Features

Customer loyalty is deeply rooted in genuine connections with brands, and the innovative nature of the digital world continues to create more opportunities for brands to build and maintain relationships with their audiences.

The pressure on firms struggling to hire staff is at an all-time high. According to the latest ONS labour market statistics released in May (2022), for the first time since records began, there are fewer unemployed people than job vacancies. Businesses say they are willing to pay more for the right individuals, but finding suitable people to employ seems like an impossible task. Faced with such challenges, how can startups increase their chances of securing the talent they desperately need to grow?

Since the Paris Climate Agreement, businesses of all sizes from all areas of the world have been focusing on decarbonisation. The commitment to keep global temperatures under 2ºc and significantly reduce the amount of carbon emissions generated worldwide is something that no industry is free from. But the property and construction sectors are particularly feeling the pressure.

Congratulations startup founder: you’ve had the lightbulb idea, built a game-changing solution, developed a killer product and you’re finally market-ready. But now comes the hardest part: getting your solution out of stealth mode and into the waiting hands of your target customers. 

This five step Business Strategy plan is called the FFS (The Fraser Five Step) and is a simple way to create a clear and actionable business plan for your startup.

Sustainable finance is not just a box-ticking exercise – it must be a marriage of environmental and social impact. It has become a popular buzzphrase for investors as they seek to put their funding into companies that aim to solve the world’s biggest problems, most notably climate change.

According to McKinsey, more inclusive and diverse organisations are 35% more likely to outperform their competition. Also, they tend to capture new markets more effectively than their counterparts. However, diversity is still an issue in the UK workforce. Almost half of employees feel that their employers are not doing enough to achieve the right balance.

As the years go by, technology continues to advance at a steady pace. From initial trials of self-driving vehicles to sophisticated mobile phones with endless features, we are living in an increasingly futuristic world. On one side, the constant growth in innovation may excite the younger generations, who are used to handling digital devices from an early age. On the other, the older population may feel somewhat intimidated by the continuous rollout of new technologies.

From seven-second TikTok videos on our phones, click and collect McDonald’s orders and generous returns policies on our clothes, our modern existence is characterised by the need for speed, ease and flexibility. Convenience is what we expect and what we now demand from technology providers. There was a time when consumers were prepared to wait a year for a software update and willing to pay extra for new features. Today, expectations have changed and been replaced by an expectation of flexibility and the convenience of pay-as-you-go subscription billing methods.

It has become a cliché in ecommerce marketing and web design blogs to state that throwing your website out there without instigating a proper testing regime is taking a shot in the dark, throwing darts blindfolded, or riding a bike with flat tires… You get the picture. 

There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding whether to rent or buy your business premises. Both options have their pros and cons, and it can be difficult to decide which is the best option for you. In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of renting vs buying business premises so that you can make an informed decision about what is best for your business.

Hybrid working is being adopted by businesses all over the world and equally, is becoming an expectation of employees looking for a new job. What was initially a strategy to keep people safe has now become a highly-sought norm that has revolutionised the workplace forever.

Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen an unprecedented number of new startups being incorporated despite the backdrop of the COVID pandemic increasing business uncertainty. In fact, the first half of 2021 saw nearly 80 new businesses were created every hour, leading to over 340,000 startups registered in the UK between January and June 2021.

Duolingo has taken the online world by storm with its bold, hilarious marketing on TikTok, racking up an impressive 4.3 million followers. However, it doesn’t stop there. It can teach tech startups a lot, from the importance of gamification to ensuring product engagement. Duolingo is a free language learning website and mobile app allowing users to practice vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation using spaced repletion for 39 different languages. Here, Startups Magazine hears from CEO of AdamFard UX Studio, Adam Fard, discussing the key takeaways from Duolingo for tech companies.

Apple propelled Tap to Pay to the forefront of payments and fintech news, with their new Tap to Pay feature effectively turning iPhones into payment terminals. In theory, this could be a gamechanger for small businesses in the UK, helping them avoid high fees and clunky tech. What’s more, it’s not just Apple who’s bringing out new solutions here. Plenty of new entrants to the market are making a play for the Android users who make up 45% of the market. Now, let’s look at whether this is a technology which will really take off.

Creating and presenting a pitch deck is always a daunting prospect. Especially when you’re new to the process. Just knowing what information to include can be a minefield, let alone how to present it. And while tech advancements have opened the way to multimedia presentations, the question remains whether the likes of GIFs, emojis, and animations are appropriate in a business setting. Can they be used to make your business stand out in the right way?

We are currently in a state of uncertainty in many different aspects, and for businesses it can be a very daunting time. After the past few years we have had, it is now about rebuilding the UK economy.

Famous for its coffee culture, grunge music scene, and chewing gum wall, Seattle boasts beauty, greenery and elegance. What’s more, when I picture the city, I think of ferry boats and the Space Needle, all thanks to medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy.

As the cryptocurrency market is becoming more and more popular, many people are trying their luck by trading various cryptocurrencies. You also need to be aware that there is a huge profit to be made in that market. But with that said, it also brings certain risks. In order to start your trading adventure, you will need a crypto wallet.

In the last two years the digital payments landscape has experienced rapid evolution, which has largely been driven by the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that the UK economy begins to recover from the last two years, it’s evident that consumer expectations around the ease and choice of payment options have changed permanently, and it is essential that SMEs are aware of their demands.