The marketing community has had cause to wince quite a few times this year, with some glaring mistakes from big name brands who should know better. In fact, these mistakes could probably have been avoided if someone had simply looked at the marketing campaign with a fresh pair of eyes.
In this blog, we look at what can go wrong and how outsourcing can help you avoid it.
(more…)You know you’re about to make your next career move and you know you want to be your own boss. Perhaps it’s time for more freedom, or perhaps you’d like more flexibility and balance in your life. If this sounds like you, you might be trying to work out whether you’d rather set up on your own, or you’d rather buy a franchise of an established business.
Let’s take a closer look.
Should I run my own business?
Running your own business is exciting, challenging and rewarding. Successful entrepreneurs have a great business idea and the drive to make it succeed.
When you run your own business, there are many benefits:
But there are downsides as well:
Should I buy a franchise?
If you’re not sure whether or not starting your own business is the right step for you, you might consider buying a franchise instead. A franchise can provide a lot of the freedom of running your own business, but without the pressure of working alone to deliver your own ideas.
There are many benefits to buying a franchise:
However, buying a franchise isn’t for everyone.
When we decided to franchise Get Ahead, we identified some of the problems of franchising and set out to address them. That’s why our franchisees aren’t under pressure from performance targets, do receive regular training and, above all, benefit from our scalable business model so they can push themselves and their franchise as far as they like.
Buy a Get Ahead franchise
Whatever you decide your next step should be, it’s got to be right for you. And if do decide to buy a franchise, we hope you’ll choose Get Ahead! Our site is full of resources to help you make your decision. You could also follow our social channels and find out more about our ethos. You can even book in a call with franchisor Rebecca Newenham – why not have a chat and get your questions answered before you take the plunge?
Small businesses don’t always have the same financial security that a bigger business has. This can make expansion difficult, and leave business owners struggling. Without the means to pay more staff, or the security that they can keep on paying wages, some business owners are thinly spread and unable to take their business to the next level.
Fortunately, outsourced business support is an affordable, flexible solution that enables business owners to access cost-effective support they can turn on and off as required.
(more…)Every business carries an element of risk. If your small business is seeing opportunities to scale up and break into new markets, you might feel cautious about committing to a new product or department. Above all, you’ll need a cost-effective method to minimise the gamble you take. However, we believe outsourcing could the solution you’re looking for!
In this blog, we explore how flexible outsourcing can help you seize opportunities to take your business in new directions.
(more…)If you’ve decided to buy a franchise instead of running your own business, this might be because you’d like to be part of a team. One of Get Ahead’s great strengths is our team of regional partners, who in turn are supported by a UK-wide team of virtual experts.
In this blog, we take a look at what teamwork means at Get Ahead and how it benefits our franchisees.
(more…)Since our foundation in 2010, Get Ahead have been champions of flexible working. We’ve seen it can not only yield great results for businesses but also allow skilled workers to further their careers. But for this to work, we need to understand that there’s more to workplace flexibility than job shares and part-time hours.
In this blog, we look at what workplace flexibility really means and why it’s an essential feature of a modern workplace.
(more…)Get Ahead exists to provide back-office support for busy businesses. Since our foundation in 2010, we’ve supported a wide variety of businesses, including web and digital agencies. As an agency ourselves, we understand the importance of a consistent culture throughout the organisation, even when the work is delivered remotely.
In this blog, we look at what kind of work digital agencies might choose to outsource and how it could benefit the business as a whole.
(more…)If you’re reading this, you might well be doing your research before buying a franchise. Something that we feel sets us apart from other franchised businesses is that we offer a “business in a box” with many of the elements ready-made so you can hit the ground running.
In this blog, we look more closely at what our franchise package includes, so you can make an informed choice about your next career move.
(more…)Email marketing is a valuable tool and one we should all make time for. Only when you take email seriously and interweave it with the rest of your marketing will you start to see the results you are looking for.
In this blog, we look at how you can fit email marketing into the rest of your marketing plan.
(more…)Email marketing doesn’t have to be a headache. With a good stock of content and the right software in place, you can deliver consistent, on-brand email marketing to boost your conversion rate.
Here are some essential tools to underpin successful email marketing.
With a strong brand behind you, you can feel confident that all your communications will be on-message. Knowing what you want to tell people helps you and your marketing team choose an effective approach and build confidence in your brand.
Tone of voice guidelines can help you keep your language consistent, help you create the right feel and communicate with the most likely prospects.
Since GDPR guidelines came into force, businesses are no longer allowed to add people to mailing lists at random. This is a good thing, as you’re much more likely to convert someone who already cares about your business than someone you contact out of the blue.
To get the most from your mailing list, check that whatever tool you use to add people is effective. Make sure people understand what they’re signing up to – this will lower your unsubscriber numbers and could improve your interactions too.
There are a number of ways of attracting new subscribers to your mailing list. A pop-up on your website or a special offer customers can unlock by signing up are both very effective. The most important thing to remember is your customer or client profile – that way, you can create a sign-up that is likely to capture the right kind of people.
If you have an old list, it’s worth checking that it’s GDPR compliant. A complaint or a high deletion rate could damage the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign.
Sending individual emails is delightfully personal but not practical for an email marketing campaign. Depending on the size of your mailing list, your everyday email platform (e.g. Outlook) might have the capacity to send mass emails. However, most businesses with regular email campaigns invest in purpose-built software like Mailchimp or HubSpot. If these big names don’t meet your requirements, there are many alternatives with a variety of pricing structures. It’s worth doing some research – our expert email marketers here at Get Ahead can help you find the right product for your needs.
It can be hard to think of fresh email content every week, month or however often your newsletter goes out. But if you harness the power of your existing content, you might find the whole process easier! We love repurposing our blogs in our monthly newsletters – sign up and you’ll probably see this one soon. Photo galleries and videos also work well. Repurposing content means value for money and also helps your messages to stay consistent. Remember to keep your customer or client at the heart of your campaign and share the content they’ll want to see.
Outsource your email marketing
Our team of email marketing experts and content creators would love to help you with your next email marketing campaign. Get in touch with your local regional director today, or explore our site to find out more.