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Smoke and Mirrors – 5 Secrets to Making Your Small Business Look Great

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Every business has to start somewhere. Even with a limited budget you still need to make your business appealing to customers. Without a façade that screams “I’m successful,” you risk appearing unprofessional and inexperienced. Here are five secrets to making your small business look the part even as you’re finding your feet in your chosen market:

Think Smart with Offices

Where you work can make a difference to the appeal of your business. Therefore, there’s every reason to consider serviced offices or virtual offices when you’re looking for suitable premises. A serviced office in a premium location can offer a sense of professionalism while still being affordable. The best part about a serviced office is you can utilize WiFi, reception services, office furniture and more, all built into one convenient weekly or monthly cost.

Virtual offices, on the other hand, are perfect for small businesses operating from home. You can benefit from an official business address and phone number, with forwarding services directing it to your home. No one need ever know you don’t work in a premium location.

Go Professional with Design

The worst thing you can do when you’re trying to launch a business is skimp on design. As IBM president Thomas Watson Jr. once said, good design is good business. If you create a logo on your own, you risk plastering your business with an unprofessional image that you can’t shake. The result? Wariness from potential customers who may otherwise have purchased your products if your image appeared more appealing.

Get Creative with Marketing

When you launch a new business, it can be challenging to get the word out. While you may have hoped that by merely by opening your doors the customers will come flocking, that’s often not the case. To put your business in a league of its own, you need to get creative with marketing. Offer your customers a solution to their problems in an “out of the box” way and ensure your business branding is everywhere.

To do so professionally, you may need to call upon the expertise of a marketing consultant. They can help you to understand where you need to market yourself, how best to approach your audience, as well as whom you should target. Hitting the bullseye with a killer campaign can be all it takes to get customers rolling through your doors.

Know Your Competition

There is a high chance that you are entering the world of business with a fair amount of competition. For example, if you’ve opened a new restaurant, there’s a good chance there will be at least a handful of restaurants nearby. Therefore, when you hit the market, you need to watch your competition like a hawk.

Find out what they are doing successfully and where they’re weak. By doing so, you can establish your business model with a competitive edge. Do it differently, do it better and your business is going to look far more successful to the general public.

Encourage Online Reviews

More and more people are turning to online reviews as their primary source of information about a new business. The more positive reviews your venture has, the better it is for your image. As a trickle of customers slowly comes through, encourage them to review the service you provided. You can even offer incentives for them to do so – such as discounts on their next purchase.

Your business isn’t going to look the part without a little effort and planning. While you might have a limited budget, there are so many things you can do to present your business to the public in a favorable light without breaking the bank.

A New Way to Hire Staff for Small Businesses

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If you’re a small business and you’re finding it hard to hire staff, here are some handy tips that can help you save time and money.

With the introduction of a new technology known as On Demand, hiring staff has never been easier. Not only are you able to hire a worker at a click of a button but these workers are also contracted, meaning that you are able to negotiate an hourly price for the work that needs to be done.

With the introduction to being On Demand, companies like Uber and Airbnb are paving the way for this new type of economy. The On Demand economy works in a way that you only use and pay for a service or a good when you need it and for the amount of time you need it. Uber and Airbnb are in the logistics and accommodation industries respectively and are both large multinational companies. However, at the core, both of these companies are formulated to take away the middle man and save on costs wherever possible. 

The On Demand economy has since expanded into other industries including recruitment. Recently, companies like Workfast and Freelancer have launched web and mobile applications that connect employers with workers.

Casual work in Australia has been on the rise over the past decade with a current estimated 3.2 million Australians taking on some form of casual work.

For workplaces, having a team of casual staff can save on costs by being able to scale workforce in accordance with demand. The go both ways and for workers, this means that they are able to be flexible with their role and have a better balance between work and lifestyle.

Some benefits in hiring casual staff for small businesses:

Easy to hire with new technology

With the introduction to new applications hiring reliable and vetted staff has never been easier. New hiring platforms such as Workfast and Freelancer allow you to view profiles of potential employees before you decide to hire them. The profiles are all categorised into specific industries and you can view previous employer ratings and comments before you commit.

Scaling your business with demand

For small businesses, it may be difficult to project when, where and for how long busy periods will last. A cafe or restaurant may need to hire a casual worker due to its unpredictable nature of hospitality with customers. Casual staffing on weekends and sporadically throughout the week may be the only option for these businesses.

Diversity of workers

Having a diverse pool of workers means that workplaces can keep things fresh and relative to industry standards. Many casual workers or temporary workers are students who need the flexibility of balancing study with work. Single parents make up a proportion of these workers as can work a few days a week in between looking after their families.

Hiring staff can be a difficult task for small businesses. However, by arming yourself with knowledge of how workplaces and workers are evolving, you can be better prepared for the future success of your business.