SME? Tap into a new resource network

Mike Farmers of VERSO Marketing takes a view of the options for developing your Business

Over 90% of UK companies are classified as SMEs. Many will say these companies are the powerhouse of future British industry and the home of that innovative and entrepreneurial spirit we all read so much about these days. But when you are running one of these organisations the view can be very different.

Successes are great retrospective stories, however looking ahead and trying to find the way to grow your business into that success story is the difficult and sometimes depressing side of the struggle.

So what are developing companies short of? The answer is money and skills. The money buys the skills and the skills grow the company, easy isn't it? Not so, firstly more money is wasted than was ever put to good use and, secondly, money is always available if the investment is sound. So why are there so many under-developed companies still looking for ways to grow, can't all be the fault of the person in charge can it?


Hindsight is a great teacher so it makes sense to talk to those who have been there and done it. The government has always recognised the logic in this even to the point of involving captains of industry to straighten out government departments and policies. Where would the political parties be without their Ad Agencies to sell their electoral promises? Same with developing businesses.
Where do you find help and what does it cost? One answer is to find yourself a mentoring organisation, a group of skills that you may need in order to get ahead.

These come in many forms, from the government sponsored Business Link to your accountancy firm offering contacts that are knowledgeable. Many business people feel that opening a dialogue with other business skills is a long way round when they know that their answer lays in better marketing. They need a mentoring group that puts marketing ahead of but not detached from business skills. Now the options are less. Maybe you need look at Advertising and Marketing Agencies?

Seen as expensive options and difficult to talk to without a budget bigger than your turnover we have one answer to the question asked earlier. "Why are so many developing businesses not developing faster?" They are not all unapproachable and you don't need to shop at the lower end either.

Advertising and Marketing is a collection of skills that are unlikely to be resident in a local design company, or an agency that operates in markets other than yours. What you need is out there, finding it is the problem. What makes the search doubly difficult is that the selection process is two way, both parties have to think the relationship workable and likely to deliver mutual benefit.
Time to talk to networks that specialise in Creative Marketing for Developing Companies. I work for one such network and of course there are many others.

We specialise in B2B, anything from electronics to engineering, both manufacturers and service providers. http://www.versomarketing.co.uk