Business121 Small Business Newsletter #81

In this week's Business121:

1. Turning home-made fudge into a multi-million pound business
2. How to deliver a winning business plan pitch
3. How to boost staff performance
4. Using offline media to drive online sales
5. Pay per click advertising for small businesses
6. Top 10 website marketing mistakes to avoid
7. Slow websites negatively affect business image
8. Deadline looms for companies raising funds to enjoy investor incentives
9. Employers: Beat the deadline and file now
10. VAT return online penalties criticised by business groups

Turning home-made fudge into a multi-million pound business

A passion for reviving traditional sweets helped confectionery company Burnt Sugar catch the eye of another Sugar - Sir Alan.

In a recent programme, Burnt Sugar founder Justine Cather helped one of the teams from The Apprentice by showing them how to make sweets to sell at London Zoo.

Burnt Sugar has come a long way in a short space of time since Justine founded the business in 1999 when she began making fudge from her own kitchen. The company has doubled turnover almost every year and now has a turnover of £2million. So how has Justine created such a great success story?

It was the popularity of the home-made fudge sold at her mum's shop that first sparked her business idea. The holidaymakers buying the fudge complained that they could only get it once a year, so Justine thought there'd be an opportunity to sell it more widely through other retailers.

Investing in product design and packaging
One of Justine's first big decisions was to spend quite a lot of money on design for the packaging. "I didn't have a strong business background, but I did know it was a really high quality product that was expensively made by hand with good ingredients, and I wanted the packaging to reflect that".

Justine's approach paid off because it got her noticed by top retailers like Waitrose and Harvey Nicholls. With demand increasing, Justine decided it was time she started a proper manufacturing facility and relieve her mother from the task of producing all the fudge.

At this point, she was pregnant and needed to find a quick solution, so she went into partnership with a local businessman and sold him 50% of the business.

Partner problems
But Justine soon realised that she hadn't thought everything through properly and that they both had very different ideas on how to run the business. "It really is about matching your aspirations and your core values about the business, because that's where we came unstuck"

It was a tough lesson, and eventually Justine and her husband had to buy out their first partner. However, they applied the lessons they learnt from their experience when they were seeking their next business partner.

The benefits of PR
Justine believes that a significant part of Burnt Sugar's growth has been driven by a large amount of PR coverage. They hired a PR agency to handle publicity and have been subsequently been featured in magazines, newspapers and more recently their appearance on The Apprentice.

"No matter how good your products are, it's a big place, it's competitive and it's really hard to get yourself known. We've found it's worth paying to get publicity", adds Justine.

You can read Justine's full story in this month's Better Business magazine which is available by subscription only. Business121 readers can get a special offer on Better Business here;
http://snipurl.com/_Better_Business

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How to deliver a winning business plan pitch
After a business plan has been written, the next stage often involves pitching the plan to prospective investors. Here are 10 tips to maximise your chances of success when pitching to investors.

How to boost staff performance
A skilled and motivated workforce can be a company's greatest asset, helping to improve both competitiveness and profitability. For businesses looking to get the best out of their staff, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Using offline media to drive online sales
Whether you're trying to acquire new customers or retain existing ones, there are several critical components to a direct marketing campaign that must be considered to ensure its success as an online traffic driver. Here are 7 factors you need to remember.

If you're looking to drive more visitors and make more sales from your website, have a read of these articles;

Pay per click advertising for small businesses
Pay per click advertising is an ideal solution for businesses with small
marketing budgets. With the ability to target your adverts accurately,
as little as £3 per day can open up a whole new world of sales
opportunities.

Top 10 website marketing mistakes to avoid
If you avoid making a few crucial web design and promotion mistakes you'll get far more visitors to your small business website, and they'll keep coming back for more. Here are 10 traffic building mistakes to avoid.

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SMALL BUSINESS NEWS
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Slow websites negatively affect business image
Nine out of ten people would switch to a competitor if a business website failed to load, according to research released this week. In fact, nearly 53% of people surveyed said they would wait only up to 30 seconds for a website to load before giving up and trying elsewhere.

Deadline looms for companies raising funds to enjoy investor incentives
A key deadline is looming for many companies actively planning to raise funds while allowing investors to take advantage of current Enterprise Incentive Scheme (EIS) reliefs. This summer will see the introduction of new rules that will restrict the number of companies who can qualify for EIS relief, so the clock is ticking.

Employers: Beat the deadline and file now
Employers who haven’t yet filed their 2006-07 Annual Return need to do so by 19 May. The best way to beat the deadline is online. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, online filing provides employers with the quickest and easiest way to file their return.

VAT return online penalties criticised by business groups
Two business organisations have criticised the financial penalties for those who do not file their VAT returns online and claim they ignore the needs and capabilities of some smaller companies.

** For the latest Small Business News, visit http://www.Bytestart.co.uk **

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