However fabulous and innovative your product, or brilliant your service is your business cannot thrive and grow unless you tell people about it.

Of all the skills a new business owner must acquire marketing must be among the first. This comes naturally to some people but is an effort for others, keep at it tho and you will reap the benefits

Perceived wisdom has it that there are 12 different ways in which you can market your company and you should be doing at least 7 of them if you are to grow your business. By using a combination of these methods you should "touch" your customers and potential customers at least once a month.

The 12 ways are as follows

Direct Mail - sending anything from brochures to letters to postcards to your customers

Email Capture - make every effort to get email addresses from everyone who you come in to contact with, whether they are suppliers, baby sitters or neighbours they are all potential customers!

Direct Sales - if you are a large company this means a sales team but in a smaller team it means making sure that everyone who comes in to contact with customer actively sells rather than just serves.   this could be as simple as offering batteries or another add on product

Fairs and Shows - whether you are an internet or a bricks and mortar shop showing at fairs is a great way to increase your visibility and meet new customers. School Fairs are a cheap and effective way to grow your business, and Xmas offers many opportunities if you go looking for them

Conference Calls - if you offer a service then a conference call where you share tit bits of knowledge will increase your reputation and your reach in your chosen area at a very reasonable cost

Advertising - Be careful! There are many people who will offer you the chance to advertise but many will do you no good at all. If you do advertise make sure that you are never on the left hand page!

Telephone Marketing - Don't try to sell via the telephone or you risk irritating your potential customers, but most people are happy to answer a few simple questions which will allow you to plan promotions and perhaps give you topics for PR

Joint Ventures - Two heads are better than one. Why not get together with your neighbour and do a joint promotion for more effect, or if you offer baby blankets work with someone who has toddler toys to broaden your appeal

Mailing Lists - Make sure you test the results of any mailing by including an offer in the mail out or how will you know if people liked/noticed what you sent out?

PR - cheap and effective PR is a wonderful way to promote your business but it does take time

Internet Marketing - even if you are not an internet business you can still increase your business by promoting it on line.

Pay per Click - cheap and very effective

I hope this gives you some new ideas of how to promote your business. Not all of them will work for you but there will definitely be one or two which will make a big difference. Good Luck!

Mum-trepreneurs

Recent research by Yell.com and the London School of Economics reveal that Mums who set up their own businesses collectively have a turnover of over £4.4 billion

According to the research 36% of female entrepreneurs are between 26-30 yrs old and 66% were motivated in their start up by the need for greater flexibility after the birth of a child

Child-Minding is the most poplar business choice closely followed by providing Baby Goods and Services.

Here at Best Years we have seen a significant increase in the number of women customers who have just started up their own business. But did you know that Best Years was set up and run by 2 women who needed greater flexibility after the birth of their children? Best Years has been running since 1999 and now supplies retailers as diverse as Next, QVC, JoJo Maman Bebe and John Lewis and if you have just started up your own business, or are still thinking about it, here are our top tips

1)      Do your research

If you have a good idea look at who else is providing a similar product or service to make sure that you can provide a point of difference in either the product or service. This does not need to be an expensive thing to do, but it should take time. Ways you can do this are

·        Internet.

·        Fairs – Consumer shows such as The Baby Show, or trade fairs such as The Spring Fair or Toy Fair are a good place to start

·        Magazines, including the adverts!

Best Years differentiate ourselves by providing products with a difference and also by ensuring that our service is always outstanding. That is why that even though we now have a team of people working for Best Years it will always be Gaynor or Liz who answers your query

2)      Take advice

The Yell research showed that 20% of women thought that a supportive partner was the most important thing in starting a successful business and only 2% thought it important to take professional advice. Having been there and done that we quite agree on the need for support but we would strongly advise you to take advice on legal and financial matters

·        VAT

·        Book Keeping

·        Trading standards, inc distance selling and safety legislation

We will be issuing a guide to what EN71 and CE mean soon

3)      Don’t overstretch yourself

Cash flow is everything. However well things are going cash flow is always going to be a number 1 priority, so try to keep the expenditure down in the first year. Best Years have no minimum order and normally dispatch within 48 hours of receiving an order so you do not have place large orders to start off

However small you are you are still important to us at Best Years so please email Gaynor at gaynor@bestyears.co.uk if you have any questions