With New Year fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about your business strategy for 2008. It’s also a good time to review your business plan to see if you’re meeting your expectations, or if there are any improvements or refinements still to be made. We’d all like to achieve greater sales success, but getting your name and your brand out there can be both time-consuming and expensive. I’m going to show you a tool that can help your promotions soar.

Advertising is one way of attracting attention, but it can be expensive -- and there’s no guarantee it’ll reach your intended market. Think about it: How much attention do you really pay to ads? Like so many of us, do you change the channel or flip the page without a second’s thought? Today’s consumers are media savvy. They know what they’re looking for, and they know a hard sell when they see one. They filter out unwanted media ‘noise’ – and that can include your expensive ads.

So how do you get the information out there? A cheaper and more effective option might be to opt for editorial coverage instead of paying for advertising. Newspapers and magazines are always looking for something a little different, something eye-catching and unusual. If you can come up with an angle which makes you (or your business or your products) stand out from the crowd, the writers and editors who work for these publications will want to tell people all about it.

The benefits are obvious. Inclusion in the editorial section of a respected publication adds prestige to your products. More than that, it takes them to a wider audience you couldn’t reach otherwise. It can also seem to add an official seal of approval - and wouldn’t you be more inclined to believe glowing praise from a written recommendation rather than a paid-for advertisement?

To gain such coverage, however, you’ll have to make things easier for those over-worked, often under-paid writers and editors – and that means preparing your own press kit.

Press kits are a valuable tool for getting your business into newspapers, magazines and supplements. They make you and your business press-friendly, which means you’ve made it easy for publications to write about you. A well-written press kit makes you and the publication look good. Your press kit should contain the following:

1. A paragraph or two about your company – how/why you started, your ethos, a little background info the business history to date.
   
2. A paragraph or two about you as the owner – you can include things like your education, what led to your interest in soap making, a little info on your family life (if you’re comfortable giving it). Don’t underestimate the power of the personal - an unusual or interesting line here could make all the difference between the wastepaper basket and an eye-catching headline in next month’s magazine.
   
3. A paragraph or two about products from your line. Talk about ingredients, purpose, and why you think they stand out. Remember to talk yourself up!
   
4. Professional quality photos for the products. Most print publications will require that the photos be 300dpi.
   
5. Contact details – this is very important. Make sure they are on every single page of your press kit. It’s easy for pages to become lost in a busy office – make it as easy as possible for people to find you.
   

Spend at least an hour a week on press. Submit your kit to magazines, newspapers, and supplements. Try writing press releases about yourself and your products and submit these as well. Remember to make your press release relevant so that it doesn’t sound like an advert. Newspapers are always looking for ways to fill space. Assert yourself as an expert and let the papers know you’re willing to give quotes and answer questions if they need you. Think of things which set you and your products apart, and emphasise them. Call it spin if you like, but publications will always look twice at something they haven’t seen or heard before. Stand out from the crowd!

Here is a sample of one of my older press kits:
http://www.longcroftsoap.co.uk/press%20kit/Longcroft%20Press.pdf
I keep print quality (300dpi) photos at the ready so I can send them out if a magazine or newspaper needs them.

It’s a good idea to put your press kit in .pdf format somewhere on your website. You don’t need to make it visible to everyone. Since many businesses have email attachment filters, being able to send a link to your press kit is vital. Having a link also means you can access your press kit from any computer -- handy if you’re travelling.

You’ll find that once you’ve gotten press, it becomes easier to get. It’s important to update your press kit often so that the content remains fresh.

Wishing you a lovely Christmas and all the best in 2008,

Elizabeth x

As something of a serial entrepreneur, I’ve been starting up and running businesses for over twenty years. Before Longcroft Soap Company and gracefruit.com, I had several companies.
I’ve shipped cars from Germany to the US, recruited computer programmers during the height of the dot com boom, and even taught etiquette to children. It’s fair to say my experience is diverse.
While all of my companies have been very different, there are certain rules of business that I’ve applied to all of them - and the cardinal rule is the same no matter what kind of business you’re running. You must watch and maintain your cash flow.

To understand why maintaining cash flow is vital to the success of any business, it’s important to first understand exactly what cash flow is. A common mistake is that cash flow is the same as profit, which isn’t exactly true. While profit can lead to cash flow, they’re not the same thing. Cash flow is the pattern of income and expenditure your company experiences over a given period. To maintain any business, you must have a steady stream of cash ready to pay for all necessities. If your cash flow stops and you can’t pay for the items you need for your business, your business will fail. To avoid this, you’ll need to forecast your cash flow needs at least 30 days in advance. As your business grows, you’ll want to forecast even further. Six months is better. Twelve months is ideal.

Forecasting helps you to look at money coming in versus money going out, and can help you spot trouble before it’s on your doorstep. Try to estimate the bills due over the next 30 days and plan your payments. Remember to include the costs for raw materials, rent for premises, taxes, equipment, wages (if you have employees), repayments, and your contingency budget.

Now look at the money you have coming in for the next 30 days. While it’s sometimes difficult to determine how much you can expect, looking back at past months can help. Always be conservative and realistic with your estimates. Pay close attention to when your bills are due over the next 30 days. Will you have enough to cover each bill as it comes due? If you do, great! If not, you have a cash flow problem. But don’t panic. The fact you can see a problem coming gives you time to react.

Cash flow problems don’t just happen. There are a few common causes:

Poor stock management – while it’s tempting to buy in bulk to save money, sometimes the savings aren’t worth the dent to your cash flow. Spending £100 for ten kilograms of mango butter may seem smarter than buying two kilograms for £25, but that extra £75 could come in handy when your taxes are due in a week’s time.

Borrowing too much – financing is not always the best option when starting a business. Many new businesses find themselves over-financed, and the burden of the repayments zaps the cash they need for necessities like rent and raw materials.

Offering terms – we all want sales, but offering credit to customers can cause serious damage to your cash flow. If you’re depending on that £200 repayment from your customer and it doesn’t come, the worst case scenario is that it could mean the end of your business.

Failing to recognise any of these potential problems can result in insolvency and failure. By no means is this a comprehensive list. Even the loss of a customer or a supplier can result in cash flow problems. Sometimes it isn’t possible to avoid difficulties with cash flow, but forecasting will help you spot problems while you still have time to do something about them.

There are no quick fixes for cash flow problems, but looking ahead and avoiding common pitfalls can help prevent disaster.