38 Taxes, VAT and accounting
- No matter what kind of business you run, you will need to make sure you use good accounting practices to keep track of your finances.
- If you are not an accountant, it is a good idea to work with one.
- Always keep detailed records for everything that involves your business, your costs and your income (turnover). This is called bookkeeping. There are several software packages that will do all of the hard work for you, or you can keep track using your own spreadsheets.
- You are obligated to pay taxes on the profits you earn. Finding an accountant When you start your own business, it’s inevitable that you’ll be performing a number of different roles, including keeping track of your accounts. Many businesses and entrepreneurs are operating on a limited budget, so it’s understandable that some may opt to try to do their accounts themselves. However, they may be unaware of just how much of a difference hiring an accountant can make to your business. Staying on top of your business finances is a big task even if you aren’t expecting a huge income. If you’re an entrepreneur who wants to ensure the continued success of your business, it’s worth considering hiring an accountant for professional advice and assistance with your business finances. It could be the best investment you ever make. Hiring an accountant ensures that you are monitoring expenses and that you are obeying all HMRC tax requirements (known as compliance). It’s important to know where you stand each month. An accountant can help you get set up on accounting software and bookkeeping systems, saving you time, money and hassle when it comes to producing financial statements and tax returns. This is especially relevant now that the Making Tax Digital scheme has been introduced. Find out more at gov.uk/ government/publications/making-tax-digital/ overview-of-making-tax-digital Tax advice Tax is always going to be an inevitable outgoing, but if you run a small business, there are plenty of ways that you can legally save some money on your tax bill. An accountant can help you plan effectively to reduce your overall tax burden, while ensuring you are in line with all tax laws. Business advisory Given their oversight of your financial situation and business environment, accountants can offer a high level of insight across the board, for everything from business and marketing plans to retirement planning. Having worked with hundreds of businesses, they will likely have an insight into a number of different industries and may have worked with a business in the same sector before.
39 More than just an accountant A quality accountant offers far more than just financial records, reports and compliance. Accountants have the expertise and experience to offer valuable insights and realistic advice on what a business needs to do to develop and grow. A good accountant answers questions you didn’t know you needed to ask. They can help you with: • Marketing plans • Pricing and margins • Staff • Networking and introductions to other business owners • Budgets and accountability • Bringing in other experts where necessary Their advice is invaluable from the very beginning – and even before you have started your business. If you are not sure where to find an accountant or want to make sure they are a good fit for your business, you can use the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW) to find and initiate a conversation with an accountant. To search for an accountant, use their free tool at icaew.com/about-icaew/find-a-chartered- accountant Free business accounts Some financial organisations offer free business accounts with company registration and cashback. Below are some examples. Please always do your own research before proceeding. • Starling Bank - starlingbank.com/business-account • Go Solo – gosolo.net/company-registration • Anna – anna.money • Tide – hhll.co.uk/tide
40 Marketing plan Did you know? The Business & IP Centre at the British Library has a whole section of open access resources on marketing that can be used for free in our Reading Room. Resources including eMarketer, EMIS and Mintel are all available to search for market insights. All you need is a free Reader Pass. ©Mike O'Dwyer
41
You might choose to market your business using social media, email, search engine
optimisation or influencer partnerships. You also have the option of using traditional
marketing techniques, which are offline methods of promoting your business or service
such as purchasing advertising space on posters and billboards, using television adverts or
sending flyers in the post.
Here are some free marketing toolkits:
• startuploans.co.uk/support-and-guidance/planning-templates-and-guides/essential-guide-
to-marketing
• Startups.co.uk offer guides and resources to help you create a marketing plan and strategy
for a start-up on a budget.
Here are some ideas to consider when embarking on a simple, effective marketing strategy
for your new start-up business. Some topics will be more relevant to you than others,
depending on your product or service and the budget you have available.
Brand
Does your branding have a clear identity that
accurately communicates your business USP?
Is it consistent across all marketing channels,
both in print and online?
Know your customer
This means profiling your client’s needs,
wants and desires so that you truly
understand them. Not every message
or strategy will fit every customer, so be
prepared to update your message to fit the
audience.
Get a website and keep it updated
Make sure it’s optimised for search engines
and AI, user-friendly in its design and packed
full of useful content. Check that it’s easy for
your customers to contact you. If you don’t
have the budget for a website, focus on social
media channels (see below).
Make the most of social media
What social media do your customers use?
Consider the customer profiles in your business
plan and engage with them where they are
most likely to be. You can use some social
media sites to identify and target a specific
demographic by age, gender, location or special
interest. This ensures that your products or
services are presented to the right audience.
Create different versions of your content
designed for different social media platforms.
Measure how engaged your audience is by
paying attention to social media analytics.
For business to business (B2B) marketing,
develop LinkedIn and X (Twitter) campaigns.
For business to consumer (B2C) marketing,
Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are more
suitable.
Social media is generally free. However,
you can also pay to ‘boost’ posts to get
them seen by more people. Or set up paid
advert campaigns to reach your ideal target
audiences. Be careful if you pay for adverts
as this can get expensive. Make sure you
do your research first, talk to others who
have used paid social media successfully and
monitor return on investment carefully.
©Mike O'Dwyer
42
Try email or direct mail campaigns
Once you have identified your ideal
customer, develop a simple marketing
campaign identifying who you are going to
approach, what you are going to say (based
on their needs) and when you are going to
implement it. It’s important to follow up, so
be sure to allow enough time to do this.
Before contacting anyone through email or
direct mail, find out about the protocols and
rules of GDPR at gov.uk/data-protection
Top tips for AI
More and more people are using AI
interfaces like ChatGPT to discover new
products and services. You want to make
sure your business can be found. Unlike
traditional search engines, ChatGPT searches
using Bing – it’s not looking directly at your
website. That means you need to make
sure that the information you want to be
seen can be found by Bing in a format that
ChatGPT can understand. Make sure you’re
not blocking searches and keep your website
clear and simple.
Find out more at these links.
• superwebpros.com/how-to-make-your-
website-show-up-in-chatgpt
• resultfirst.com/blog/ai-seo/make-your-
website-chatgpt-friendly
• absoluteapplabs.com/blog/how-to-
optimize-your-website-for-chatgpt
Get to grips with Google
The search engine giant is every small
business’ best friend when it comes to
marketing strategy. Used correctly, Google
can provide a helping hand when it comes to
identifying and measuring your campaigns
and helping you understand and achieve
business success.
Here are four Google tools your small
business should include as part of your
marketing strategy:
- Google Analytics Google Analytics tracks your website’s traffic. It lets you know which pages on your website are the most popular and which could be improved. It will also let you know where your site visitors found you, and how much time they spent on your site.
- Google Ads This is Google’s online advertising platform, where you can pay to display targeted ads. Approach targeted ads carefully as they can be expensive.
- Google My Business This tool is essential and free. You can use it to manage your online presence on Google, which increases your chances of appearing in the search results when someone Googles you or something to do with your business.
- Google Digital Garage This free online resource from Google provides training on digital marketing to grow your business. It offers events and workshops throughout the UK.
43
Conversion rates
No matter what your marketing strategy is,
you should always measure the effectiveness
of different marketing activities. You don’t
want to spend money on marketing that
doesn’t work.
Consider using the 4R methodology:
Websites and eCommerce
Having the right IT systems in place will make
your life easier and give your business a more
professional feel.
Email
You have many different options available
to you. You can start your business with a
free account from Google, Outlook, Yahoo
or any other provider. In doing so you will be
limited to using a domain from that provider
– Google’s will be @gmail.com, Outlook’s will
be @outlook.com and so on.
• Google Workspace is Google's email
provider for businesses workspace.
google.com
• Office365 is Microsoft’s email provider for
businesses
office.com
Ensure that your email address is professional.
Avoid using pop
cultural references such as
[email protected]. Some people
will be put off by this and some of your
emails may even be blocked by spam filters.
WhatsApp/Messaging
Consider having a dedicated business phone
number and let people know that you will
respond to messages and/or calls that way.
You can get eSIMs with second numbers.
Review
Reflect
Repeat
or
Replace
44
Software
Many business email providers will also give
you access to applications such as Word or
Google Docs. Note that the price you pay
per month for a subscription may increase if
you want to use some applications. Read the
Terms and Conditions to ensure the software
you have can be used for enterprise.
CRM systems
You can use a customer relationship
management system to help you keep track
of customers, orders and your interactions
with clients.
Startups.co.uk has a useful page on what a
CRM is, how it can help your business and
what options are available.
URLs / domains / web hosting
A URL is the text you type into your internet
search bar. It starts with https:// . URLs must
be purchased by a provider and can point to
any webpage.
Your domain is where your website is stored.
You will typically pay an annual fee to keep
a domain name you want to use for your
website or brand.
Once you have settled on a name for your
business you may want to trademark it to
ensure it's protected. You can look through
the available resources at the IPO at
gov.uk/topic/intellectual-property/
trade-marks
It might also be worth checking Companies
House to see if a business has registered a
limited company with the name you want to
use. Have a look at gov.uk/topic/intellectual-
property/trade-marks
It’s advisable to check whether the web
domain you want is free to use. You can
check domains through web domain
providers.
• GoDaddy UK – godaddy.com/en-uk
• 123reg – 123-reg.co.uk
• FastHosts – fasthosts.co.uk/domain-names
You should also check whether the handle for
your business name is available across all your
social media and email channels. If it isn’t,
you might be able to use something that is
similar and still easily searchable. You don’t
need to use these accounts straight away
but having the names you want will help you
later when you are building your brand. For
this reason, it’s worth checking and securing
them before you commit to a name. You also
don’t want someone else to use your business
name on social media.
eCommerce sites
If you want to take payments online, you
should choose an eCommerce site with built-
in payment systems. These sites either charge
a flat fee or take a percentage of every
transaction. Here are some examples:
• Shopify – shopify.co.uk
• Stripe – stripe.com
• Squarespace – squarespace.com
• Wix – wix.com
45
Other low-cost marketing ideas
Leaflets and flyers
Don’t underestimate these traditional
marketing methods. Distributing leaflets
door to door is a simple way to promote
your services and drum up business. It can
cost about £100 to print 5,000 colour A5
flyers. Bear in mind that response rates can
be less than 1%. These are most useful if
your product or service targets a specific
geographic area.
You may be able to put leaflets in medical
waiting rooms, libraries, coffee shops or the
reception areas of local businesses. Always
include a leaflet-specific call to action or a
discount code so that you can judge how
effective your leaflets are. To increase your
response rate, consider using a business email
address rather than a personal email address.
To print leaflets and flyers, try design and
printing companies such as Vistaprint and
InstantPrint:
• Vistaprint offers: vistaprint.co.uk
• InstantPrint: instantprint.co.uk
Local directories
Many towns and villages have their own
online and paper directories showcasing local
trades and businesses. Costs are generally
reasonable, and the editors are often
looking for editorial content. If you have
an interesting product or service, or a story
about your business, consider approaching
directory publishers to share your news and
promote your business.
Online Directories
Register your business on directories such as
Yelp.com. Yelp allows you to reply to any bad
reviews, helping you to demonstrate how
professional and approachable you are. Other
recommendation sites, such as Checkatrade,
are worth joining – great reviews can be a
valuable source of new customers.
Make sure that you create a business page
on Google so that your business appears
on Google Maps with information about
opening and closing times (if applicable),
your products or services, and a link to your
website. This will also provide a place for your
customers to leave reviews.
Local newspapers
Instead of paying for an advert, consider
sending a press release to your local
newspaper to share something newsworthy
about your business. This can result in
valuable editorial coverage. Journalists are
often looking for engaging local content.
Alternatively, you could offer to write a
regular topical article on a relevant theme.
For example, you could give nutritional
advice if you are a nutritional therapist
or gardening advice if you run a
gardening business.
Local radio
Many towns and villages have their own
local radio stations with guest presenter
slots and often broadcast a business-themed
show. Get in touch with them to explore any
opportunities to promote your business and
share your expert knowledge.