Pressure on microbusinesses

Recent research takes a look at the legislative pressures faced by microbusinesses.

Microbusinesses are defined as businesses employing less than 10 people. There are 5.2 million apparently in the UK, by numbers - some 99% of all UK companies. It seems that 'red tape' and increasing employment bureaucracy is becoming a big disincentive to taking on more staff. Just in the recent budget a big hike in the minimum wage was sprung on business in general.  By  these standards our company must be a sub-microbusiness as we employ other specialist supplier companies rather than take on staff ourselves. But this does not mean we are exempt from issues such as auto enrollment in pensions for example. We are apparently known as a director only company in auto enrollment parlance. We have to register to opt out.

So here is the story. Our accountant writes a letter explaining the background, what is the best option for  our business, then goes on to supply screen shots of the online process. It look straightforward  given he had done the research and got all the numbers for us. Five to ten minutes at the most. Wrong.  OK so we get to the web site of the Pension Regulator  at htpps://automation.thepensionregulator.gov.uk/NotAnEmployerhttps://automation.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/notanemployer  - OK , done that, 'submit'. Up comes the red triangle and exclamation mark symbol - 'Mismatch ... check you have entered data correctly and try again.' Do that, get my fellow director to verify - same result. Now I am asked to telephone 0845 600 1011. A recorded message of 1minute 18 seconds tells me to visit the web site, then gives various fixes for problems such as substituting numbers for asterix or something before finally a menu of options and last option of all to speak to someone. This is no 5 minute job. Eventually after being asked to participate in a questionnaire I get to speak to Olivia, after of course the usual security questions. After explaining the problem she explains that I  cannot submit the data because it has already been done as we are a director only company and they have helpfully done this for us. I don't ask the obvious question as to why they don't explain this on the web site as we can't be the only ones. She takes a note of my email and promises to send an email noting we have registered. Great - all done the. Well not quite there's the survey I agreed to take.

I watch my email inbox and after a short while up pops Olivia's email. Oh dear, they have got the wrong company, we are not beauty consultants. Back on the phone, same message, swerve round the survey and speak to a young man with an unpronounceable name after all the security questions of course. Explain the problem which amazingly he is authorised to sort out. Soon his email arrives and I duly forward this to our accountant for reference. And that is just one reason why small businesses feel over burdened by employment legislation, even when you have no employees - yet this is where new jobs should be being created.

Now how about doing some paid for work!

Picture this - images for PR

Compelling images are an important element of a news story, but despite everyone having a digital camera, ownership of a camera  doesn't empower everyone to be a photographer.

Going back some years, most b-2-b PR agencies would commission a professional photographer to come up with an interesting and creative image to accompany the text and often elevate an otherwise uninspiring product into an object of interest or intrigue. And photographers often specialised. Those specialising in images of buildings for architects might not achieve the best, or most flattering  portraits of the managing director. When we commissioned a photographer to photograph a new building in the City of London he paid a crane operator to let him ride up in the crane's bucket to capture a great image from an elevation nobody else would ever see. The resulting image was widely used, but nobody ever asked how it had been taken.

In the b-2-b world, the expense of professional photography has been dropped from budgets and instead images, typically supplied as  jpg files are user/client generated. While not expecting creative work, it would be nice to receive something which was, well lets say OK. Here are 10 common problems with images we receive from clients:-

1. Out of focus, blurred, fuzzy and indistinct - these are useless, so trash can for them.
2. Bad lighting - subject in shadow, silhouette or over exposed.
3. Poor composition  - boring stuff, load of clutter, product lost amongst irrelevant junk.
4. Rubbish in shot - typically in installation photos; scrap materials or builders drinks cans  right in the middle of the shot.
5. Empty scene - buildings or exhibition stands curiously devoid of people.
6. Colour  tinges- strong colour from light reflected from a wall, drapes, background paper,  lighting results in apparently changing the colour of the product.
7. Low res files.
8. Finger over lens.
9. Image lacks any interest, is uninspiring - in short it's boring.
10. The product is not the star of the shot.

So what do we need?
1. Interesting, relevant and engaging images.
2. Technically good quality - in focus, hi-res and reasonably lit would be nice.
3. Good composition - at least to show the product to good effect.

One final thought. Are the people who take the images ever given any brief other than can you take some photos for us? Why not tell them what you need? If you have equipped a building  interior how about some shots of the exterior to set the scene, or people using the place rather than an empty room. Would close up products shots help tell the story? What about pictures of the client for testimonials?
Hopefully with some brief the outcome will be more usable.

Keep on blogging

This blog began as a trial almost 9 years ago.

When I started in August 2006 it was an experiment in several ways. First of all to gain experience with the blog platform itself, secondly to use a free and informal route to talk about our business - the business of technical marketing - and thirdly to discover whether there was enough to say going forward.  

The blogger platform, now owed by Google, is pretty easy to use and over the years I have also changed the design a few times. Currently I  have gone for a simple black text on  a white page with red the only use of colour, in a style that reflects the graphical look of the Madmen TV series. There is a reason for this too and that is the look is used in an upcoming book. 

I  have opted for blogging weekly, partly because the blog is syndicated weekly to recipients of an eNews service and partly to have something interesting to say each time. Some business bloggers write daily which must demand not just a lot of time, but a  constant quest for something new to say. Over the years I have generated a lot of content which I am in the process of publishing as a book. So the blog has achieved some useful business goals all without cost other than my time. I have also been able to blog when travelling overseas to maintain continuity.

But like newsletters for example, it is hard to discern how much it is read. Of course the Google Analytics  give me numbers, but few people sign up as followers - well there is no real need for that - and few comment either, so mainly one way traffic. But then so were printed newsletters except they don't have any SEO value.

Before the blog, further back in 2000 we published a book - Technical Marketing Techniques - at a time when marketing stood on the threshold of a new age - an age dominated by the Internet. The new title - Technical Marketing:Ideas for Engineers - currently being edited, is a story of three parts. Retained is a whole section discussing the rationale of marketing, a new section integrating offline with online marketing communications techniques and a wide ranging final section based on content from this blog evaluating new ideas, new tools and new opportunities.  I will keep you posted.