insideKENT Magazine Issue 81 - December 2018 | Page 169

BUSINESS
LAUNCH IN THE NEW YEAR cont.
Before you can borrow any money, you must know
how much you are going to need, which is why your
business plan is essential, and why your research needs
to be thorough – borrowing too much can make
repayments difficult, but borrowing too little means
that you might not be able to do everything that you
need to run your business well from the start.
CREATE AN ONLINE PRESENCE
Once you know what you’re going to sell, and to whom
you are going to sell it, you need to create an online
presence. Without this, your business will get lost and
you simply won’t be able to make any money. To start
with, a website is crucial. This is where most people
will go when they want to find out more about you, so
including plenty of contact information and details
about what you do and how you do it is vital. You can
also have an online store so that customers can buy
directly from you and you can earn money
automatically.
A website is a good start, but it is generally not enough
these days. You will also need some kind of social
media account in order to really capture as many
potential buyers’ interest as possible. There are many
different platforms that you can make an account on
including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You might
want just one, you might want as many as possible,
but whatever you choose you must ensure that you
take care of it. That means regularly updating the
content with interesting, sharable information and
interacting with people who have taken the time to
comment or ask a question. Not only will you show
that you are a real person, but you will more easily
build up trust, which is hugely important.
MAKE IT OFFICIAL
If you want to go about things the right way, you will
need to register your business with the relevant
authorities. Which bodies you need to contact will
depend on how you choose to set up your business,
but as a sole trader you will need to let HMRC know
that you are self-employed, for example. If you are
setting up a limited company or a limited liability
partnership (LLP) then Companies House needs to be
informed.
Once you have done this, you can open up a business
bank account, for example, or apply for business
funding should you need to.
START MARKETING
If you have a social media presence already then you
will probably already have been marketing, but although
this is a great way to give your business as much reach
as possible, there are dozens of other ways to advertise,
and each one comes with its own set of pros and cons.
Knowing your target market, your budget and the most
important message you want to convey is essential –
with these things in mind you can set about creating
the ideal marketing campaign for your business.
If you’re not a marketing expert, you’ll need to spend
some time looking into the different ideas and methods
that are open to you to determine exactly what it is that
is going to work best for you. Alternatively, if your
budget will cover it, this could be a good time to draft
in some outside expert help and engage a marketing
professional to make your business get noticed sooner.
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