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For a successful business, you need a viable business idea, the skills to make it work and the funding. Discover whether your idea has what it takes.
Forming your business correctly is essential to ensure you are protected and you comply with the rules. Learn how to set up your business.
Advice on protecting your wellbeing, self-confidence and mental health from the pressures of starting and running a business.
Learn why business planning is an essential exercise if your business is to start and grow successfully, attract funding or target new markets.
It is likely you will need funding to start your business unless you have your own money. Discover some of the main sources of start up funding.
Businesses and individuals must account for and pay various taxes. Understand your tax obligations and how to file, account and pay any taxes you owe.
Businesses are required to comply with a wide range of business laws. We introduce the main rules and regulations you must comply with.
Marketing matters. It drives sales and helps promote your brand and products. Discover how to market your business and reach your target customers.
Some businesses need a high street location whilst others can be run from home. Understand the key factors from cost to location, size to security.
Your employees can your biggest asset. They can also be your biggest challenge. We explain how to recruitment and manage staff successfully.
It is likely your business could not function without some form of IT. Learn how to specify, buy, maintain and secure your business IT.
Few businesses manage the leap from start up to high-growth business. Learn what it takes to scale up and take your business to the next level.
Delivering the right products or services at the right cost with strong marketing support will ensure you're competitive. To stay competitive, you'll need to keep your offer fresh - that means keeping up with trends in your market, emerging technology and refinements to existing products.
In an ideal world, you would use market research to find out what your customers want and then design products to suit them.
In reality, product management starts with existing products and you have to improve on them with limited cash, skills and technological resources. But the principle still applies - good product marketing looks for ways to adapt and promote products to match customer requirements.
Product features, design and quality can all be tailored to the needs of your target market. So too can its image and the customer service that you provide.
Simply meeting customer needs is not enough - you also need to make sure they pick you ahead of your competitors.
You could focus on quality, reliability and customer service to position your product as a premium offering that's better than the competition. Customising products and services for individual customers will also make you seem unique.
A tight focus on the different customer segments you're targeting can help you identify opportunities to differentiate effectively. Products targeted in this way - such as car insurance specifically for women - can give you a competitive edge, even if the product itself has few specific features.
Successful products don't often stay at the top for long. What usually happens is that they follow a life cycle, from introduction to the point where they are overtaken by newer, better alternatives. If you understand where your product is in its life cycle, you can market it in a way that will maximise sales.
When you introduce a product, for example, you need to invest in promotion to build awareness (such as free samples) and target your marketing at people who influence others to buy.
As the product's popularity grows, sales will increase and your unit costs will go down. But competitors will emerge to grab a share of the profits to be made. Your marketing objective will now be to maintain and increase your market share - for example, by improving your offer and making it more widely available.
Your sales will peak and competition will heat up as the product reaches maturity. At this point, stressing the way your offer differs from your rivals' can help you maintain margins and market share.
Finally, sales will fall as new products emerge. At this stage, you should focus on controlling costs and boosting efficiency.
To keep up with your customers - and your rivals - you will need to ensure you have a steady flow of new products.
If you're aiming to be the first to market with new products, you'll need to invest heavily in innovation. This is a high-cost, high-risk strategy, but the payoff can be immense - especially if you patent your innovation.
Being second to market is the best strategy if you're a smaller firm with fewer resources. Costs and risks are lower, and you need to focus more on differentiation than innovation to tap into a growing market.
You should aim for a product mix that fits your overall marketing strategy. If you sell products which customers purchase infrequently (such as printers) you should think about diversifying into related products or services that are purchased more often (such as consumables or service contracts). Developing products that share the same underlying platform can also be a cost-effective way of using your existing product expertise.