Setting up your own business can be overwhelming. Many people start a new business because they have a great idea or they are great at what they do. However, setting up and running a successful business means you have to know how to manage the finances, run the operations and promote the business.
That is why Waverley Council in partnership with Enterprise First, organised a free event called Ask the Experts. Ask the Experts is an event where local business experts are invited to give some free independent confidential advice to people who are thinking of just setting up or looking to grow their business in the Waverley area.
The local experts covered a varied range of subjects including:
- Accessing finance
- Accountancy and tax issues
- Business rates
- Environmental health
- Legal issues (affecting small business)
- Licensing
- Marketing, websites and social media
- Planning
- Training and apprenticeships
Innovation Visual were invited to attend to provide free expert advice on digital marketing, web design and social media – all areas where Innovation Visual works closely with businesses of different sizes to deliver the best results.
The Ask the Experts was held at the Georgian House Hotel in Haslemere. We arrived early to setup and managed to catch up with the fantastic Waverley team. At 5:45pm after a brief welcome from the Mayor of Waverley, the evening kicked off.
From start to finish there was a continuous flow of great ideas and enthusiastic business owners. The energy in the room was electric. There is nothing more infectious than an entrepreneur talking about their idea. The room was buzzing. We spoke with some really smart and switched on entrepreneurs with some interesting concepts but there was one common theme - all of the small business owners and entrepreneurs knew the importance of getting their business online. But no one really knew anything else about the subject itself, so we had some great conversations offering some free expert advice about digital marketing, social media and web design.
Here are some quick digital marketing takeaways:
- Digital marketing is a must – whether you have a social media account (Facebook or LinkedIn) or a full e-commerce website – you need to get online.
- Digital marketing doesn’t have to be expensive – You can get online with no, to very little investment from social media accounts, blogs, Google Adwords advertising or a basic web site – just get started now.
- Social media is social – Social media is about being social. It's an excellent opportunity to engage with your customers and target market. Social media allows you to create your brand personality, create awareness and win new business.
- Content is really important – content is king and you should get into the habit of writing content which is informative, educational, fun and encourages people to engage or share. This will help with your search engine rankings as well as engage with your target market.
Thank you very much to the team at Waverley for inviting Innovation Visual to attend. We had a great time.
Come and speak with a leading digital marketing agency in Surrey
No matter if you have just started your new business or you have been running a business for years, if you want some expert digital marketing advice, please contact us and pop in for a coffee.
PS The winner of our give away of Google Goodies was George Rain bespoke Jewellery from Haslemere!
