Author: Nishant Kapoor

Categories
Strategy

A-Z Guide to Understand Your Business Balance Sheet

A-Z Guide to Understand Your Business Balance Sheet
A-Z Guide to Understand Your Business Balance Sheet

Understanding the Balance Sheet to maintain Financial Stability

Is your business in a position to expand?

Can your business handle financial setbacks? Or should your business take immediate steps to increase cash reserves?

As a business owner, you probably are aware & keeping track of what your business earns and owes to others.

However, if you don’t organize these key pieces of financial data in your business balance sheet, you may be setting your business up for failure.

Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to understand the balance sheet, if you’re willing to learn a few key concepts. So let’s dive in!

What is a Balance Sheet?

Balance Sheet = Financial Position of Your Business

Balance sheet is a financial statement of a company which includes the assets, liabilities and equity capital of the company, at a particular point of time.

Balance sheet communicates the “book value” of a business.

Book Value of your business = Assets – (Liabilities + Owner’s Equity)

Business balance sheet provides you with a summary of your company finance at a given point of time i.e. how a business is currently performing, how it performed in the past, and how it expects to perform in the immediate future.

Understanding the Balance Sheet: How to read a Balance Sheet?

Business balance sheet includes 3 sections:

  • Assets
  • Liabilities
  • Owner’s Equity

Assets:

Asset means any tangible or intangible resource owned by a company like machinery, furniture, land, etc.

Assets include:

  • Short-term Assets = that you expect to sell or convert into cash, within 1 year.

– Cash

– Marketable securities – traded investments easily convertible to cash

– Trade accounts receivable (Debtors + Bills receivable)

– Prepaid insurance

– Inventory

  • Long-term Assets = assets that will not get converted into cash in 1 year, and provide long-term value to your business.

– Fixed Assets: machinery, equipment, furniture, buildings, land, etc.

– Investments: similar to fixed assets; long-term investments, not to be sold within 1 year

– Intangible assets: franchise rights, patents, copyrights, trademarks, goodwill, etc.

Liabilities:

Liabilities means the money that your business owes to others, which could be in the form of loans, wages, taxes, or debts.

  • Short-term liabilities = current liabilities, to be paid within 1 year.

– Trade accounts payable (Creditors + bills payable)

– Accrued expenses

– Taxes payable

– Short-term debts

– Current portion of long-term debts

  • Long-term liabilities = liabilities not to be paid within 1 year.

– Long-term loans

– Capital leases

– Other long-term debts

Owner’s Equity:

The final section of the business balance sheet is owner’s equity (or shareholder’s equity).

Owner’s equity = Total Assets – Total Liabilities

In other words, owner’s equity is what you own after you subtract (reduce) what you owe from your total assets.

  • Capital invested by the owner
  • Retained earnings

5 Simple Steps to Prepare a Balance Sheet:

Step 1: Gather the required information from your books of accounts

Gather all the information (discussed above) needed to prepare your business balance sheet. Any source with updated account balances can be used, however, the most appropriate tool for collecting information is your business’ Trial Balance.

Step 2: Report all Assets

 

  • Report all the assets in the right side of the business balance sheet. Report all short-term assets separately from long-term assets.
  • Short-term & long-term assets should be subtotalled, then totalled together.

Step 3: Report all liabilities

  • After reporting all the assets in the business balance sheet, next step is recording liabilities of your business. Start by recording short-term liabilities, followed by non-current liabilities.
  • Short-term & long-term liabilities should be subtotalled, then totalled together.

Step 4: Calculate Owner’s Equity

Owner’s Equity = Assets – Liabilities

Compare the assets and liabilities of your business to calculate the owner’s equity.

Step 5: Add Total Liabilities to Total Owner’s Equity and Compare to Assets

It is necessary to compare total assets against total liabilities plus equity, in order to ensure you’re your balance sheet is balanced.

Here’s an example of a finished Balance Sheet: Balance Sheet Format

Balance sheet in the books of _________ year ending 2020

Liabilities Amount (Rs) Assets Amount (Rs)
Capital XX Fixed assets XX
Loan Taken XX Current assets XX
Current liabilities XX Cash/Bank XX
Outstanding expenses XX Accounts receivable XX
Bank overdraft XX Bills receivable XX
Accounts payable XX Inventories (Stock) XX
XYZ XYZ

Balance sheet is one of the most critical and important financial statement of your business, offering a quick summary of the financial health of your business.

Learning how to prepare a balance sheet for business can help you understand the financial implications of business decisions leading to better decision-making and running of your business.

Categories
Marketing

8 Ways Your Small Business Can Get More Customer Calls

8 Ways Your Small Business Can Get More Customer Calls
8 Ways Your Small Business Can Get More Customer Calls

Your Ultimate Guide to Cold Calling

Is your business heavily dependent on the cold calling strategy? Allowing customers to quickly and easily contact your business through a phone call can help build trust and in turn improve the sales of your business.

Here are 8 ways your small business can get more customer calls:

1. Have web presence

Having a web presence is extremely essential nowadays. If your business is at an initial stage, then ‘Google My Business’ is a great place to get started with if you don’t have your own website yet.

This platform allows small business owners to display their business across all of Google’s products and platforms.

Tips:

  • Include your contact details at the top of every page so that it becomes easy for visitors to reach out to you.
  • Make sure you include a click-to-call link in the website, so that it becomes convenient for the visitors to call you without having to search for your number.

2. Use landing pages with a single call to action

Using one course of action through a promotional page increases the odds of your potential customers taking that particular route.

Tip:

  • Visitors are more likely to call when it is made clear that they should pick up the phone to receive a discount.

3. Speak at an event or host an industry gathering

Communities are a great way to capture a large segment of the market, hence if you have plenty of expertise in your field—why not get involved with the community?

By speaking at an event, sharing your experience and getting involved in your industry at a local level, you’ll have the opportunity to build your connections and give an impetus to your reputation as a thought leader.

4. Get your business listed in local directories

Marketing through listings in local directories can have a great impact to get more customer calls.

The idea is to make it more convenient for the consumers to find your brand, and one of the most assured and affordable ways to do so is to get your brand listed in local directories.

Tip:

  • Try to be as elaborate as possible by adding your company information in detail, the product/service that your brand caters to and most importantly your contact information.

5. Feature your number on all your marketing material

You never know which medium a potential buyer might choose to find your brand

You might be marketing your products or services through various channels such as outdoor media, catalogs, brochures, social media posts, search ads or any other form of marketing tools. All these marketing materials must include your phone number.

Assign a unique number to each of your marketing channels, as it will help you analyse which channel is driving maximum results. You can then shift the maximum focus there to boost the results further.

6. Paid advertising

We all know about the benefits that paid advertise can bring to the table.

This route is a sure shot way to get that phone ringing and to get more customer calls, if done right.

  • You can hire an agency that fits your budget to help you out with this.
  • Take small steps by allocating a small budget towards paid advertising and use core optimization techniques. Explore different paid channels such as Google Search Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.

7. Spend more on click-to-call (CTC) campaigns

Listing your phone number on your website is a great way to encourage people to call you.

You should focus to spend more on click-to-call campaigns.

  • You should add a click-to-call feature in your website, so that, if you’re dealing with people who are interested in talking to a real person, this feature could result in more calls.
  • According to statistics 52% of search queries come from smartphones, hence, a click-to-call feature encourages consumers to call your business & get answers as soon as they have a question.

8. Have Social Media presence

As the first step, you have to create a profile for your small business on each relevant social media platform.

  • Leverage these platforms by creating & sharing customised content to each of your social media handle.
  • An effective social media presence will encourage your followers to go through your lead funnel and eventually reach out to you by calling your business.
  • Make sure to include a click-to-call link on your social handles as well, so that it becomes convenient for the visitors to call you without having to search for your number.

With the advancement of technology, there are multiple ways through which customers can reach out to businesses, but, there is always a sense of satisfaction for the customer when they speak to an executive in person and this feeling surely can’t be replaced easily.

So for those businesses that depend & focus more on calling as a point of contact, you now have 8 more tools in your arsenal to get more customer calls and begin tangible conversions.

Categories
Process & Business Expansion

Tips by Ratan Tata to Run a Successful Business

Lessons for Life: Business Gems by Ratan Tata

Entrepreneurs today are not just building companies, but creating a stronger India. Some of the best business tips revolve around the attitude & determination of an entrepreneur that eventually decides the altitude he can achieve. Growth in business is full of challenges and to reach the top you need to inculcate habits that make your life happy and productive. Here are 10 business tips for success mentioned by a visionary and entrepreneur par excellence- Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group, Mr. Ratan Tata.

1. Giving

  • Businesses need to go beyond company profits, sales & targets. You need to give back to the communities you serve
  • Successful companies have the resources to give back to the society and do good!
  • Build a culture of giving back in the organization, in this ways the employees respect and look up to you even more
  • The gesture of giving only builds mutual respect making your community a better place to live in

2. Persistence

  • Have the ability to push and push till you reach the finish line
  • Persistence in business is one of the best business tip for an entrepreneur as you need to fight failure and bounce back, only then you can be successful
  • Persistence is all about indomitable spirit whether it is in business or in your life
  • Find new ways to do things and you will be able to find new solutions to many of your problems

3. Talent

  • Everyone cannot be the best in everything. Develop your talent and find your unique strength
  • An important business tip for success is to focus on the visible skills and hone them. As a leader you should do this on a regular basis for your employees
  • Build a culture of development- Mentor employees, have one-on-one interactions, devise programs for skill development. This gives employees the confidence to build more capabilities in them
  • Understand the value of learning- Learning is a continuous cycle and for people interested in building new skills, touching new horizons & reaching new heights, learning should never stop

4. Life

  • Embrace life, love life and enjoy every moment of it
  • Don’t stress over things what others say to you.  As Mr. Ratan Tata himself says, let them throw stones at you and you should build a monument out of it
  • You are born to do bigger and better things in life, identify your goal, your mission and put in all your energy to fulfill it. This can be one of the best business tips to lead a prosperous company and will turn you into a happier soul

5. Decision Making

  • Decision making is required at every level of your business; in fact it is required at every moment of your life as well
  • For success, one of the best business tips is to have clarity of thought. Be sure of what you want to do and then devise plans around it
  • Don’t be scared of making the wrong decision, this too is a part of your learning curve
  • Gather relevant information that can help you make a decision and then evaluate your options. This will help you reach closer to your goals
  • Evaluate the results- Evaluation and reviewing helps in judging the effectiveness of the choice made by you

6. Mindset

  • Your mindset can either break or make the goal you have set to achieve. It is your way of thinking to treat a problem as an opportunity or an obstacle
  • Develop a success-oriented mindset; following this mantra is a key business tip for success
  • Be around positive people and find time to disconnect from unnecessary stressors
  • Focus on learning new skills and put yourself in challenging situations, this will help in making you mentally strong and build confidence

7. Change

  • We all know the only thing constant is Change. So embrace it and move on with it
  • Suggest new ideas, introduce new processes and do things differently. A change for the better is the best business tip
  • Predict and prepare for the future. This will help you face challenges in the rapidly changing business environment with ease and preparedness
  • Focus on your values and not the fears. You need to understand that change is inevitable and there should be no inhibitions while adapting to it

8. Challenge
 

  • View any obstacles that stand in your way as a challenge, have the belief that it’s not impossible to overcome a certain business problem
  • In challenging times, the best business tip for an entrepreneur is to don the role of a leader. Show the way to your people and other stakeholders
  • Ups and downs are very important in business to keep us going. It helps us challenge our limits as well
  • Understand the problem first and then put things into perspective before jumping the gun and making a hurried decision 

9. Legacy

  • Follow a set of values, ethics or culture that your forefathers have left behind
  • Build your business on sustainability and not just on the basis of profitability. Money is important but sustainable development is the best business tip for success in the long run
  • Following or leaving a legacy requires immense investment in upholding the value system that has been created

10. Growth

  • Know what you want- If you have clarity about your goal, you will focus all your energies to achieve that and this business tip forms the stepping stone for growth in business
  • Set your eyes on the prize- Measure yourself, your team, and your organizational goals alongside your target. Once you know the how far the target is, everyone can align their energies to work towards it
  • Keep your Passion alive- Keep the excitement and enthusiasm going, it is contagious and spreads to people around you
  • Think People first- Your stakeholders are the backbone for the company. Keep your employees motivated, customers happy and other stakeholders aware of the functioning of the company. This business tip for success will play a major role in your growth strategy

So if you feel a little lost in life, these 10 business tips for success by Ratan Tata can put you back on track and motivate you to bounce back.

Categories
HR & People Management

10 Remote Work Tools That Help Employees Work From Home

Work from Anywhere Successfully using these Remote Tools!

Having the perfect set of remote work tools can make work from home productive and meaning for yourself and the employer. With the entire country under lockdown, we get you 10 remote work tools that can help employees successfully work from home.

1. Zoom

  • Zoom is a web-based video conferencing remote working tool with a local, desktop and a mobile app that allows users to meet online, with or without video
  • Zoom users can choose to record sessions, collaborate on projects and share one another’s screens, all with one easy-to-use platform 

2. Google Docs

  • This remote work software solves the challenge of working on multiple documents at the same time. Today, businesses have various spreadsheets for every department. With Google docs you can collaborate and work with fellow employees simultaneously
  • Say goodbye to endless chain mails and creating multiple versions of the same document. It is also available in 53 languages

3. Slack

For business communication and internet chat services, slack is a unique remote work tool as it reduces your reliance on e-mails through its third party services

4. Google Hangouts

  • Hangouts is slightly on the lines of Zoom as it brings conversations, discussions to life through group video conferencing for free.
  • From direct messages to group chats, it can help employees collaborate and work efficiently from remote locations

5. TeamViewer
 

  • What happens when most of your important documents and information is kept on your office desktop and you want to access it while working from home?
  • TeamViewer is easy to set up and is a great option for employees who need desktop access from their homes or any other location. Supporting a two-step authentication, this tool requires very basic firewall access and in no time you are ready with your work 

6. Google Calendar

  • Google calendar helps you keep a schedule in place making it easier to check with co-workers on conducting meetings at a given time. Through this remote work software calendars can be shared so that full event details can be viewed by employees working from their respective homes 
  • It can be accessed from your laptop, phone or a tablet

7. Skype for Business

  • Again a great tool for conference calls, instant messaging or creating chat rooms

 

8. Dropbox

  • Sharing large files can be a painful task over e-mail, so a dropbox account makes it easy to sync files and collaborate with
  • It’s a great way to organize work from remote teams when they need to submit presentations or projects.

9. Teamwork

  • Teamwork allows you to track your team’s productivity. This remote work software lets you create custom time reports of time logged on the project
  • Once the work is completed employees can export the report and time log entries in easily accessible formats to their reporting managers

10. Hub Staff

  • Hub Staff helps in keeping a track of the tasks assigned to the employees working from home
  • Some of its important features include online timesheets, employee scheduling, employee monitoring, payroll software, GPS tracking, online invoicing & project budgeting

Employees & employers both are able to adapt quickly to the remote work tools and can jump right into their jobs without worrying about how to set things up. All these tools are easy to work with and make remote working more productive.

Categories
Motivational

8 Ways to Make a Great First Impression in Business

Make a Positive First Impression: Recipe for Success

First Impression in business is very important. You get only a limited time to impress your potential partner or client and he too takes only one glance to judge you. Every new encounter leads to evaluation and it’s your first impression that makes all the difference.

Here are 8 important tips that can help you create a positive first impression on the people you meet.

1. Research about who you are meeting

  • It is important to prepare beforehand and research about who you are meeting. Whether it is a potential partner, a client or a customer, you should not enter a meeting cold.
  • Doing your homework will give you a competitive advantage over your competition.
  • Being knowledgeable and showing that you have made an effort, are both positive qualities to make a first impression in business.

2. Attire

  • You need to dress for success. When you enter the room, the first thing a person notices is the way you dress. So be dressed as per the gathering.
  • If you are meeting a client or a highly qualified gathering, professional attire will help in making a good first impression.
  • Some occasions do call for a casual approach, so if you are going for a networking dinner or a media party you can try out your personal style.

3. Rehearse your Pitch

  • It is always better to practice your pitch before the meeting. You don’t want the client to lose interest halfway.
  • Hence, make pointers that will help you convey your message promptly and with clarity.
  • A third party prefers if you have clarity of thought and a clear outcome of what is expected out of the meeting.

4. Be Punctual

  • You always build a positive first impression in business if you are punctual and no time is wasted waiting of either of the parties. In fact try and be 10 minutes earlier just in case you face any issues in finding the place.
  • Give a few minutes to compose yourself and gather your thoughts before entering the meeting.

5. Be Courteous and a Patient Listener

  • Listen to them. Listening to the client with patience can go a long way in forming a good partnership.
  • Sometimes we get too carried away in making a good first impression that we forget to listen to what the other party has to say. This can appear to be rude.
  • It goes without saying that certain courteous gestures always work in a meeting. Just like switching off your phone or being well-mannered and polite with others.

6. Be Honest & Genuine

  • Do not try to fake your achievements or boast about your credentials. Be genuine and it will help in creating a memorable first impression in business.
  • Clients appreciate honest feedback, so if a client is asking for something unreasonable to be done, be honest about your feedback and suggest a way out.

7. Carry a Positive Outlook

  • Positivity can help conquer every obstacle, so enter the meeting room with a positive approach.
  • Your attitude can make or break your first impression, so be optimistic about whatever challenges they throw at you.
  • A smile can help you break the ice and bring everyone at ease.

8. Be at your Professional Best

  • Reserve personal comments or negative remarks about any person from the organization or any religion/country being discussed in the meeting.
  • Keep your conversation to the point and answer in a professional manner. This will help in building a sensible first impression.

A positive first impression in business is an important chance to prove your confidence & passion. If you follow these guidelines before entering an important meeting, be rest assured you will come out happy and contended and so will your client!

Categories
Marketing

Zero Dollar Marketing Strategies to Attain More Customers

Learn the Art of Zero Dollar Marketing to Get More Customers

In today’s digital India, social media has democratized marketing for everyone and zero dollar marketing techniques can be a boon for SMEs. It’s about your creativity, your understanding of the customer & innovative strategies that will get you more customers. Here are 7 strategies that will get the customers rolling!

1. Make a World-class Strategy at Minimum Cost

  • The basic premise is that the customer should be able to find you. You should not spend your energy in finding people and zero dollar marketing tools help you to achieve that
  • Design a website and that has a neat and clean home page, so that the customer can understand the messaging easily
  • The website should support a Call to action; this will help in engaging the customer.
  • Focus on the solution- Don’t waste your website space on product introduction and description. Maximize your messaging on the solution
  • Try and have all the navigation information on one page making it convenient for the customer to browse
  • Stick to need-based up-gradation of the website

You would need either a full-time resource or a vendor to fulfill these requirements. Look at minimizing the cost but increasing the scope of work here. And how can you minimize the cost- by using zero dollar marketing ideas!

  • Ask the technology vendor to come and explain how the technology works and how will it benefit you.
  • Call 4-5 vendors and understand what they teach you and then finally choose the best vendor for your company
  • This will help in minimizing your cost to set up your website or what we call as zero dollar marketing

2. Track the Pattern of your Customer’s  Buying Behaviour
 

Consumer behavior is key to an entrepreneur’s business and zero dollar marketing tools can help track this beahviour in a structured manner

  • To begin with you need to analyze the old buying behavior of the consumer
  • Understand the touch points, how is the customer reaching you?
  • What is your customer’s buying process and where is his pain point. Try and solve that buying process gap.
  • For e.g. If a customer would order multiple items from a restaurant, it would cost him Rs. 800, but if that restaurant owner gave him an option of a fixed thali with most of his likable items with a cost of Rs.600, immediately the customer would prefer to order the thali. This is how you can pull the consumer using zero dollar marketing
  • Take business decisions based on analytics & data and not based on perception. You can use the Google analytics tool for this
  • Check which pages on the website show high traffic and which pages show low traffic
  • Analyze for how much time you retain the customer on your webpage
  • What are the videos from your website that he is sharing on other social media platforms?
  • What is the bounce rate which means at what point does the customer move to another video or website

3. Anticipatory Content to gain Customer Attention

  • Anticipatory Content is that content which is authentic, relevant, and to the point. Don’t write big articles but use infographics, tabular representation instead. This just requires a little time and effort but is a powerful tool for zero dollar marketing
  • Make the content free and make sure it is not about your product features or promotions
  • For e.g. For a pathology lab, give the consumer content related to what tests are beneficial for him. For a restaurant owner, give content related to recipes & international food items. Interesting content makes for good zero dollar marketing.
  • Understand that content is king and the customer will come to you with these zero dollar marketing technique

4. Flip your Marketing Budget from Outbound to Inbound

  • Outbound methods include- Trade shows, Seminars, TV Ads, Print, Cold Calling, Tele marketing, E-mail, Hoardings & Door-to-Door marketing
  • Inbound Marketing includes- SEO, Blogging, CRM, Social media, Call to Action, Analytics
  • Change your model, spend 90% of your funds on inbound methods and 10% on outbound. The ROI on outbound marketing is less
  • Attract, engage and delight the right customer by using zero dollar marketing

5. Build your Database

  • Data is the heart of your business, keep your customer’s personal data and their preferences secure to successfully run your business
  • Build a database of your prospective and relevant customers gathered from calls, events, old sales and enquiry forms
  • Put all data in the CRM software so that it is registered for life
  • Empower your employees to build a relationship with the customer using this data

6. Give Old Data a New Life

  • Follow-up with ageing lead and build a relationship with the customer
  • Don’t waste time on incompatible, incomplete or unqualified data
  • The sales agent should call the old customer to build a relationship and not to sell the product in the first go. Ask more questions on why the customer has not returned to make more purchases
  • Building on employee-customer relation can go a long way when it comes to zero dollar marketing strategies 

7. Story Telling for Recall

  • Have an emotional, engaging & educational story that talks about your brand rather than a direct advertisement
  • Add a story in everything; from your sales pitch to your brand campaign to your website. This will help the customer connect with your brand
  • Become a problem solver!

If an entrepreneur follows these Zero dollar marketing strategies to acquire more customers, not only will his business flourish but his customer too will be happy and satisfied.

Categories
Marketing

Effective Budget-Friendly Marketing Ideas

महिला उद्यमिता
महिला उद्यमिता

Cost effective marketing that can make you viral!

Small businesses usually work on a small budget and apart from budget, there are other concerns of resources and time. Hence, SMEs need cost-effective marketing ideas
that can help get the word out to their customers in the best possible budget. Depending on your target audience, digital media is a saviour when it comes to low-cost effective marketing ideas
. Here are 5 such strategies that can help small businesses build their brand

1. Use Social Media Extensively

  • Use Facebook and Instagram effectively, they are free of cost and organic marketing can help create awareness about your brand. You can also explore paid marketing with them to boost your reach to the target group. Nurture your consumers through Facebook groups and Instagram Stories
  • Create great content that can help build communities around your brand. Be creative, use innovative ways to connect and build a loyal customer base For e.g. From 1990-2009, Harley Davidson purely built their community by producing great content around the brand which made the bike an aspirational product and changed the fortunes for the company
  • Use more of videos, infographics & pictures to hook the customer when talking about your brand or any offer
  • Carry online contests- Spend some money on a good price because the number of participants and the potential leads you get is worth every penny spent

2. Turn your customers into your Brand Ambassadors

  • Make the customer feel special so that he becomes the ambassador of your brand and this can be done by providing certain memories to them that they would like to hold on to and carry with them
  • Give them T-shirts, laptop stickers, notebooks, basically things they use in daily life
  • Use can use social media to take an opinion poll on new deigns they would like to see and perhaps reward the winning design. This will help them engage with you as an effective marketing idea 

3. Focus on SEO Strategies

  • Investment into SEO is not much but is a cost-effective marketing idea to get target customers
  • In search engine optimization, you need to choose the targeted words that can increase your search possibilities and divert traffic to your website
  • For example, if you have a business named Gagan Dry Cleaners in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi, you will develop content across your platforms that focus on the keyword Lajpat Nagar + dry cleaners. It will help draw potential customers looking for dry cleaners in that area.

4. Build an easy to navigate Website

  • Another cost-effective marketing idea is to build a website. Having a website with an easy to navigate approach is a must for a small business as part of its marketing mix
  • Your website should contain all the important information about your products & services, how to reach you, contact details and a tracker of your location
  • Use your website smartly to put amazing content that makes it a must-visit for the customer

5. Sponsor Local Events

  • There are many events that happen locally and sponsoring such events is an effective marketing idea to get your business in front of local patrons
  • Sponsoring an event opens doors for networking with other businesses, which can lead to fruitful partnerships going ahead
  • Since local events are always looking for sponsors, it would be easy to negotiate on the pricing.

Always keep an eye out for cost-effective marketing ideas, because the only way to make an impact today is to think differently. Spend time, not money to devise a strategy that works best for your company.

Categories
Strategy

Your Complete Guide to Business Assets

इनकम टैक्स रिटर्न भरने वाली 57% इकाइयों की आय इतनी
इनकम टैक्स रिटर्न भरने वाली 57% इकाइयों की आय इतनी

Understand Deeply the Assets that Affect Your Business

Asset means anything of monetary value owned by an individual or business. 

A business asset is a resource that has an economic value for a company and which can be used in the current or future time period to generate revenues.

Examples of business assets are:

  • Cash and cash equivalents
  • Property, plant and equipment
  • Inventory
  • Investments
  • Furniture and fixtures
  • Patents, copyrights and trademarks

Properties of an Assets:

There are 3 key essential properties of a business asset:

  • Ownership:
    Assets that carry ownership and can be eventually turned into cash and cash equivalents
  • Economic Value:
    Assets that carry economic value & can be exchanged or sold
  • Resource:
    These assets are basically those resources which can be used to generate future economic benefits

Classification of assets:

Business Assets can be classified into 3 categories:

  1. Convertibility:
    Classifying assets based on how quickly they can be converted into cash.
  2. Physical Existence:
    Classifying assets on the basis of their physical existence i.e. tangible or intangible.
  3. Usage:
    Classifying assets on the basis of their business usage or purpose.

1. Convertibility:

Classifying assets based on how quickly they can be converted into cash i.e. short-term assets and long-term assets.

  • Short-term Assets
    = Assets that you expect to sell or convert into cash, within 1 year.

– Cash

– Marketable securities ’ traded investments easily convertible to cash

– Trade accounts receivable (Debtors + Bills receivable)

– Prepaid insurance

– Inventory

  • Long-term Assets = assets that will not get converted into cash in 1 year, and provide long-term value to your business.

– Fixed Assets: machinery, equipment, furniture, buildings, land, etc.

– Investments: similar to fixed assets; long-term investments, not to be sold within 1 year

– Franchise rights, patents, copyrights, trademarks, goodwill, etc.

2. Physical Existence:

On the basis of physical existence, assets can be classified as: tangible and intangible assets.

  • Tangible Assets
    = assets which can be seen, touched i.e. having physical existence

– Land

– Building

– Machinery

– Cash

– Furniture & Fixtures

– Office equipment

  • Intangible Assets
    = assets which can’t be seen i.e. which don’t have physical existence

– Goodwill

– Patents

– Brand

– Copyrights

– Trademarks

– Corporate intellectual property

3. Usage: 

On the basis of their usage, assets can be classified as operating and non-operating assets.

  • Operating Assets
    = assets required in the daily operations of business i.e. assets which are used to generate revenue from company’s core business activities.

– Cash

– Stock

– Building

– Machinery & Equipment

– Patents & Copyrights

– Goodwill

  • Non-operating Assets
    = assets which are not required in daily operations of business but still generate revenue for business.

– Short-term investments

– Marketable securities

– Vacant land

– Interest income from a fixed deposit

Why are these assets so important for any business?

Assets are important for any type of business due to the following reasons:

  • Generating revenue
  • Increasing the value of your business
  • Facilitate the running of your business

You can transfer or sell assets, use them to lower your tax liability and in turn increase the efficiency of your business.

A good understanding of assets in business can help you achieve potential savings in your business.

For example:
In some cases leasing an asset in a business, such as a machinery, can be way more cost-effective than buying one.

Intangible assets such as patents, copyrights and trademarks help in protecting your business against infringement. 

Learning about assets in business is a must for every entrepreneur. The efficient management of assets in a business is absolutely critical, as errors can lead to inefficient decision-making, incorrect tax reporting and inaccurate valuation of your business.

Categories
Strategy

How Animated Videos Can Be Used to Enhance Your Brand?

Animated Videos:  A Game-changing Strategy for Small Businesses

Do you want to establish a powerful connection with your audience?

In today’s market, there is no better way to do it than connecting through animated videos. 

Now you might be thinking, that you’re a serious business and there’s no way a cartoon is going to help your brand get audiences’ Just think of Red Bull’s TV commercial for a second ’ It’s all about interesting animated characters spelling out the brand message well. For a vast majority of businesses, creating animated videos is a perfect way to enhance their brand identity. 

Here are 5 ways to do that:

1. Powerful Communication Tool:

Animated videos for business utilises the power of storytelling. A brand can close the gap between itself and its audience with a powerful story they can empathise with.

  • A simple animated video, with a powerful script, and well-design characters, is sure to keep your audience hooked, even if the topic might be a bit complex for them.
  • Animation based videos reduce the time taken by a customer to read the description of a product or service to mere moments.

2. Higher Viewership & More Share:

Since there’s a wide variety of content available online & customers are being bombarded with this content, they will definitely want to pick something simple, informative and quick to consume.

When it comes to consuming simple and quick content, watching animated videos is typically more attractive than reading verbose textual messages.

  • Your conversion rate can increase by 80%, simply by having a video on your landing page. Higher conversion rate means more sales.
  • Chances of more views and shares increase with the use of animated videos, people are encouraged to share your videos, making them an advocate for your brand. 

3. Complex Topics can be easily simplified:
 

Animated videos for business can bring concepts to life in a way that text or even live videos can’t. 

Animation based videos are very effective for explaining complex topics in a step-by-step process in a fun and simple way. 

  • Animation allows unlimited flexibility i.e. you can simplify complex topics and showcase aspects of your product that might not be visible otherwise.
  • You can send a subtle but clear message to customers regarding what your company stands for through an animation style that matches with your brand.

For Example: 

A good example of this is the videos put out by Bada Business for their customers. Bada Business (Dr. Vivek Bindra) has over 12 million subscribers on Youtube, making it the World’s No.1 channel for entrepreneurship and business content in Hindi. 

Difficult topics are simplified for the entrepreneurs and small businessmen of India, using simple, informative and interesting animations.

4. Animations are Engaging & Easy to Remember:

Animations are engaging and fun and can tap into the emotions of audiences more effectively than any other medium. Just imagine a brand trying to explain its working through an animated video vis-’-vis a brochure. What would be more appealing to the customer? The answer is obviously the video format.

  • Numerous studies have shown the benefits of using animated videos in education. It is so because people find the concepts more engaging & easy to remember when shared using both audio & visual tools.
  • Animations can be used to reflect the uniqueness of your brand, as it can be personalised.

For example TV commercial of Red Bull: Just think how easy it is to recognise a Red Bull ad, by immediately identifying the style and characters.

Using animated videos for business can do the same for your brand.

5. Animations are Cost-Effective:

Animated videos are not just fascinating but also come with a low production budget when compared to other video formats.  

When you shoot any other type of video, like a live-action video, there can be an extensive list of associated expenses. 

  • Animated videos take off the burden to cast actors, scout for production, arranging for props and production time, scheduling for shoots & finalise sets and equipment.
  • A small businessman can simply get in touch with a design agency or a freelance animator to get rid of a lot of hassle and only worry about the creative input.
  • You have control and can manage small details until the last minute, which is certainly not possible with live videos.

In the case of live videos, one has to stick with decisions made prior to the shoot, and any changes mean additional cost to the business. However, in the case of animated videos, one can change the storyline or characters, without affecting the project or budget of the videos. 

Animated videos can be a useful tool for building your business & your brand. Animation based videos are cost-effective and at the same time a powerful communication tool for small businesses.

A well-done animation can help consumers remember your brand and compel them to do repeated business with you.

Categories
Strategy

How to Evaluate Your Small Business Marketing Plan

Ingredients to Evaluate Your Marketing Strategy

How do you know if your marketing plan is working out or not? 

How to improve your marketing campaigns?

The success of a small business marketing plan depends upon 3 key factors:

  • Developing a strong plan
  • Executing it effectively
  • Evaluating the plan to measure its effectiveness

Evaluating your small business marketing plan is very essential for an entrepreneur, as it helps the business owner to know which campaigns and strategies are working well, and where to focus his time, money and energy to get the best results.

Here are 6 smart ways to evaluate your small business marketing plan:

1. Brand Recognition & Establishment

Grabbing people’s attention, getting people to know your business & brand, and building a relationship with your customers should be the first objective of your marketing plan.

This can be measured by finding out:

  • The size of your fan base on your social media handles
  • Mentions of your brand name on social media sites
  • The number of positive reviews left by customers about your company on social media as well websites like Google Reviews
  • Inbound website visitors from social media handles
  • Total number of conversions resulting from traffic generated through social handles or any other form of advertising

By analysing these factors, you can determine what form of engagement is working to your benefit and how you can drive it further. Increase in traffic on your website and social media handles, retail channels or enquiries on your website/call centre means that your marketing campaign is working out well.

2. Lead Generation

Not all marketing efforts are directed towards generating sales, however, marketing plans must fuel the sales funnel of the business by generating leads.

How to evaluate your small business marketing plan in terms of lead generation:

  • Increase in subscribers to your mailing list
  • Increase in appointments
  • Increase in customer response for your products or services

You should set quantified goals to track & measure your leads generated over the period of a week, a month and a year. 

3. Reviewing Sales Numbers

This is simple: Sales should be going up!

Reviewing your sales numbers is fundamentally the fastest way to determine the effectiveness of a marketing campaign.

For example:

If pre-marketing campaign sales of your company was Rs.500,000 and after the marketing campaign, the sales increased to Rs.800,000, it is a safe assumption that the campaign was effective and your sales have grown due to its effective execution 

4. Customer Response

Customer response in any or all its varied forms can help you determine the type of reaction your marketing activities create. 

  • You can create a funnel for surveys that can be posted online or taken in person from the customers. Customer feedback can help you figure out the reaction & impact of the marketing campaign on the consumer
  • Ask Simple Questions such as:

’How did you hear about us? 

How did you find out about our seasonal sale?

Will you try & recommend our product?

Such simple questions can reveal which marketing initiatives are reaching the right customers.

5. Business Expansion

When your marketing plan is working out well, your business begins to grow with more customer calls, fresh leads, sales and expansion

  • Good marketing campaign makes each customer, employee and stakeholder a marketer of your brand.
  • When you start getting customers from new regions and geographies, it simply means that your marketing plan is working well!

6. Return on Investment

Return on Investment (ROI) is one of the top concerns of any business owner, when it comes to running marketing campaigns.

  • The idea of knowing the ROI is simply to find out whether the amount spent or invested in a marketing campaign has resulted in a profit or not.
  • This can be measured by comparing the amount spent on the campaign versus the amount of sales each campaign has brought in specifically.

A business owner must consistently and carefully evaluate its small business marketing plan to spread brand awareness, spend wisely on activities and maintain its growth momentum.

If the objective & outcome of each marketing campaign has been defined clearly, business owners can not only make smarter marketing decisions but convert potential leads into life-long customers much faster.