Feb 27
Our consortium of high calibre professionals have all been quality checked prior to being allowed onto www.certainshops.com
Competition results
Divorce Fairs and why Financial Mediators can save you thousands
The Credit Crunch and intelligent marketing
SUZY’S DIARY
The branding workshop for the business was going well, until the theoretical exercise of `rebranding an orange’ captured the imagination of the delegates to such a degree that they lost all sense of reality, and actually started up a new company there and then. Suddenly, CertainShops – professionals online was under the microscope not just for the effectiveness of its brand – but we needed to use the site to source professional service providers to quote for our new venture.
The `100% recyclable orange juice container that doesn’t leak in your pocket’ got them all so excited that my cries of “it’s only a game! This is just an imaginary exercise!” fell on deaf ears. Luckily, thanks to CertainShops, we were able to get quotes from a Contract Lawyer for a shareholders agreement, sort out an Accountant to organise our incorporation, and book a session with a Business Consultant to help us put together a financial plan and check out any compliance issues.
It was only when the Patenting and Trademarking Lawyer patiently explained that we could have some difficulty claiming a piece of fruit as our own intellectual property, that reality finally re-entered the frame and the spell was broken.
So we got back to the job in hand – concentrating on MY business – and ate the oranges.
PROFESSIONAL SPOTLIGHTS
Val and Don Rush – TR Resolutions, Matrimonial Financial Mediators
Divorce Fairs and why Financial Mediators can save you thousands
A common misconception is that Financial Mediators helping divorcing couples are hoping to get the couple back together again. A more accurate way to think of these skilled professionals is that they advise on your exit strategy from a relationship fraught with financial complications.
It is a sad fact that around 40% of marriages end in divorce, and the Government has been aware of the expense and misery that beset many divorcing couples for some time, and the Family Law Act 1996 was brought in to steer more people into mediation to resolve the problems of divorce and separation.
In 1999, Lord Woolf produced his report called “Access to Justice”. It set out a number of shortcomings he found in the current legal system. Amongst other things, he found it to be:- · Too expensive · Too complicated · Too adversarial · Too slow
Lord Woolf suggested mediation in appropriate cases as a way to overcome these shortcomings.
So what do Financial Mediators actually do? How do they make a difference?
- the reduction of animosity and fighting therefore much easier on the children who really hate to see Mum and Dad at loggerheads
- they allow clients to go at a pace that is comfortable to them. Having made the decision to split it still takes a while to accept and adapt to the inevitable changes and cope with the official paperwork – some people find this quite scary. It’s a big big step and mediators like Val and Don are sensitive to this- although they focus on the financial and children issues there is invariably psychological turmoil, and whilst mediators may not be counsellors, they are ready to empathise and give what emotional support they can- they have seen clients rekindle a workable friendship at the end of the process – really satisfying!- high profile cases like Paul and Linda M are so unusual. Often they have cases where funds are really really tight and it just doesn’t make any sense at all to pay competing solicitors unnecessarilyVal is adamant: “we do not in any way try to mend broken relationships. We make sure before we start that there is absolutely no chance of restoration and then work to make the inevitable split as painless as possible.”
Rather like marriage fairs which help you plan your wedding, there is a divorce fair in Holland which aims to give all you need to plan the perfect split.
The very first ever divorce or `break up’ fair was held in Austria last year. The fair gave advice on how to organise a post-married life, and to help couples to untie the knot as painlessly as possible.
The two-day fair was held under the motto “New beginning”. The event allowed would-be divorcees to consult lawyers about their rights and seek advice. The divorce rate in Austria hit an all time high of 50% in 2006, with 66% of marriages in Vienna ending in divorce.
The Saturday was reserved for men, and Sunday for women, so couples could avoid awkward encounters and retain a degree of anonymity. There was also a series of lectures on subjects like how divorce affects children and coping as a single parent.
This move towards accepting that the break up of marriages, and also civil partnerships, provoke complex emotional dilemmas and a great deal of fear, shows how the role of financial divorce mediators will become increasingly a necessary part of a healthy break up.
(thank you to Val Rush and BBC news)
Have a no obligation talk with Val by contacting her here……
PROFESSIONAL SPOTLIGHTS
Kim Stoddart – Blue Rocket Group, Ethical Media Relations
The Credit Crunch and intelligent marketing
The hot topic in business at the moment is the widely reported global economic slowdown, meltdown in the money markets and the effect on business in the UK. Smallbusiness.co.uk asked their readers if they had started to feel the pinch of tighter lending criteria or slower revenue streams, and if there were any measures they’d taken to alleviate this.
A significant number (28 per cent) said they’d experienced lower sales than usual in December and attributed that to the first whispers of a credit crunch reducing consumer spending. While advisers and bankers are telling us that lending for small businesses is unlikely to have been affected by any slowdown, many readers expressed feelings to the contrary. A total of 22 per cent had noticed a difference in the availability of funding for their business, saying that cash had become less readily available.
Of those who said that they had not yet felt the effect of such a slowdown, 18 per cent had begun putting some money aside, wary of a tough 2008. With cash flow a major issue for small firms at the best of times, this seems a prudent move.
SmallBusiness.co.uk spoke to Trevor Williams, chief economist at Lloyds TSB, to get a view on the year ahead and see whether, as 15 per cent of you seem to think, the notion of an impending credit crunch is just a lot of hype.
He believes that ‘the credit crunch has not yet had a major impact on the retail sector. It has hit the balance sheets of those involved in wholesale borrowing but rather than causing a collapse of high street retail, it is likely just to mean a slowdown from consumers’.
He continues: ‘Even if the economy slows to 1.5 per cent growth, the bank could cut interest rates to 4.5 per cent. There is room to manoeuvre so I think we are far from looking at a recession next year.’
Hopefully, this is heartening news for many of you. This year could still mean a certain degree of belt tightening, but there are those who say that a full recession is not likely to hit.
Are you convinced?
Many still do fear a global recession and many small businesses are looking to reduce their overheads and the marketing budget is often the first thing to be reduced. However in difficult economic situations competition becomes tougher than ever and it is even more important to rise above your rivals to attract customers.
Kim Stoddart, MD and founder of ethical media relations company Blue Rocket, told me why it is important for business owners to spend wisely and how an effective public relations campaign can generate real results to help them ride out the storm during this testing time.
“It is now more important than ever for businesses to be marketing themselves in the right way through the right people.” Explains Kim. “Careful planning and intelligent thinking can create a low-budget strategy that provides a fantastic return on investment and ensures your business continues to attract customers.Historically during times of economic downturn one of the first things that a company considers reducing is its marketing budget. Whilst it is understandable given the pressures on daily cash that a business will want to asses its spending; cutting activity in the wrong areas can have a damaging impact on the company’s stability and long-term future, or worse.
Businesses can’t rely on existing customers staying and need to think about attracting new customers as in order to secure a steady cash flow companies need a consistent pipeline of new business. This means raising awareness and driving action amongst their target market. When done properly, an effective public relations (PR) campaign can improve a brand’s positioning and reputation, giving it credibility and communicating its key selling points over and above the competition.
A well-run campaign can also be conducted on a low cost to provide a huge return on investment. PR provides the next best thing to a word of mouth recommendation and during this difficult time that matters more than ever as people need to work with businesses that they trust. Press coverage is generally far more effective than say direct marketing or advertising that doesn’t build trust in the same way and is often more expensive anyway.
It’s really important that SMEs are careful with their money when embarking on any PR campaign either in-house or outsourcing. They need to get the objectives of the campaign clear from the start and ensure the key messages about their company are being communicated to their target audience. It’s all very well securing press coverage but if its not improving the brand’s reputation and driving sales what’s the point?
Now more than ever businesses need to get it right from the start to generate press coverage that is going to help develop their business.”
(thanks to www.smallbusiness.co.uk and Kim Stoddart)
If you want to plan your media strategy have a chat with Kim Stoddart at Blue Rocket.
