Business Insights

Marketing innovates, tests and refines ideas that increase your business’ presence in the marketplace, making more prospective customers more aware of who you are and what you do. It also brings customers into your business, guides them to the point where they’re willing to spend money, and keeps them there and spending for as long as possible. All of these fit into our Marketing 360 framework - they’re all goals and activities which are part of one overarching function, and it’s all directed toward growth. 

When you launch, you grow quickly. You’re going to outgrow your initial market, you'll look around for other opportunities to grow, and you’ll find yourself wondering “where do I go next?” For businesses that start out in the UK, the answer is likely to be “abroad”. British businesses are twice as likely to expand into international markets as similar firms elsewhere. “Similar”, here, means “growing in size or turnover by 20% per year over the last three years, and started out with more than ten people" - that’s the definition of “Scale-up” as the Scaleup Institute sees it. If that's where your business is, this guide is for you.

Here’s a well-travelled marketing statistic: acquiring a new customer can cost up to five times more than retaining an existing one. An oldie but a goodie, as they say. But how do you retain customers? How do you build loyalty? Marketers try all sorts of things. Regular emails, surveys, loyalty schemes, discounts, birthday messages, even out-of-the-blue gifts.

Introduction Tried and tested best practice will make the best of whatever economic and political situation a business finds itself in, whether it’s the continued uncertainty around Britain’s future in the EU, the overheating and protectionist tendency of the US market, or the continuing rise of China and India.

When businesses wanted to buy software pre-internet, they would physically buy a CD-ROM, install it on everyone’s computer and pay a licensing fee. Like so many sectors, the rise of the web turned things on its head. Software as a Service (SaaS) is a way of delivering software online, paying a monthly subscription without installation costs. Since the rise of Salesforce in the late 90s, the SaaS market has exploded. Lower costs, greater access to cloud storage and increased speed have moved the market away from an enterprise-only concern to a space open to businesses of all sizes.