Business

Marketing - The Facts!

In a recent survey of Devon and Cornwall Small Businesses only 13% of the businesses surveyed conduct Marketing Planning and yet 90% said that they see Marketing as important to the success of their business with 56% seeing it as critical to success*.

So what’s the problem? Why is there such a huge gap between those that do and those that don’t?

We believe it’s to do with three...

Local business gets stronger with bootcamp

Jump-squats, abdominal crunches and shoulder presses may sound like hard work but it’s a daily occurrence for Plymouth’s FIT Bootcampers. Not only are the members getting stronger, the business is too.

Local business woman, Kate Leadbeater, and former Naval Physical Training Instructor, Mark Nesbitt, started FIT Bootcamp in Plymouth in 2009 and it’s been going from strength to strength...

Miliband pledges to build homes and to cut rates for small businesses

In his conference speech on Tuesday (24 September 2013), the Labour leader Ed Miliband is expected to pledge a business rate cut for small firms and build 1,000,000 new homes, if his party wins the next general election.

The announcement will form part of a key note address to the Labour Party conference in Brighton, setting out part of Labour's alternative for the UK economy.

...

Government announces £69 million more for Start-Up Loans and New Enterprise Allowance

Aspiring entrepreneurs from across Britain will get financial backing from the government under a £69 million package of support that will help create tens of thousands of new businesses, according to the government.

David Cameron has announced the new funding which will include:

  • Business mentoring and funding for people who are unemployed but want to start up a company
  • ...

Graduate company wins funding thanks to Plymouth University students' expertise

A graduate entrepreneur is planning to expand his company after successfully working with a team of business students from Plymouth University.

Andrew Prosser, director of Series 41, enlisted the help of 55 first year Business Management students to focus on market research as part of the Inspiring Futures project, run by Plymouth Business School’s Talent Hub.

Andrew, himself a...

Accounting red tape cut for smallest UK companies

Measures to reduce "burdensome" accounting red tape for micro-businesses have been confirmed today by Business Minister Jo Swinson. In the government response to the consultation on how best to implement the EU’s Micros Directive, published today, the UK’s 1.5 million micro-entities will now become exempt from certain financial reporting requirements.

They are currently subject to the...

The Age of the Cookie-Cutter is Over!

As more and more consumers look for tailored products and services, so the need to move away from the cookie-cutter approach for branding becomes necessary. In response to this the large chains and supermarkets are moving away from ‘generic’ and ‘corporate’ and taking into account their surroundings and locations in a new way and identifying that they need to serve different communities with...

Stick a Pin in it!

Here at The Plum Consultancy, we are big fans of the well known saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, and our love for visuals has naturally made us fans of the visually-driven App Pinterest. Pinterest enables users to search through images (‘Pins’) and collect them by Re-pinning them onto boards, or by Pinning them directly from Pinterest-abled websites when browsing the internet....

CBI raises its 2013 UK growth forecast

The CBI has raised its growth forecasts for 2013 and 2014 from 1.0% to 1.2%. But the UK's leading business lobbying organisation says the rebalancing away from consumption towards investment and trade is taking longer than expected.

The CBI says it has increased the figure from its May forecast, after a better than expected second quarter and signs of a pick-up in confidence across a...

Rural consultancy appoints new farming consultant

Haines Watts Rural Business LLP, sister firm to Bideford-based Chartered Accountants Haines Watts North Devon LLP announce the appointment of Lucy Thomas as a farming consultant. Rural Business LLP agricultural consultants assist with decision making in response to ever-changing agricultural market conditions and cover all aspects of farm business management with clients across the South West...

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