Blog.

Did you know that hundreds of businesses start up every day in the UK? Across the country, people are setting up shop, armed with a fantastic business idea and a whole lot of potential.

Why then, do so many of these businesses fail? The actual statistics are rather bleak. 40% of businesses close within 3 years of establishing themselves, and the figure goes even higher within 5 years.

In some instances, it could be down to fundamental flaws in the original business concept. Sometimes, it’s also a matter of finances – and simply not having the money to push the business through to success. However, on many occasions, the root cause is lack of planning. In the competitive world of business… planning is everything.

A Company is Like a Cake…

Bear with us while we explain that baffling statement.

If you wanted to make a cake for a special occasion, you’d probably invest in some high quality ingredients: some chocolate icing, butter, good flour, decorations and all the rest of it. You’d then make sure you had a decent recipe – preferably one that had already been proven to work, in a reputable cookbook.

You’d make sure you understood that recipe – reading it through a couple of times before starting. You might even jot down a few notes about timing and so forth.

If you adopted this sort of approach, you’d probably have a pretty decent cake at the end of it. In which case, please do feel free to send some through the post to us.

Starting up a company is very like baking. So why is it that so many individuals fail to undertake the right level of pre-preparation to launch their company? Lack of appropriate planning is the equivalent of tossing the recipe book out the window, chucking the ingredients in any which way possible, setting the oven at a random temperature, and hoping for the best. In rare instances, you might get lucky. In most cases, it’s literally a recipe for disaster. And the same applies to your business.

How to Plan for Success

It goes without saying that you’ll need to create a solid business plan before you get started. There are numerous websites online that can help you with this – or you may even want to talk to a business advisor, to ensure you get it right. However, there are other areas which are vital to plan for. Here’s some top tips.

1) Plot out your website. Being online is incredibly important these days, and if you’re an ecommerce business, your website will be the life-blood of your business. Don’t visit a web designer, armed with only a woolly notion of what you want. Take the time to talk to your web design expert. Explain what functions the website needed to fulfil. Together, you can come up with a winning strategy to create the ideal site for your specific needs.

2) Think marketing. When planning your marketing, don’t just vaguely say you’ll ‘do some social media posts’ or add the odd blog post from time to time. It needs to be a lot more targeted than this. You’ll need to think not only about how you’ll reach your followers on social media, but how you’ll appeal to them. How can you make your profile page attractive? How can you entice them to follow you, and click through to your site? You’ll also need to have a firm marketing strategy when it comes to other forms of marketing. How often will you send out newsletters? Will you be using flyers? Will you be running special offers throughout the year? It’s important to have a good idea of how you’ll approach this vital task.

3) How you’ll grow. This will be partially covered in your business plan. Think about where you want to be in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years even. Avoid unrealistic goals, such as ‘I want to be a millionaire by Christmas’. Don’t we all! Make it focused, then start to strategise exactly how you’ll get there. Is your business scalable? Does it allow for the growth that you want? If not, what’s stopping it?

Planning to Succeed

Shark Bait Studios don’t only focus on web design and development. We’re also here to help you plot out a pathway to success – in terms of your website, marketing materials and branding. To find out more, just give the team a call on 01748 900321 today.