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Your EnterQuest Bulletin - 09 August 2005
| Thought for the week:
"Whenever an individual or a business
decides that success has been attained, progress stops."
Thomas J. Watson |
In this week's issue:
Small business answers
If
you have any questions about your business idea or target market,
or need help tracking down a grant, subsidy or business support
in your local area, then send an e-mail with your query to the EnterQuest
information team and we'll do our best to help.
Send
your question to
enterquest@cobwebinfo.com.
To
access over 800 factsheets, guides and small business reports, go
to www.scavenger.net.
Weekly stir 
How
to send direct mail to the right people
OK, you're probably thinking that's a stupid
headline for an article - 'How to send direct mail to the right
people'. Like who's going to be daft enough to send a direct marketing
mailshot to the wrong people?
Most
small businesses that try it, as a matter of fact.
And
if you asked a bunch of small business owners what are the most
important factors for direct mail success, you'd probably get answers
like:
- "Having
enough envelopes and stamps."
-
"Putting an order form in the mailing."
-
"Sending your most recent brochure."
There's
no question that these are important practical considerations, but
they're also the sort of bunkum that gets you nowhere at all with
your mailing campaign.
Marketing-savvy
small business owners that are consistently successful at direct
mail campaigns have a hard and fast rule that they stick to. This
translates into the well-used business saying, 'The money's in the
list'.
The
list?
Yes,
your list of names of the people or organisations you are going
to target your mailing campaign at.
And
your list is right up there among the three most important factors
for direct mail success:
- The
list.
- The
offer.
- The
letter.
Now
let's imagine you've come up with a great offer - in other words,
a difficult to ignore, or impossible to miss, irresistible deal
- and you've managed to articulate this in a dynamically written
letter packed full of benefit-oriented, compelling sales copy.
But
if you send this letter to a list of people who couldn't give a
stuff about your offer in the first place, your mailing campaign
will bomb.
This
is the biggest reason for direct mail failure - sending a great
offer in a great letter to a target audience who haven't the slightest
interest in your product or service.
Sounds
simple enough, doesn't it? But it's something that too many small
businesses simply get wrong, over and over again.
To
ensure your direct mail campaign doesn't flop for this reason, there
are six different types of people you should send direct mail to
regardless of the product or service you are selling. And by homing
in on these people, you will dramatically increase your chances
of success.
1)
People who have bought something related to what you are selling.
2) People who have RECENTLY bought something related to what you
are selling.
3) People who have money to spend at the moment.
4) People who have shown a propensity to buy or respond to direct
mail campaigns.
5) People in your local neighbourhood.
6) People in affinity groups (clubs, organisations or societies
with a particular interest in common) who have a strong want for
your particular product.
The
ultimate mailing list you could ever possibly own would represent
a group of people who belong to the same type of organisation or
affinity group, who have bought a similar or complementary product
within the last 90 days, and who are financially well-off at the
moment. If you sell a product or service and can find a list of
people meeting these criteria, then that's a real business opportunity.
Marketing
tip
Tips
for encouraging revisits to your site
There are several ways of encouraging visitors to return to your
website regularly. The best way is to tempt them to bookmark your
site by adding it to their favourites folder, which means it's always
easy for them to find.
There
are two main ways to do this:
1)
Use a 'favicon', or 'shortcut icon'. These small graphics appear
at the extreme left-hand side of the URL in users' browsers when
they return to your site. Your business logo can be used as a
favicon - see this Microsoft
guide to favicons for more details about how to use them.
2)
Create a hyperlink called 'Add to favourites', which will automatically
bookmark your site into users' favourites folders when they click
on it. Behind this link you need to include a short piece of JavaScript
in your HTML - you can find the correct code at Create-A-Website.
It's
also important to remember the tactics that will make sure your
site is worth returning to regularly. Here are a few practical hints
and tips for making the content of your site interesting and engaging:
- Include
a blog or discussion forum on your site where visitors can chat
about their own opinions and news relevant to your business sector.
- Publish
an online newsletter on your site. This will encourage users to
return regularly to view the latest edition.
- Provide
regularly updated news articles about your business or sector.
Include the date each article was published, and list updated
content under an eye-catching heading such as 'Latest news'.
Read
more about Internet marketing strategies for small businesses in
Chapter 30 of the UK
Small Business Marketing Bible, where you can also find hundreds
of ideas, tips and techniques for increasing sales, no matter what
sector you're in.
Legal
tip
Thinking
of becoming a limited company? What will your duties as a director
be?
Sole
traders who decide to take the step of forming a limited company
often find that while there are advantages, it's not an easy decision
to make.
Back in the summer of last year we looked at the advantages and
disadvantages of incorporating your business (see the EnterQuest
legal tip from 20 July last year). Another aspect of forming
a limited company worth bearing in mind is that the directors of
limited companies - for this is what you'd be - also have a number
of obligations.
This
week, we've provided a brief roundup of what these obligations are,
followed by one or two links that will help you dig into the subject
in more depth.
- Private
limited companies need to have at least two 'officers' - a director
and a company secretary. These can't be the same person, and if
one officer fails to carry out his or her duties, both officers
can be held responsible.
- Directors
are responsible for sending Companies House the company's accounts
and annual returns, as well as keeping it informed about changes
to directors' names and addresses or the business address.
- Directors
must make sure minutes of board meetings are kept, and ensure
the company's 'statutory forms' are kept up to date (the statutory
forms include details about the directors and company shares;
there's a full list at the Companies
House website).
- Finally,
directors must also make sure company records are available to
the public or people entitled to see them, such as the shareholders.
Hopefully,
all that sounds very simple, and it's true that most small companies
sail through the procedures with no problems. But because these
are legal obligations, directors of a limited company in its first
year of trading will certainly find it useful to talk the whole
thing over with a solicitor or accountant.
There's also a good deal of information about this subject on the
Internet. The Companies
House website is a good place to start. It has a section fleshing
out directors' obligations, particularly as regards holding
meetings and keeping records.
And
the UK Red
Tape BUSTER has lots of information on forming a limited company,
as well as hundreds of factsheets, scenarios and frequently asked
questions covering the law for small businesses.
IT
tip
Personal
digital assistants - nice toys or essential tools for small businesses?
Most
personal digital assistants (or PDAs) combine mobile phones with
keyboards and mini-versions of business software programs. They
have fast processors too, and can store a lot of information.
It
depends on how you run your business and what everyday activities
you get up to, but if you spend a lot of time out of the office,
a PDA could be a real boon to your business.
But
for every fan of PDAs you'll find another person who regards them
simply as expensive toys. So what can they do, and would it be worthwhile
for a small business to buy one?
Keeping
in touch, getting online and catching up with work
- PDAs
with a mobile phone connection are useful for touching base when
you're out and about. Keeping in touch with customers, suppliers
and any staff you employ when you're on the go will allow your
business to run more smoothly, and help you handle the crises
which always seem to happen at just the wrong moment.
- Do
you often surf the Internet to find information from websites
or news services when you're working? In this case, PDAs have
become fast enough to offer this as a realistic option and still
display websites accurately.
- Most
PDAs also offer e-mail access. This is done either through your
phone service provider, or many PDAs now link to web-based e-mail
services such as Hotmail and Yahoo. This means time spent travelling
on a train can be spent catching up with e-mail.
- PDAs
offer most of the same functions as your desktop PC in terms of
basic software applications, including calendars, word processors
and spreadsheets. They're excellent for downloading and reading
documents, but it can be inconvenient and fiddly to do much practical
work using the tiny keyboards.
To
buy or not to buy?
It's likely that if you spend £300 on the latest PDA today,
you'll see it advertised for half that price or less in a year's
time, and the latest model will be twice as powerful. That's something
you have to accept when buying any IT equipment - but current technology
makes PDAs much more than just gadgets and could see you treasuring,
or at least still enthusiastically using, the same model in three
or four years' time. Some still have problems with battery life
and screen display, but they've gone beyond the 'expensive toy'
stage and have become genuinely useful tools for small businesses.
Before you dash out and spend your cash on one though, check out
the latest reviews and see which is most suitable for you. You'll
find up-to-date reviews of all mobile gadgets at MobileTechReview,
and PDAGeek
covers a roundup of the latest PDAs and the software to go with
them.
New business idea
Each
week we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business
ideas in the UK.
Here
is this week's idea:
Just one word
Regularly
improving your vocabulary is not just about learning a new word
and its meaning. It will improve your general knowledge and make
you feel and act smarter in all sorts of personal and business situations.
Do
you know the difference between commonly confused words 'tenacious'
and 'tenuous'? Which of the following definitions applies to which
word?
a)
determined or persistent
b) weak, vague or unconvincing
Answer
at the end of the Bulletin.
Website review
The
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA, www.defra.gov.uk)
This
site is primarily a source of information about the UK's agricultural
policy, including grants for farm diversification ideas and legal
issues affecting farming businesses. But it also provides reports
and info on food law and environmental obligations for businesses.
So how useful is the site?
- Navigation
- the homepage has recently been revamped, and is now presented
in a pragmatic and easy to follow way. It's clear what DEFRA does
and how you can find out more about these different areas, and
the quick links to what DEFRA reckons are its most popular topics
are sensible.
 
Lots
of thought has obviously gone into the structure and content of
this site, with the result that it provides engaging, practical
and easy to use information for a surprisingly diverse range of
sectors. In common with many other Government sites, the only failing
is a lack of generosity as far as accessibility options are concerned.
Our
rating - 15/20
Did
you know?
Polluting
businesses might get ASBOs
The first Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) against a business
for environmental offences was made in 2004, and the Environment
Agency (EA) is now saying that it should use this measure more
often. It reckons ASBOs would be a better punishment than fines
for businesses that pollute, don't save energy or handle their waste
badly. You can read about your waste and environmental obligations
as a small business at the dedicated hazardous
waste website.
Tailored
attacks are the new virus trend
A
global
survey by IBM has revealed that Internet hackers are now targeting
their attacks at specific business sectors and types. IBM claims
manufacturing, healthcare and financial services firms are most
at risk. While spam seems to be on the wane, viruses and phishing
attacks have ramped up dramatically during 2005, with a scary one
in 28 e-mails now infected with some sort of security threat.
Worth
a visit
Google
Sitemaps
Google
Sitemaps is a new service to help businesses submit their site
to Google and get a decent ranking. It works like this: you submit
your sitemap to the site in one of its approved formats, and this
effectively tells Google's spiders how, where and how often it needs
to crawl your site to find new content. The upshot is, updates to
your site are indexed by Google more quickly. Sounds complicated,
but the instructions are clear and the submission process is pleasingly
straightforward.
Help
with new BACS online system
The
Bankers Automated Clearing Service (BACS) has set up some dedicated
web pages to tell small businesses about the new online version
of the BACS payroll system, BACSTEL
IP. The BACS clearing house is switching over to this system
from 1 January 2006, and its research shows that thousands of small
firms haven't got up to speed with the new system yet. It's worth
doing so quickly - if you miss the deadline and employ staff, you
risk having to pay them late by cash or cheque in the new year.
Ideas
a-plenty
IdeaSling.com
is a graveyard of business ideas that never were - but because their
originator couldn't be bothered, didn't have the skills or didn't
have the time to implement them, not because they weren't viable.
You can submit your own ideas or browse through other people's,
and there are also some good links to relevant business weblogs
and discussion forums.
Worth
a read
Aiming
to provide the inspiration, advice and support to encourage aspiring
entrepreneurs to make the leap from employment to self-employment,
this book focuses on changing your life and your work to do something
that you really care about or have a personal interest in. The book
offers a practical structure and suggestions for making these changes
that are both tangible and achievable. Check out:
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Just one word answer
Tenacious refers to definition a) -
it describes someone that is persistent, determined or resolute.
Tenuous
refers to definition b) - it means something that is weak,
vague or generally unconvincing.
Successful
entrepreneurs are tenacious in their approach to market research.
Unsuccessful entrepreneurs usually have only a tenuous knowledge
of their target customers.
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Good
luck
The EnterQuest Team
This information is meant as a starting point only. Whilst all reasonable
efforts have been made, the publisher makes no warranties that the
information is accurate and up-to-date and will not be responsible
for any errors or omissions in the information nor any consequences
of any errors or omissions. Professional advice should be sought
where appropriate.
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