Opportunities for new business

[Zest4]

Ever thought about addding some Zest to your business? Well now you can by using Zest4biz. By operating an easily understood pricing structure ( the £325 answer is correct) and providing a complete service to the small and start up business community our aim is to grow your business whilst you work in and on the business. We are Zest4---the name typifies the approach we have to your business, we are excited, and have a Zest4 your business.

Some companies use us as a total outsourcing marketing and sales department others use our telesales campaigns and market intelligence services. We also provide marketing plans to help keep marketing activity on track with your capacity to handle new work.

We operate on a flat fee basis, the more you use us the better the rate for the job. We can be used in tiny bite sized chunks to take into account your cash flow as you get on your feet.

Phone us for a chat anytime to see what our energy can do for you!

[SPRone]

We find that a good rule-of-thumb is for a business to allocate no less than 10% of revenue (anticipated revenue if it's a start-up) as a marketing budget.

We would advise start-ups to be aware that this percentage may need to be much higher for the first 1-3 years of trading. The first stage in any sales process is, in our view, to generate interest in the product or service that you have to offer and it can take time to get your message across to your intended target market.

Having allocated your budget, it's important to consider how to get best value from it. Spending all of your money on a huge mailing, for example, may produce less than a 1% response rate. Much better to spread your risk by trying a variety of carefully targeted approaches and seeing what works best for your particular audience.

It's also good to make use of marketing opportunities that may cost you nothing at all or can be achieved with very little expense. Networking, in all its various forms, falls into this category and, with a little patience, will typically reap great benefits for your business.

[Rick Hough]

That's exactly what we found. We tried leaflets, posters and loads of other methods to get our start-up noticed but ALL very low cost, highly targetted and (apart from the actual printing) designed in house.

We have really reversed the normal start-up cycle by developing a sales channel (route to market) and then adding products as it became popular.

Long way to go of course but it's an approach that has kept our concentration on one job for a while, promoting the free services to provide a route for the paid ones.