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Marketing Tip #26: You’ve used new technology to help your business so how about going back to old school techniques?

Sep 20 | by | Marketing Tips
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Business in this day and age focuses a lot on new media, new technology and the age of digital everything.  These are great tools to utilize in order to promote and market your business extremely well, but what about behind the scenes of your business?  How do you analyse your target market?  How do you keep track of profits?

This is where going back to using old school techniques can help!

There are many programs and softwares that can help you to manage every aspect of your business and track what is working and what isn’t within it.  Excel is a key example of such programs; it enables users to create spreadsheets in order to track and display information, users can perform analysises on risk, target market, competitors and so on as well as performing numerous other functions.

The beauty with technology is that programs such as Excel, although outdate the new digital era,  are able to be updated with new programs being created all the time to help businesses from start ups to established take control of their businesses’ behind the scenes.

For more information on how programs such as Excel can help your business tune in to RedShiftRadio tomorrow, Tuesday 21st September from 10AM, where our very own Amanda Daniels will be discussing the subject in more detail with her guest Traci Williams from Excel Ace.

Marketing Tip #25: KPI…does your company have them?’

Sep 13 | by | Marketing Tips
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Key Performance Indicators (KPI) reflect a company’s measurable goals to achieve and succeed.  They can relate to any company in any industry and are vitally important to the success of a company.

Key Performance Indicators need to be carefully selected by a company; they need to be achieveable, but challenging and, most importantly, they need to be measurable so progress can be recorded.

As Key Performance Indicators reflect a company’s goals they do not alter or change often unless a company’s goals do or if a company is close to achieving their goal.

Koogar has KPI’s, do you?

To find out more about KPI and how it affects your company, tune in to RedShift Radio’s Business Day to Day show tomorrow between 10am – 12pm to listen to Koogar’s very own Amanda Daniels and her guest, Kathryn May of Matrix Analitix, as they discuss KPI in more detail.

http://www.redshiftradio.co.uk/

2010 Year of Health & Wellbeing: Connect with fellow businesses

Sep 9 | by | Inspiration!
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OK, here’s our first blog about Health & Wellbeing within your business!  Be sure to look out for the 4 to follow and remember to give them a go and see how it helps improve your business.

 

Connect…

                 with business people around you, from people in the same industry as you to people in completely different lines of work to yourself.  By networking you are building your connections, who will be there to support you in your business needs, whether that’s through referrals, answering any queries you may have on an unfamiliar topic or simply offering you advice.

We connect with businesses regularly by networking, at least twice a week.  By building our connections we not only help others, as we have connections across industries, but we also help ourselves in being supported. 

Our network offers us a mountain of support by recommending us and simply talking about us, informing us of upcoming events we would be interested in and offering us advice when we struggle with something we’re not familiar with.  We owe a lot to our network of connections as business-life without them would be incredibly difficult.

Believe it or not it is possible to network everyday without having to leave your office.  Make use of the social media that is available and take a few minutes out of your day to connect with people.

By networking you are building your connections with people and businesses.  These connections will act as a support for you and your business everyday, helping to improve your business wellbeing.

So, give it a go and feel free to comment about whther you’ve noticed any improvements in your business or in yourself.

http://www.2010healthandwellbeing.org.uk/index.php

 

8th September: International Literacy Day

Sep 8 | by | Inspiration!
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Did you know that, now, 4 billion people are literate.  However, there are almost 7 billion people in the world today, which leaves a staggering figure of illiterate people in the world.

International Literacy Day has been celebrated on the 8th September every year since 1946 to raise awareness of literacy and its importance around the world.

If you have any stories of how you have used the power of words to successfully communicate with your clients please contact us.  Similarly, if you have any examples of using words or language that was ineffective i.e. annoyed your client or created a misunderstanding between you then feel free to contact us.

We use words every day, but just how well are we using them and can we improve?

http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/literacy/

Marketing Tip #24: Setting Goals Within Your Business

Sep 6 | by | Marketing Tips
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Setting goals within your business is a great way of staying focused. 

Concentrating and being highly focused on what you want to achieve from your business will always see you striving for a goal; good motivation for any business, whether start up or established.

By properly channelling your motivation, energy, ideas and drive you will succeed in any goals you have set yourself.

The goals you set for your business should not be unachievable, but attainable, especially for start up businesses.  By setting smaller goals at first which you can achieve you can build up confidence within the business and then begin to aim higher and higher, ensuring the goal is always reached.

So, instead of saying “I’m going to make a profit of £250,000 this year,” try setting a goal along the line of “I’m going to sell 50 widgets per week.”  By setting this kind of goal, you are aiming for at least 50 per week, meaning any more is a bonus, which you’ll feel great about when you achieve higher.

This kind of focus is incredibly important, for any company, as it represents the drive and ambition behind the business.

2010 Year of Health & Wellbeing in Liverpool: But how does this affect your business?

Sep 2 | by | Inspiration!
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2010 is the Year of Health and Wellbeing in Liverpool.  To celebrate, Liverpool is providing many community and health opportunities to show people those small changes can make a big difference in your life.

The Foresight project Mental Capital and Wellbeing published in October 2008 conducted a tremendous amount of research and as a result came up with 5 ways to improve your wellbeing; connect, be active, take notice, keep learning and give.  If built into your daily routine these 5 small changes can increase your life span by 7.5 years!

So, if making such small health changes in your daily routine can add years to your life imagine what 5 small changes in your daily work routine could do for your business…

We have created our own business-style wellbeing changes to contribute to Liverpool’s 2010 Year of Health & Wellbeing.  Over the next several months, up until the end of 2010, we will be blogging about each of the 5 ways to improve your business wellbeing.

Until then check out the actual 5 ways of improving your health and wellbeing and the different events being held around Liverpool.

http://www.2010healthandwellbeing.org.uk

 

 

Marketing Tip #23: Make sure you have a business plan

Sep 2 | by | Marketing Tips
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A business plan is not the same as a marketing plan as a marketing plan helps to identify your target customers and so on.  Whereas, a business plan is something you can do at home with a cuppa! 

Ok, so there are different types of business plans depending on what type of business you run and also what type of person you are.  By creating a business plan you are able to focus on the business year ahead; how much profit you expect to make as well as organising your budget and so on. 

However, it can also be aimed at how you see your business in a year’s time; how many customers you expect to have, the new office you’ll be able to move into etc.  

Business plans are a great way to keep focused on what you want out of your business and where you envision yourself as an entrepreneur.

 

Marketing Tip #22: Maintain your Marketing

Aug 24 | by | Marketing Tips
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Maintaining your marketing campaigns is fundamental to any business.  It doesn’t matter how busy you are or how tight your budget is, you should always have some degree of marketing within your company.

This is especially important as we are still not out of the recession.  Many businesses will reduce their marketing budget when times are hard or completely cut it and try and maintain the clients they have already.  However, many studies show that by cutting the budget on your marketing your business may not resume its normal sales figures for at least 18 months – 2 years.  Can you afford to do this?

The businesses that survive recessions are the ones that continue business as normal.  You should not increase your budget as this may prove self-destructive, but you should definitely maintain it. 

A good example of this takes us back in time to 1920s America, where, after the Wall Street Crash many businesses were suffering.  However, there were two businesses in particular who chose completely different ways to handle the imminent recession.  One continued its marketing and started to explore new ways to build up its brand image and awareness, ensuring they stuck to their budget, which was fairly minimal.  The other decided to cut back and completely scrap its marketing altogether.  80 years on and the company that continued its marketing is still around today and recognised worldwide.  However, the company who gave up completely on their marketing are no longer around. 

We are always reviewing our marketing campaigns and coming up with new ways we can increase our brand awareness without it costing the earth.   There are so many different ways to market your company economically nowadays such as viral marketing; social media in all its forms.

You too could find different ways to maintain your marketing and in doing so ensure your company moves with the times and increases its brand awareness.

Oh and the company who survived the recession way back in the 1920s was…Kellogg’s!

E Crime, can you afford to ignore it?

Aug 23 | by | Business Forum
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Okay. You’ve submitted your business plan, bought your domain name, hired the services of a web designer, purchased the latest flashy IT kit and maybe found some office premises to rent. Life is good; business will be great!

But wait, have you thought about everything? Can I suggest that the flashy IT kit might actually need some protection, your web site might not be secure and your web server may not be protected?  Did they mention to you in your free business start up classes that computers are attacked on a very regular basis?

Attorney General Baroness Scotland said; “It is widely recognised that e-Crime is the most rapidly expanding form of criminality and knows no borders.”

What exactly are we talking about here? Well a study carried out last year placed a number of “ordinary” computers on business networks that had access to the Internet.  In a period of five days there were approximately 25,000 attacks on these computers.

Hey that’s okay; my computer only has details of people I trade with, customer accounts and the latest design of my ground breaking invention. Oh thanks said the “hacker.”  I’ll start with the latest design because I can sell your Intellectual Property and as we all know first past the post gets the money. Have you registered it?

Now let’s take the customer accounts, personal information, bank details etc. Should be enough there to take out some loans, maybe a mortgage, oh and buy the latest Flashy IT kit.  Great this person has actually made a document of CSV (Three Digit) numbers they write down when use certain online payment facilities. (It does happen)

What about the people you trade with. Well they are trusted. I have their bank and email details. They have mine and are part of the company’s electronic supply chain.

They are two or three tiers down and may not have the security you have or expect of your suppliers. So they now become the weakest link and I can either disrupt your business or work my way up to attack your IT Infrastructure.  If I disrupt your business in any manner then your competitors may gain, as they fill the orders you could not meet.

I’ll discuss the various threats to your business systems in the future but let’s get a few basics in place.

Is your software updated?  Everyone shouts “yes” which is why Microsoft released a patch for the Conficker Virus in October 2008 before the first reports of attack in November 2008. By January 2009 at least 30% of computers were still vulnerable.  So does everyone really patch their computers?

Of course you have the latest anti-virus products, which get updated on a frequent basis. Did I hear somebody say I got mine off a car boot or downloaded it from a file sharing network? Bless – shall I mention the manufacturers IP or even code put into the AV software by the file sharers to open up ports on your computer, to be used as methods of attack.

I know that everyone has a secure password such as “Bill” “Bill1” etc.  My password is mangled which means I’ve changed the E for a 3 and I for a 1.  They will never guess “Legolas” will they?  Actually brute force attacks on Bill will find it very quickly as will the dictionary attack on E for 3, or the Lord of the Rings dictionary.  Don’t become part of the estimated £500 million plus a year loss to UK businesses. Create secure passwords.

Don’t let anyone steal your dreams of a successful business. Update your operating system software and your anti-virus software on a daily basis and make sure your passwords are strong.  Remember over 1700 attacks a day, in a five day period, happen to people like you.

I will go on to discuss the different types of attack that may impact on your business and suggest strategies to deal with them including getting your business back online as soon as is practicable.

Chris has certainly given us a lot to think about!  I, as I’m sure many of you, was not aware of just how many attacks can take place DAILY on a computer and am therefore really looking forward to Chris’ next blog where he’ll talk us through some strategies to combat this from happening.
Please feel free to comment on the blog or if you would like to discuss anything with Chris, please follow the link below.
  http://www.ecrimesolutions.co.uk

And August’s guest blogger is…

Aug 23 | by | Business Forum
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Chris Sullivan: Director of E Crime Solutions – E Crime, can you afford to ignore it? 

Chris is the director of as well as a consultant at E Crime Solutions; A leading provider of computer forensics in Merseyside.  E Crime Solutions have worked with clients both nationally and internationally from the UK to Europe and Thailand to the USA providing  data recovery and investigations into E Crimes and offering expert testimony for both law enforcement and commercial cases.

Chris’ blog outlines the misconceptions and perhaps the naivety that we all have when it comes to protecting our computer.  We can sometimes forget that the data held by our computers can include our client’s personal details as well as our own.  Even our choice in passwords can be predictable.

Chris highlights areas that are frighteningly true in this day and age and are areas that we all should consider seriously.  Please feel free to comment on the blog as Chris is the best person to help with any problems you’re having or queries you need answering.

So, without further ado, I’ll let you read through the blog and hopefully it will make you rethink the way you back up and protect your data.

 

 http://www.ecrimesolutions.co.uk

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