Yet how often do we hear personally about business owners that have had some form of major crises in their business - whether its dealing with a fire, running out of cash, being sued, losing key people, being investigated by the tax office, struggling for customers or being told to cease and desist by someone with a similar a brand name?
Small business owners put their hearts and souls into creating their businesses and they should put as much effort into protecting them as they grow them.
This month at the Sydney Hills Business Chamber our theme was centred around ‘finance’ and featured an excellent Business After Five Networking Event at The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill where a group of panelists shared tried and tested strategies to ensure that businesses keep what they’ve put so much effort in to building.
The panel included Mclean Charge Partners, Bruce Barton speaking about business structures, budget, cash flow and strategy, Watermark Patent and Trade Mark - Stephen Krouzecky, speaking about intellectual property and trademarking for new and existing businesses and Davelcorp - David Ferris, speaking about risk protection and claim scenarios.
We also heard from 360HR - Nigel Rayner, speaking about managing performance through people, Strategic Wealth Solutions - Robert Frogley, speaking about the business lifecycle and having something left at the end and Dooley & Associates - Malcolm Campbell, speaking about the importance of managing business relationships and contracts.
Once you have your business protected and as risk-free as it can be it’s time to build it.
However that’s where sales and marketing come in and that has changed so much in the last few years that businesses struggle to get a grip of where to invest their money to achieve the best return.
The world is moving from your desktop to your pocket and this new phase will impact on all businesses looking to make and retain their space in the digital market place.
We get on average 3000 marketing messages a day – sometimes as much as 10,000 on a simple weekly trip to the supermarket.
The web is packed with over 634 million websites for 7.1 billion people so that's around 1100 people for every site, hardly a mass market.
In the US major brands are going back to traditional marketing with around 52% now allocating their advertising spend to direct mail.
The result – whether offline or online, is that there is too much clutter so nothing gets through. The ‘Catch 22’ is that for mass marketers today the more they spend the less it works and the less it works the more they spend.
When it comes to your website - according to a website design study on eye tracking conducted by researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology you only have just 2.6 seconds to grab the attention of the visitor.
As a small business we need to invest time and resources into understanding this changing market and stay ahead of the game or face extinction.
On Wednesday, June 12 you can do just that at the Sales and Marketing Boot Camp where five marketing experts will present at one big, full day event.
Toby Marshall on Social Media Marketing for Business, Rod Matthews on Turning Ideas into Action, Brett Kelly around a strategic approach to growing the value of your business and creating a winning culture, Michelle Gamble on The Secrets of Marketing Experts Exposed: Uncover how to market your business effectively in a competitive and increasingly digital world and John Lees on How to Create Demand and ‘Make Sales’ in the second market gap left uncontested by most suppliers.
This is a day not to be missed – tickets are just $95 and include lunch. A full calendar of this and other events are available on the Chamber’s website at www.sydneyhillsbusiness.com.au and guests are always welcome.
As business owners we need to keep the small business network alive and striving in Australia.
Last year 61% of Australians used a mobile device to connect to the net yet 50% of Australian businesses don’t have a website and of those that do, 90% aren’t mobile friendly.
Make June the month where you invest in your brand, be innovative in your business and don’t just add to the clutter.
