business.

Before you decide on a name, make sure it reflects the nature of your business and resonates with your customers. If possible, appoint an expert to create your business logo and slogan to add the right touch of professionalism.

Ensure a great experience

What matters most for your business is how you treat your customers. And it isn’t about how ‘you’ treat customers. It’s about how everyone involved in your business treats customers at every level.

Do they have pleasant, helpful assistance at your shop? Or do they meet someone sullen? Do you have people to receive calls or is it automated? Make sure the experience is the same throughout your business.

Little things contribute to create the big experience; and it is these little things that matter when it comes to creating your brand. With adequate attention to these details, it is possible to create a distinctive image of your business for all.

About the Author: Evans is a content marketer and blogger. He is currently working for a leading UK based organization GasStorageDepot that offers free delivery of its products to UK Mainland.

A Short List Of Some Of The Biggest Problems Business Managers Face Today

Running a business has always required a lot of hard work, a lot of time, and a lot of dedication. No one ever said that running your own business would be easy, yet entrepreneurs from all over the world are opening up new businesses every day so that they can offer something unique to the public and so that they can be their own bosses and make their own decisions.

License: Creative Commons image source
License: Creative Commons image source

Today, there are new challenges that managers in the past never really had to deal with. Continue reading to access a short list of just a few of the problems that business managers in the 21st century have to tackle.

The Perks and Challenges of Social Media

Social media websites reign supreme among Internet users. Gone are the days when people would visit a company’s official website to learn about it and to get in touch with the business owners. These days, people check Facebook, Twitter, and other social media websites where they spend most of their time instead. Therefore, in order to run a successful business today, you need to invest your time and resources into a domain name for an official website, as well as a multitude of social media pages that are customized and able to connect with users directly. And then, of course, comes the task of marketing not only your website but also all of these social media pages and posts so that you can get through the clutter that is on the Internet and actually connect with customers who are interested in what you do.

So Much More Competition

It is easier than ever before to start up a business of any kind. This means that there is a lot more competition out there. The good news is that a lot of these businesses do not make it unless they really know what they’re doing. But if you find yourself in an overly saturated market, it can definitely be a challenge to get people to take note of you. Stiff competition has made it much more difficult for small businesses to succeed, especially since they are also up against large corporations that have a hold on major industries.

An Uncertain Economy

Tough economic times make it harder both for customers and business owners. After all, if customers cannot afford the products and services that are offered by small businesses, these companies simply cannot survive. Therefore, as long as the economy will remain uncertain, business managers need to take the right steps to keep customers satisfied and to keep their costs as low as possible in order to transfer those savings to their customers by providing low prices.

Running a business today is a tough job, and it can be more stressful than ever before to make sure that your business stays afloat. From stiff competition to a harsh economy, if you can manage to keep your business going today, you really have what it takes to be a business manager.

About the Author: Brian Smith, the author of this post, works at Yellowstone Capital, a capital firm that provides business loans. Through his blog, he advises people on topics like business management, finance and marketing. In his spare time, he likes to express himself through his blog posts.

Are you ready for the holiday retail season?

If you are a smart retailer or small business owner, you will probably know what we are talking about. Yes, the holidays are here and so are the heat and the fever of shopping that’s on its full swing! If you are keen on preparing for a successful holiday season, you can’t just afford to sit alone and aloof like that. You will need to gear up and prepare so that you can compete with the online retailers and also their storefronts. The benefits of the core holiday shopping season are not lesser known and not limited in terms of benefits, we suppose!

License: Creative Commons image source
License: Creative Commons image source

If you are looking to squeeze the most on the sales front from the holiday season, then you should start the needful by looking at some of the tips we have stated for your below.

Count what’s in!

You may look ahead pursuing the industry publications and also the top websites to get a bit on the experts insights and find out more on the products that are likely going to be the best sellers. This would help you ensure that you already have the plenty of supply and so that you don’t lose on the game. You can also choose to consider the gift-oriented trade shows. You can also go ahead and explore the relevant shows for your own industry.

What are the customers talking about?

Even though the holiday shopping might not be on the minds of most of the customers out there, you still have good reasons to look out for what your prospects are taking about. Look for the little details and concerns that might be bubbling up in the social media. Watch out for what they are carving and what are the brands that they are more than willing to follow and why! Do they have any special desires, something that you can fulfil this holiday? This is an interesting step taken to spot the trends. You can also ask your customers to give you the feedback and enrich your knowledge or research with their much valued opinion. This is an amazing way to actually localise the trend, as soon as you learn more about them.

Have an eye on your local customers!

In order to ensure that your best customers are visiting your store more than once, you will be required to do the needful. This will require you to reach out to them right early in the holiday season and even long before. you can consider offering them a special shopping time and provide them a much more interesting and engaging shopping experience which is also lot more stress free.

Watch out for your reviews!

Customers are usually more than willing to find out the ratings of your product on your website and also your store. Now if you are lacking in terms of stars and your competitors are already up for more, you do have a fair idea on who is going to get a better business. You must pay special attention to the online reviews and if there seems to be a negative feedback, make sure that it has been dealt with so that your store rises up in score even much before the holiday season finally commences.

What about the last year’s marketing plan?

And you thought it was to be left out? Make sure that you also review the marketing plan you had in the previous year in order to find out what actually worked and what did not! Were there any typical marketing activities that you knew attracted your customers more? Figure out and make plans accordingly.

You must ensure that you have prepared a logical calendar and have started marketing out the plans right ahead of time. Don’t leave out things to the last minute. Make sure that you have planned all the activities that you wanted to take to your holiday season this year. There is nothing wrong in marking the dates on your calendar and then ensure that the planning has been done backward right from there. Merchandise your store and for the season of sale and big hot shot!

About the Author: Evans is a blogger and content marketer. Currently, he is associated with Rope-Barriers.com, a leading UK based supplier of executive posts. Click here to view its range of executive posts.