< Previous East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk TAX James Pinchbeck, partner at Streets Chartered Accountants, unpacks the age-old term ‘our people are our greatest asset’. H ow many times have you heard a business leader or company director say our people are our greatest asset? How often we do we take a step back and think what does this really mean? Is it marketing spin aimed at making the organisation look good or to attract new employees, or is there more behind the statement than we might think or are led to believe? Certainly, from a financial reporting perspective people cannot really be an asset, as they are not owned by anyone or anything, nor can they be affixed a monetary value, salary aside, or used as collateral for investment or borrowings. Well at least certainly not in the 21st century. They don’t appear on the business balance sheet and certainly they are not subject to depreciation, written off over time, nor are they from time to time revalued. It would probably be fair to say that whilst you may have many highly appreciated and ‘valued’ staff, not all staff might be deemed to be an asset. In fact, some might be deemed, due to perhaps poor performance, or other less favourable behaviours, to be more of a liability than an asset. Given this background, how might our people be a real benefit and ‘asset’ to our organisation? What might they do to demonstrate the valuable contribution they make to the success and standing of the business? We take on staff to help to deliver the business strategy, to produce goods and services and to meet the demands of the organisation’s operation. However, the true value of our employees is in much more than this. Whilst most if not all staff will undertake, with the appropriate training and guidance, the task or role they have been employed to do, the additional value is around much more. In particular, well engaged employees who buy into or feel truly a part of the business and what it stands for are often great ambassadors and advocates, whether it is with existing customers, potential customers, potential employees or other stakeholders. They often help to contribute to improved productivity, even profitability. In times of adversity, as we saw in the pandemic, valued and well engaged employees often demonstrate true grit and resilience going the extra mile to support the business. There is a true sense of commitment, often with a desire not to let people down with occasions when people will do more off their own back. Rather than perhaps moan or complain about issues affecting the organisation, valued staff will tend to look to address them, showing initiative around problem solving as opposed to leaving it to others or doing nothing. Well valued staff or people you might class as an asset often demonstrate more in terms of leadership, often going above and beyond the management of a task or team and looking to enhance the performance of the same. Perhaps not surprising is the fact that employees who feel a real part of the organisation and its sense of purpose are less likely to seek alternative employment and as such help to improve retention and reduce the burden of recruitment – a situation highly relevant at the moment when most if not all organisations face challenges recruiting. Whilst we can start to appreciate more about how staff could be an asset, even perhaps our greatest asset, there still is a real challenge around how businesses determine or define this, as well as how they might measure it. It seems that there is also work to be done to ensure the term ‘our people are our greatest asset’ is not such a cliché or passing comment or hollow rhetoric on a company’s website, social media and other marketing material. Such work probably starts with leadership and Board, certainly employees, potential staff and wider stakeholders are and will be challenging unsubstantiated statements and looking at how staff really are valued and recognised. 20-21.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:31 Page 120-21.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:31 Page 2 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk DESIGN AND MARKETING Designing the perfect 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:33 Page 1www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link DESIGN AND MARKETING You have one chance to make that first impression work for you, and while your outfit, demeanour and presentation may be perfect, your old marketing materials could be holding you back. I t’s said that the first impression is everything in business. This is true of all walks of life, and is often an unfortunate factor of human society that we judge based on preconceptions surrounding how a person is dressed, how they present themselves and even by the accent they speak in. Is it any surprise then that business owners and decision makers are doing the same based on the presentation, design and quality of a company’s promotional and informational material? Likely not. Everyone judges a company by their website, and in the same vein of thought an important businessperson perusing an exhibition will judge potential clients by the quality of their exhibition stand. Why else do larger companies rent out huge spaces, spend tens of thousands on ostentatious displays and staff it with models hired from agencies? It is to present an image. Not every company can afford to present the same one, but everyone will be judged on it all the same. © stock.adobe.com/kai © stock.adobe.com/smolaw11 24 Á 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:33 Page 2 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk DESIGN AND MARKETING © stock.adobe.com/pvl Keeping your material up to date, be it an exhibition stand, a roller banner, business cards or even leaflets, fliers and promotional material, is key to putting the best foot forward with a potential customer. This is doubly true now that we are out of lockdown and people are feeling safe meeting face to face again. For many, expos and exhibitions were events postponed or cancelled during lockdown, and traffic wasn’t great even for those that did run, but now they are coming back as a normal part of business life and you can see in person just how many people attending are using banners that seem a little worn, a little rundown and just a little frayed at the edges. The economy hasn’t been booming for anyone, and so investment in new banners and material will understandably be a last concern, but a savvy business leader should ask themselves what they would think if they were forced to choose between two suppliers to approach – one of whom stood before a stand just a little faded, and the other of whom stood before pristine material. The answer is all too obvious. It has been two years for many people Designing and printing marketing material does often feel like an unnecessary expenditure, but that couldn’t be any further from the truth. 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:33 Page 3www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link DESIGN AND MARKETING The future of corporate video advertising High quality video is such a vital part of advertising nowadays and you need to keep up with trends so that your videos continue to increase your sales. We spoke with Matt Middleton, director at Glowfrog Video Production, to ask him how businesses can ensure their videos remain effective in 2022 and beyond... More and more people are consuming videos mostly via their phone, meaning there’s an increasing shift towards portrait-shape videos that make better use of a phone screen’s real estate. They’re also watching on platforms that have upload/duration limits in some cases, such as Instagram where the maximum length of a video is one minute. This is forcing a trend where businesses must start creating platform-optimised content, to yield the best results. Videos for social media are better being portrait with a short duration, while videos for YouTube and websites are still usually better being landscape and longer – crucially, you need to decide where you’re going upload the video before the camera starts rolling. Expect to see diminishing ROI if you continue rolling out just one video across all platforms. Consumers can now also skip past your video easier than ever. This will become a greater issue as more platforms start adopting the ‘carousel’ style video player – a trend which is already well under way. Consequently, audience retention is becoming an ever more important consideration for the video projects we work on. Your videos have to be engaging from the very start in the form of surprise or intrigue, then retain the viewer’s attention until the end, else they are likely to stop watching. Furthermore, despite apps like TikTok giving the impression that low quality phone-made videos are a good way to go, businesses actually need to be increasingly concerned about production values. Corporate video production standards are on the rise and if your competitors are posting higher quality videos, they will seem like the superior choice to your potential customers. Mastering all of this can be difficult. It largely comes down to having detailed pre-production discussions and plans – and a little guidance from a professional goes a long way. We love to speak with businesses about the best ways to make video advertising work for them. If you want further advice, get in touch with me on 01332 492465 or at www.glowfrogvideo.com. since presentation truly mattered. Zoom calls, home offices and suits from the waist up were all that were important before, but now is the time of handshakes again. So, how are your business cards? How new and fresh do the price sheets and informational brochures look? Are the colours faded? A new start out of lockdown means a new opportunity, a fresh start, and it’s well worth leveraging that with new marketing materials, be they banners, leaflets, signage or business cards. Freshly printed and pressed material will always portray a more confident and well- organised company, and it may be time for you to consider the design of them as well, especially if the same layout has been used for years on end. Specialists in design should be able to do more than simply put together something from specification – they should be capable of expert advice, direction and design to highlight ways to improve on existing material. Unifying themes and colours supporting or matching brand logos should be used throughout, but the font used, the size of it and also the distribution of images, graphs and figures are all important. Where they lay on any given page can dictate how the human eye naturally gravitates, with certain areas being more prone to attention by the average reader. There is a lot of psychology that goes into good design as well, understanding the colours and layouts that more naturally convey feelings of professionalism toward the reader. A good example of this – though the opposite way – might be how a restaurant menu in a family pub will use varying fonts, differing sizes and bold text to convey a wide range of options, whereas an expensive restaurant is likely to have smaller text set centre in a blank page, often vellum, to create a more luxurious feel to the menu. Designing and printing marketing material does often feel like an unnecessary expenditure, but that couldn’t be any further from the truth. Marketing material, like a salesperson, is what every potential customer will see, and it is something they will take into consideration when deciding to use your services or not. Given the amount of time it has been since we’ve had to do so much business in person, a lot of businesses’ materials are out of date or feeling a little rough around the edges. There’s never been a better time to update them and create a new, fresh start for your salespeople. 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:33 Page 4 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk PUBLIC RELATIONS T he East Midlands Bricks Awards are on the horizon. If you have entered, you might want to read on… I was at a business breakfast recently in Nottingham, with the great and good of this fair city before they all headed off to Trent Bridge and THAT game! Not me sadly, I was on five deadlines! It was an event to herald the “Top 200” businesses in the area and had been trailed across social media for the past few weeks by the local press and by one of the sponsors who happens to BIGGEST name in the city (not you Robin), the most iconic global brand – Boots. Their spokesperson was fantastic when he was interviewed, proud, humble, a local lad who had gone to university in Nottingham, was excited to be a part of the event and full of praise for all of the Top 200. However, the fastest climber and the highest new entry both failed to show. How did that make them look? To the assembled guests, some of whom might be potential customers, suppliers or partners? To the media who are keen to No-shows at business awards – stop bricking it! Greg Simpson, founder of Press for Attention PR, discusses awards events and no-shows and their impact on a business’s reputation. be a client of mine. With the top 180 already revealed, the stage was set to unveil the top 20, complete with trophies and a platform to speak on in front of the assembled guests, media makers, movers and shakers. I’ll let you decide which of them I am. Wherever you place in that top 20, this is a great PR opportunity if you leverage it. Or…if you even bother to show up! If you don’t…well…let’s just say you’ll have a tough innings ahead of you. The winner showed up. Yep, the 26-27.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:33 Page 1www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link PUBLIC RELATIONS learn of bright young things making their mark? Not great! Now I know we all get busy and life gets in the way. I know that to some businesses local recognition isn’t that crucial because they don’t sell to consumers or they are more national in outlook. Sure, but your staff are local aren’t they? Wouldn’t they be proud? Wouldn’t more people want to join you if they can see how awesome you are and in what high regard the press holds you? If a multinational GIANT such as Boots can see the value in it, maybe there’s something in this! The chap from Boots even found an opportunity to hint at a new range coming out. I could see the reporters scribbling away. All that took was an hour of his time before the working day even began. He got a lovely cooked breakfast as part of it too! Win/Win. So, with the Bricks looming large on the horizon, consider how you might show up at your next opportunity even if you “KNOW WE WON’T WIN.” Howzat for an idea? A former business journalist, Greg Simpson is the author of The Small Business Guide to PR and has been recognised as one of the UK’s top 5 PR consultants, having set up Press for Attention PR in 2008. He has worked for FTSE 100 firms, charities and start-ups and conducted press conferences with Sir Richard Branson and James Caan. His background ensures a deep understanding of every facet of a successful PR campaign – from a journalist’s, client’s, and consultant’s perspective. 26-27.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:33 Page 2 East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS © stock.adobe.com/Production Perig 28-31.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:35 Page 1www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS I n more ways than most, our region relies heavily on small and medium sized businesses. The population spread across the counties means that many communities depend on small companies to deliver essential services, with larger entities being more difficult to access. Yet, small businesses continue to struggle. The current cost of living crisis means that many companies are under threat of being priced out of the market on rent, shipping, and other necessary costs. The easiest way to diversify income is to increase online presence. This is being done increasingly via apps. There is often a sentiment amongst small business owners that the outlay costs and initial headache of setting up an app outweighs the potential benefits. This is not true. In fact, small businesses can benefit in different ways to larger ones. Apps can provide instant customer feedback and purchase tracking, so you can see what’s popular and what’s not. Small businesses generally have much greater control over stocking and purchasing decisions, meaning that you can respond much faster to consumer trends. Furthermore, you can directly contact your customers to send offers and promotions, helping to increase sales faster. Average costs range from £1,000 to £7,000. This may sound daunting, but research shows that only 4% of businesses see a negative return on investment in mobile apps, and those that use Key Performance Indicators to track and adjust app success are very likely to see a strong return on investment. With more people online shopping than ever, you may find that your customer base diversifies upon the implementation of a mobile app. It isn’t just about marketing either. Many businesses are using apps to offer delivery services. In an area where the bigger delivery organisations often don’t operate, or charge extortionate delivery fees, there is a gap in the market to be filled by local organisations. Businesses such as Fudged Up have also been using their online presence to run giveaways, which has increased both their sales and brand visibility. So, understanding the potential benefits of implementing a mobile app, how is it done? App builders are available The profit in apps From food delivery to health monitoring, from financial advice to security services, apps are becoming an ever more important part of everyday life, and businesses in the East Midlands need to adapt. 30 Á 28-31.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2022 14:35 Page 2Next >