Events

This workshop is the first of a 2-part series aimed at people who are planning to start or have just started a business and need to know the basics of what to do.

This workshop will help you understand:

• the main reasons business fail
• the importance of planning for success
• the importance of market research and how to do it
• what resources you will require and
• the basic requirements for setting up e.g. registration, insurance, tax & VAT

This half day workshop will be practical and results-oriented. After introducing each topic and explaining relevance, we will introduce tools that can be applied at that stage. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss and plan how they will implement these tools

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Video captures people’s attention online and is becoming increasingly important for engaging with potential, or real, clients.

Discover why the use of video helps people find your brand or website and how this kind of content has become a powerful way to engage with your audience. Learn how to create a short and effective video without pain or expense, including how to plan, shoot, edit and upload it without special kit or expertise. Get to know the various digital platforms that can be utilised to view and share video content. See what editing apps are available and how to add music and subtitles.

This is a ‘DigitalBoost’ event which is funded by Digital Scotland and delivered by Business Gateway.

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Event details

If you are planning to grow your business over the next few years, this session will really get you thinking.

The topics we shall cover are as follows:

Pat 1 (morning) – Strategic Marketing and Sales

• Marketing and sales – How it applies to a small business – a realistic view:
• ‘P’s of the marketing & sales mix – How research and insight, Product, Place Price, Promotion, People, Presence, Process, Planet, Purple cow, Sales all interact:
• Key ideas for activity in each of the ‘p’s
• The concept of different target markets – thinking of customer groups into silos:
• Research and insight – understanding customer motivation, competitor activity etc
• Marketing action pans template – useable after the course
• Quick wins at no cost to improve awareness and sales opportunity – first actions
• Part 2 – (Afternoon) Marketing Communication and how to maximise the effect!

• Promotion & Branding – how to create a brand and build positive awareness:
• Creating key messages for different customer groups
• Communication and promotion (offline and online) – the right formats – how to select and when to use.
• Managing your marketing on a regular basis – resource and budget
• Evaluatingthe results for the next round of marketing activity

A light lunch will be served

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Find out how to use image sharing apps Pinterest and Instagram to grow your business. Learn how to shoot, process and upload photos.

Move from being a beginner to knowing enough to gain commercial benefit from the use of Pinterest and Instagram. Learn which type of audience you can reach via each platform and the factors and analytics such as cost and timing of posting images and how that can maximise impact.

Discover the basic ‘does and don’ts’ of taking your own pictures, processing them and uploading them onto digital platforms. See some real life examples of posts that demonstrate good, bad and indifferent use.

This is a ‘DigitalBoost’ event which is funded by Digital Scotland and delivered by Business Gateway.

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This workshop is the second of a 2-part series. Having researched and planned your new venture in Workshop1, you will leave this workshop with an understanding of the skills you need

This workshop will:

• Provide an introduction to marketing
• Outline the basic elements of creating a marketing plan
• Highlight the key aspects which need to be managed in the business
• Outline the basic elements of how to manage the booksThis half day workshop will be practical and results-oriented. After introducing each topic and explaining .the relevance, we will introduce tools that can be applied at that stage. You will have the opportunity to discuss and plan how you will implement these tool.

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Learn how to speak with confidence and conviction about your business. Establish your key messages, capture the attention of your audience and convert them to your point of view.

TV and radio presenter Colin Kelly hosts this 3 hour course, which has been put together with small business owners in mind. Speaking in public fills many of us with dread, we avoid it, get nervous and in the end are just thankful it wasn’t a disaster. There’s another approach and this session will help you turn public speaking opportunities into highly valuable assets for your business. Understanding what to say it critical so we’ll spend time establishing your key messages. We’ll look at different situations you might find yourself in and how to tailor your approach depending on your audience. The session will introduce simple techniques to eliminate nerves and stumbles and there’s a special section on how to keep an audience engaged when technology fails – would you know what to do if the PowerPoint crashed? The session includes some practical exercises and group work – you’ll have the opportunity to receive some feedback on your presenting style but there’s no awkward role play and you won’t be expected to do anything you don’t want to.

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If you need to increase your profits, then this is the workshop for you. The focus on many businesses is to develop their sales and improve revenue; however what really counts is the profit made.

If you need to increase your profits, then this is the workshop for you. The focus on many businesses is to develop their sales and improve revenue; however what really counts is the profit made.

In this workshop we will show you how to stop and look at your financial management information and consider how to improve your profits.

Delegates will be walked through using a 7 steps approach with one aim – increasing your profits.

One Outcome – More profit.

STEP 1 Know your financials

STEP 2 Control growth

STEP 3 Improve decision making

STEP 4 Opportunities

STEP 5 Cash is King

STEP 6 Controlling Change

STEP 7 Pricing

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