Category: Marketing blog

The office is the one place which we spend most of our time when we aren’t at home, and because of this we tend to cook, make drinks, bring lots of layers in and many will smoke too. Anything which involves heat and flammable material is a fire hazard, and when you have 40 people in the office all using the microwave and making toast in the morning, the hazard can rise exponentially. Fire safety is incredibly important in any part of our lives, but is especially important when we are in the office due to the volume of people. If you need some tips on making the office as safe as possible, then read on…

Check your electrics

The first step to making sure that your office is safe is to check the electrics regularly. Ideally every appliance and computer in the building should be checked every 3 months or so to make sure that they are running correctly and are safe to use. Electrical fires are one of the number one causes of fire in the modern day, so checking that your electrics are in safe working order is essential.

Test your fire alarms

Always make the time to test your fire alarms regularly. Every office has a legal responsibility to put a fire detection system in place, but you need to make sure that you check it regularly enough with fire drills and make sure that the batteries haven’t run out. You should check the alarm once a month and make sure that everyone in the building can hear it.

Emergency escape routes

Any building needs to have some easy escape routes as well as maps to said routes all over the building. No one should have to run across the entire building in order to get out, there should be an exit within meters of everyone in the office building. If some of your workers are upstairs you will need a fire escape with ladders. Make sure you run regular fire drills to make sure that everyone is able to exit the building within a reasonable timeframe.

Appoint a fire warden

Every office should have someone who works as a dedicated fire warden. They will be the ones who will test the fire alarms, carry out fire drills, check the fire extinguishers and make sure everyone understands what to do in case of an emergency.

Safe smoke breaks

With the amount of workers who smoke, you will need to make sure that you have a designated space away from the building where people can go out and smoke in peace, as well as being safe for the rest of the employees. Make sure to provide bins for cigarettes and that all fire is put out before being in contact with potentially flammable material like paper.

Educate employees

One of the main causes of fire in the workplace is simply the fact that employees are not properly educated on how to be safe.  Make sure that you take the time to really educate your employees on safe conduct.

When you’re marketing your company, you do have to consider the issues that can impact your business brand and the reputation of your company. Any marketing expert will tell you that issues here will result in significantly lower sales and ultimate could cause customers to choose your competition instead. As such, business owners need to be aware of what can impact brand reputation and how to fix problems if and when they develop.

Trouble With Outsourcing

You might find that your brand is impacted by an issue with an outsourcing service that you have chosen to use. It is crucial that when you use an outsourcing service, you can trust the quality of the service that they provide. If you can’t then remember, customers won’t know you’re outsourcing. So, any issue here will reflect directly on your company, rather than the one that you might be using.

The best way to vet an outsourcing service is to look for buzz as well as opinions about the company online. Make sure that previous customers and clients were happy with their service and that they themselves have a solid reputation.

Marketing Scandals

It’s true to say that businesses can find themselves in hot water due to errors in judgement with marketing campaigns. As an example. H&M recently came under fire for using a young black boy to model a hoodie with the caption ‘the coolest monkey in the jungle.’ Be aware that your interpretation of this campaign matters very little. A significant portion of the buying public were offended, leading to an apology from the company. Leading from this, an apology is perhaps the best way to deal with a marketing scandal like this, and it’s worth remembering an important phrase. The customer is always right.

Liability Of Legal Issues

You also need to be careful that your business doesn’t become embroiled in a legal matter. Harassment is always on people’s mind right now, and any whiff that your business has issues in this area will almost certainly lead to a backlash from customers and clients abandoning your business. Handling this issue, you need to make sure you are getting legal advice regularly using outsourced HR services of a full legal team if you’re running a larger company. You must be able to access the advice necessary and ensure that you stay on the right side of the legal line.

Trouble With Customer Support

Of course, one of the most common problems with a business brand is that customers feel that they are not treated the right way. If customers have issues with your company, they should have a way to address the problems and make sure that they are able to resolve it quickly. Outsourcing services do exist for customer service so if you can’t squeeze a full team of staff into your business budget, this might be the best option.

As you can see, there are a number of issues that can impact your business brand. But, if you take the right steps, you can protect your business brand and reputation.

Networking your business is such a huge part of becoming successful. If you do it right, there’s no limit to where your business might go next. But getting networking right is something a hard task to master. Yu need to make sure you’re getting your name out there, without actually being too overbearing to your customers or potential trading partners. Marketing plays a big part in networking, so you need to make sure you’re getting that balance just right, this article is here to help you figure out how you can do just that.

Events

Events are of of the biggest ways in which you can get your name out to the people you’re looking to connect with. If you haven’t already attended a trade event, you really are missing out. They’re huge, and hundreds of potential customers or trading partners will be there for you to interact with. But this is something that can scare a lot of people, the interaction side of things, so we’ll cover that later on in the article. When you’re at these events, you need to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward. Leave something for the people you meet to remember you with you as well. Things such as branded coffee cups and a free coffee is going to draw people over to your stand. Everyone loves a freebie afterall. Printed paper cups aren’t hard to sort either, and some free coffee isn’t going to put you that much out of pocket. The lasting memory you’re going to have on your customers is what will keep them coming back, so it will definitely be more than worth it. As you get bigger, you can also look at hosting your own trade events. It’ll get you so much more exposure, and bring in new clients that you wouldn’t have usually found.

Marketing

You can’t really network without marketing yourself first. People need to know about you and your brand if you want them to take an interest in you. But this really is easier said than done, especially for smaller businesses. It can be hard to know what to do when it comes to marketing, and what might actually work for you. So outsourcing could be the better move for you to make sure you’re doing it properly. If you’re worried that might be a bit expensive, start with the smaller marketing options that you can look into. Social media marketing is pretty easy to understand, and there’s plenty of online guides to help you through the process.

Interaction

Now, how you interact when you’re networking yourself is so important. We talked about putting your best foot forward, and by this we mean you need to give off the best impression of yourself. Professionalism at all times is so important. You’re representing yourself as well as your business. Just talking with a smile can make the difference between being successful in networking and not. When you’re at trade events, don’t be afraid to approach people checking out your stand either. Sometimes it is better than waiting for them to come to you.